Teaching Peter

Teaching Peter was fascinating to me. You could not help but love him just from watching the video, regardless of his actions that were not always socially acceptable. While watching it, I tried to figure out how I felt about Peter being included in the classroom. I think that students with disabilities should be allowed to be included in a “normal” classroom, as long as the student’s behavior does not affect the other students in the classroom to the point of hindering their learning ability. Inclusion needs to benefit both the student with the disability and the students without disabilities. During the film, there were points in which I think both the students with out a disability and Peter were benefiting from the social interactions. The students seemed to really take a liking to Peter and became very protective of him. They also helped explain the class work and played with him during what appeared to be centers time or recess. However, there were also times in which I think having Peter in the classroom was harmful to the other students learning process. There were several times in which Peter had an outburst during class time and the students were distracted and the teacher eventually had to take time out of instruction to calm Peter down.

The teacher was remarkable, or at least from what I could see. She rarely got involved with Peter’s outbursts unless it seemed necessary. She allowed the students to work things out with Peter when there was a problem which built both the “normal” students and Peter’s social skills and abilities to deal with different situations. When Peter seemed out of control, the teacher dealt with the situation to the best of her ability and tried not to allow it to affect the students learning.

I think that inclusion is important for both the student with the disability and for the other students in the class. The students that do not have a disability learn to deal with different social situations and they can also learn the material by explaining the assignment and helping the student with the disability to complete the assignment. The student with the disability has the social interaction that they need and can learn how to interact with people that are different from them while getting an education. However, while I think that inclusion is very important, I do believe that there is a point at which inclusion becomes harmful to the other students in the classroom, and as a result, not beneficial to the student with the disability. If there is a student that disrupts the class so much that learning can not go on, the students in the class without the disability do not get what they need to get out of lessons. Additionally, if the teacher is spending more time disciplining the student with the disability, the student with the disability is not being taught. For those extreme cases I believe that inclusion is not the best idea for everyone involved. Peter was not an extreme case and I was really happy to see that having him in the classroom worked out in the long run for everyone involved!!