Jacob Pope
F.A.T City Reaction Paper
While watching the F.A.T City video, I must first say that it was an amazing video and that Richard Lavoie should win an award, if he hasn’t already. In this reaction paper, I’ll review some of the same difficulties that I went through as a younger student. I will also describe how this video has impacted me and what I will take away from this video. Also, what will be discussed are three accommodations that I saw in the video. Lastly what will be discussed is my definition of fairness as taken from the video, along with an event in my educational history where I’ve appreciated an accommodation. This is what my reaction paper will consist of. In my first paragraph, I will discuss some of the same difficulties that I went through that
Mr. Lavoie described in the video. The first one that really grabbed my attention is when he was asking the questions about the various movies in which involve a pig. Once he asked this question, and he got his first “I don’t know” answer, he accepted it. Since he accepted this answer from one student, the next three students thought that it was acceptable to respond with the same answer. I too have went through this as a student. Once I found out that the teacher would accept my “I don’t know” as an answer, the more I’d respond in this manner. I did this for as long as I can remember unless I was 100% sure that my answer was correct.
Nothing was done on the part of the instructor in order to get me to try and expand or fix this problem. I got over this problem when I recognized it and decided it was time to change this problem of mine. This was a problem that I had that was similar to the ones that Mr. Lavoie talked about in F.A.T City. In my next paragraph, what will be discussed is how the video impacted me and how I will use what I learned from the video in my own classroom in the future. The main thing that
I’ll take away from this video is to never make my students feel like they aren’t good enough or that they aren’t smart enough. I say this because of the simple reaction that Mr. Lavoie gave to the answers that he actually did receive whether right or wrong. In an exercise, he didn’t respond to the correct answers, but decided to call out the students who answered the Pope2 questions incorrectly. This reaction, from any student, will make them not want to raise their hands and give the questions a try because if they answer correctly, they get no pat on the back, yet if they answer incorrectly, they are made fun of. This is a feeling that I never want to make my students feel, and I hope that I never do. That was how the video impacted me and what I’ll do in order to deal with it in the future. In my next paragraph, I’ll describe three accommodations in which were used for youth with learning disabilities. The first one that comes to mind is that more time is offered to children with special needs. This should be universal because some children just need more time than others. Another accommodation would be allowing a verbal response to those students who have trouble writing down their answers. This would be very helpful as well. The last accommodation would be preferential seating or something of that nature just to make the student feel comfortable. I feel that accommodations are fantastic when used accordingly. They provide the student with the best, most comfortable way to learn. These were three accommodations that I saw as important. In conclusion, I will discuss the definition of fairness as well as an event in my life where
I received an accommodation. The video describes fairness not as everyone receiving an equal amount of everything, but it means that everyone gets what he or she needs. This is very accurate according to me. I feel that everyone should get what they need whether its attention, time, or anything else they might need in order to be a good student. I’ll conclude with thanking my 10th grade teacher because when I broke my wrist, he allowed me to take a verbal quiz instead of making me wait until my hand healed and taking the test via a writing assignment like everyone else. I got what I needed.