Parallels

I work in special education as well as working as an online adjunct. Lately I have observed many parallels between my two populations of students.

1. Spec. Ed. – Students are emotionally impaired and unable to accept responsibility for their behavior. It is what is being done to them not a result of what they are doing. E.g. it is okay for me to throw a brick through his window because he was a jerk to me and deserved it. The judge is being a jerk for putting me on probation.

College Students - Come up with excuses for why they don't do their work. It is not their fault that they are so busy and I should cut them a break. E.g. Even though I had the syllabus which outlines all assignments and due dates I had an emergency vacation and didn't have internet access. You should still accept my late work even though it directly contradicts the late assignment policy.

2. Spec. Ed. - Students have documented learning disabilities and need altered assignments, extra assistance, and extended hands on teaching to learn and apply most concepts. E.g. We will cover the concept of fractions in math, ecosystems in science, or how to accept no in an appropriate manner for 1-4 weeks so that students have a firm understanding of the topic.

College Students – I will provide handouts, worksheets, lectures, and guidance on what plagiarism is and how to avoid it, yet every semester some student will plagiarize an entire paper and then claim “they didn’t know what plagiarism is.”

3. Spec. Ed. – Student have emotional impairments and often have trouble controlling their emotions, especially anger. Students will swear at their teachers and at times become physically aggressive.

College Students – Online students often forget the appropriate “netiquette” and will send emails telling me that my policies are dumb, argue with me after I have explained why their grade will not be raised, and yelled at me telling me why I am a bad teacher because I did not give them what they want.

Obviously when I work with special education students my approach is very different, and when teaching online I cannot stand in front of a student who is being inappropriate, look them in the eye, and tell them “Your behavior is inappropriate. When you can (enter desired behavior) I will talk to you again. Until then you need to sit quietly in your desk and not disrupt the rest of the class.” Although I think I would enjoy the opportunity to do so!