rachel

Rachel


 Rachel is a junior at UNH with a passion for learning. Although she has always loved to learn, Rachel’s learning disability was always seen before her thirst for knowledge. Trying out different majors at UNH, Rachel is not sure what she will finally major in but she does know that her dream is to create educational change in our schools for students with disabilities.

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 BEING A STUDENT IN SPECIAL EDUCATION


INTERNING IN A SPECIAL EDUCATION CLASSROOM


LEARNING TO LOVE TO WRITE


MAKING THE TRANSITION TO COLLEGE


ACCOMMODATIONS


STRATEGIES


CHOOSING A MAJOR


MAKING EDUCATION CHANGE


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BEING A STUDENT IN SPECIAL EDUCATION
I didn’t like the way special education was handled in high school. I was always college bound and I thought I had expressed it. I didn’t even realize I was in the tract of classes for not going. I was in the class with all the kids that were going to drop out. You weren’t expected to get more than a C. You were taken out of the classroom for tests and quizzes and basically given the answers. I didn’t see any sort of push to take the SATs or to try harder. From my perspective, why would anyone with a learning disability be there? They weren’t seeing past the superficial aspects of a learning disability.

The summer before my junior year I was on vacation and I remember thinking, what am I doing? My lack of effort seemed to be enough for teachers but I knew I was much more capable. I was not being steered in the right direction. Wanting to prove I was as smart as everyone else, I asked to be taken out of inclusion classes. My junior and senior years I began taking harder classes and getting good grades. To be on the college tract, I ended up needing to take Algebra 1 my junior year summer and Geometry and Algebra 2 my senior year. I am really thankful I put it all together and realized my potential.

My learning disability was never talked about with me. I never saw the documentation so I never knew about my learning style. They don’t explain to you that you really are smart, that you have a high IQ but there are these discrepancies. Now I know my disabilities and how to best compensate for them.



INTERNING IN A SPECIAL EDUCATION CLASSROOM
I am taking an education class that has me working in special education with third and fourth graders. It hurts me so much to see the way things are.  The way the teachers handle the kids with learning disabilities is that the kids are not doing it right. It is not the teachers. I have heard comments like, “she just does not get it”. I’m thinking maybe you are not taking it at her level and thinking what are we going to need to do to help her to understand. In public education, everyone is supposed to learn the same way. There are so many different learning styles but only a very linear style is taught. The reason it is taking her so long is that it is being taught in a way that she can’t figure out. They are approaching it like it’s her problem. I don’t think it is.



LEARNING TO LOVE TO WRITE
I was teased in my classes because I was always talkative and raising my hand and asking questions while everyone else was passive. I had this desire to learn, this thirst that no one was noticing. I am an English major now. In high school I hated those classes because they centered around grammar, not about the ideas and content that you got out. I started to develop my writing in English 401 my freshman year. There were a lot of discussions about ideas. It began to intrigue me because my writing wasn’t looked at so critically like before. English are the best grades I have gotten in college and it is at the heart of my learning disability.
  


MAKING THE TRANSITION TO COLLEGE
College for me was about turning over a new leaf. It bothered me that I hadn’t done well in high school until my junior year. Even though I got all A's my last semester of senior year, it wasn’t enough for me. I think it was from years of not feeling up to par with everyone else. You get a notion that you are not the same as everyone else. The system set up in the classroom is a competition, the number of stars you get means you are a good girl. It develops over the years to a confused perspective about yourself. So college was going to be where I was going to show everyone and most importantly myself.
 
I went home a lot freshman year. I don’t think I was that happy. I think it was the whole getting used to college. You are still not that independent and you have a connection with home. I think when in doubt, home is still your safe haven. I think I have grown a lot. I am more independent. Now both are home. I am definitely on the path to being an adult.



ACCOMMODATIONS
The paperwork they sent from the high school didn’t have a summary and the testing wasn’t adequate. The Access Office didn’t accept it so I spent a year without any accommodations. The first semester of college is hard because of the amount of work and you don’t know what to expect because it is different from high school. I didn’t do that well because most of it was lectures and tests and trying to take notes quickly. The second semester is when I took English courses. I could go home and spend as much time as I wanted honing an assignment. I did really well the second semester because my ability wasn’t just graded on just a few tests.

 At the end of the year, I went to the Counseling Center and they did testing. Because the testing was much more extensive, I understand my learning disability better. I went back to Access and got more accommodations then I thought. I have extended time on tests and I have a note-taker which is really helpful. My tests are now read to me and my books are on tape.



STRATEGIES
As someone with a learning disability, I always will have to put more effort in than someone else. To check things over one more time, to do a bit more than what is expected from the professor is what will get me that good grade.  I have never written a paper where I haven’t had someone look at it two or three times. When I read the papers, I read them the way they are suppose to be read. I don’t see the errors.

I really like the book, Learning Outside the Lines. It gave me a much needed perspective. As a successful person with learning disabilities and attention deficit disorder, Jonathan Mooney was a trustworthy voice. Reading it was a sigh of relief.  He explains it is key for you to figure out the best way for YOU to learn. I have taken ideas from the book on how to set up your notes. There are different ways to do it but I do the one where you cut the page down in half and the main ideas go on one side and details on the other. I have highlighters and I have colored stickies. Everything gets hole punched into my notebook. I always find what I need when it comes to studying. My notebook is like a work of art!

Near the end of the semester, I was reading my Elements of Weather book and found a CD in the back of the book. There were pictures and dialogue about the concepts. Concepts that I just couldn’t get at the beginning of the year finally made sense. I just needed someone to speak it and then I understood it.



CHOOSING A MAJOR
I was first a political science major because I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do. Politics was a big influence in my family. I found I was more interested in history and the law so I added a dual major with Justice Studies. I switched (from Politics) to English because I love books. I love reading them and talking about them. With English I am thinking now, what can I really do? I can’t be an editor; no one would want me to edit their work! I don’t want to write or publish. So I am looking at Sociology, specifically gender studies, or Education for ways to make changes in the system.


MAKING EDUCATION CHANGE
I still catch myself saying Rachel you are not good enough. I still need to work on getting that out of my head because it is not the case. I think a lot of times, people keep it inside that they have a learning disability. They won’t talk to their friends or their teachers. I am talking to people now and educating them about it. I could be a teacher, but just being a teacher doesn’t seem like enough for significant change. I have been thinking of creating my own school!
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