When I started working here, there were two boys around 10-12 years old who would start class with us and then move to work in a different room, because they had such problem behaviors. They were constantly running around the room and hitting the other kids and never doing their work, so they were deemed too disruptive to be in class. One day, one of the other volunteers told me that Santos asked her, “Why do I always have to go the separate class? I want to be with my friends.”

Hello inclusion… A Special Education teacher can’t hear that and not do something. (There’s a lot I am willing to ignore here due to the poverty, culture, lack of organization… but that… some things are just part of my soul!). So, today, when we were short volunteers, I offered to keep the boys in class. For the first time since I got here, I truly felt like a teacher again!

For the lesson today, we were playing a game of JUEGO (aka BINGO) were the BINGO boards had numbers and colors on the squares and the kids would pick a card and have to match the word in English to their BINGO board. As usual, Santos and Jose started to be disruptive. My “teacher senses” were activated as I observed that they acted up when the assignments were given- not before so the likelihood is that the work is too hard. So, I changed the game and said that I would be picking the cards and then choosing a student to either tell me the picture in Spanish or English. Well, now Jose and Santos wanted to play as I would always choose them for Spanish (which they still struggled to identify colors and numbers in Spanish) and the other kids did the English.

As we moved on to math, I remembered how they struggled with even identifying numbers in Spanish, so obviously the addition and subtraction lesson planned would be too hard. Therefore, during recess, I quickly made some counting sheets for them to do during math while the other kids did the addition and subtraction sheets. They loved it and both were so proud of themselves. In fact, these two boys who normally can’t wait for class to end wouldn’t leave until I promised to bring them more similar work tomorrow. They so loved learning- they just don’t have access to the education they need in order to learn.

Santos and Jose are not the only students in this position- they just got noticed because they acted out. Since instruction in the public school is not differentiated for abilities, all students are given the same work, and if you can’t do it, you simply fall behind and drop out of school. Here are Santos and Jose- kids who would be in 5th grade in America- and they don’t know their numbers and colors. They can’t read or write. They don’t even know their birthdays and can’t spell their names. But, when I sat down with them and gave them that “individualized instruction”, they thrived.

Santos and Jose no longer attend public education. My understanding is that Jose was kicked out due to his behaviors, and Santos’ family can’t afford for him to attend. Therefore, the only schooling they will get is from the mishmash of volunteers who show up here and try to offer some education to these kids. It’s better than nothing but, more than likely, they will never learn to read or write or do math. This will only perpetuate the cycle of poverty in which they live.

Many years ago, I went into the field of education to “help change the world.” While there are many things wrong with our educational system in America, one thing we do right is offer “a free and appropriate” educational to all. We believe that every child has a right to an education, and every child can learn. This experience only helps me remember that an education truly is one of the best gift we can give our children- it’s how we change the world!