Lesson 06 Reflection

This weeks learning focused on collaboration and teams. The reading explained many of the ways that general educators, families, and support staff interact and work together, with the main goal of assisting the student in progressing. I feel like I typically have and focus on the parent's perspective and the student's progress from that side of things, and I was wondering a lot about how the professionals tend to look at this. In my reading this week, I was able to understand that other side a little better. I was impressed by how much the professional side of the student support team was encouraged to respect the family, their beliefs and to work to use family centered practices that encouraged the collaboration between family and school staff. I enjoyed learning a little more about the role of paraprofessionals and how I will be working with them as a general educator. Before I made the decision to pursue Elementary Ed, I was considering going to work as a paraprofessional so I was glad to get an additional peek into their role in the classroom and with the students.
In my future classroom (and to be honest, many other areas of my life) collaboration will be one of the keys to meeting the needs of all of my students. I by myself will not be able to do and provide everything that they will need to be successful. The tool of collaboration will help me fulfill my role as an educator.
In relation to a previous topic, I saw that a family from my hometown is suing the school district over their perceived harm to their special needs daughter's development. This is a link to the story: http://www.saobserver.net/news/380688991.html