Taking an interest in disability treatment and being in the special education program at UMW I designed a lesson plan focused on Of Mice and Men but including other texts from different cultures as well to compare and contrast the treatment of those with a range of disabilities. I have included The Treatment of Bibi Haldar as well as a portion of The Secret Garden into the lesson plan as comparison texts. All of these texts will be provided either digitally or physically. While focusing specifically on the treatment of characters by those able-bodied, the students will also be able to analyze the language used by these individuals. Is it demeaning? Are they meaning to be ‘mean’ to these characters or is it due to stress of not understanding how to be around someone with a disability? There are a lot of things to consider going into this lesson plan and one of those also is how we define disability. The lesson will be taught over a period of about a week slowly analyzing chunks of the literary pieces but also learning more about disabilities as a whole. While this may not be a unit present in many or even any English classrooms in the United States, it will still follow the curriculum set by the school for that year. This lesson is designed for Grade 10.
The goal of this lesson is to primarily show how the treatment of those with disabilities can change or be the same from culture to culture. We will begin with learning about disability in class on a broad spectrum and touching on different types of disabilities and how we see them now as well as common perceptions. Bringing awareness to how treatment in a general sense has changed and should change is truly important for this lesson. We will touch upon the Autism spectrum, Down Syndrome, Coffin-Lowry, Deafness, Blindness, Deforminites, and so forth to broaden the student’s idea and knowledge of what disabilities look like and consist of. While an older individual becomes disabled as they age, it will not so much be emphasized in this lesson because none of the characters are put out due to their age, only preexisting disabilities that cut their job short due to age. Culture drastically changes views, treatments, what is important and what is not. Within this lesson, we will learn how three different cultures dealt with a disabled character. The American South and India are drastically different even now in their treatment of those with disabilities, and this will be the primary focus of the compare and contrast opportunities given in class.
During this lesson students in the classroom that may have a disability will be included and put where they are most comfortable and will gain the same amount of understanding as others in the classroom. This will also help those who have not been around individuals with disabilities become aware that anyone could have one, it does not and will not always be apparent. Without calling out students who are listed with a high functioning disability, I will need to be aware of how these students are acting. Is it normal? Is this lesson making them uncomfortable and they are not as talkative due to that? These and many other questions will be going through my head during this week of teaching disability treatment in different cultures.
I pledge.
Amy Rouse
Word Count; 564
This is a really cool idea! I’m also in the College of Education, but for secondary English. I think your lesson plan is very adaptable and could be used in a general education class too! I also like how you’re going to have the class read Secret Garden and go back to Of Mice and Men. Connections like that really help students retain information! Very well done!
Sam and I did something really similar. Your lesson plan looks fun, engaging, and instructional. Just out of curiosity, how would you accommodate those in your class with disabilities? Really great job!