There are often instances that happen in our daily lives that most people take for granted. One of those things is, the way that others treat us. We interact with so many different people daily, we don’t usually stop to think about how our actions or words may affect them. Some people choose to treat everyone the same no matter how they act or what they look like. While others may change the way that they speak to each person based on how they perceive that person. This is a short story about how I have witnessed daily interactions that occur for a person who has down syndrome. The person that I am talking about is my cousin, Jeffrey, who is 35 years old and has down syndrome. Whenever I am home, I usually have him with me at least once a week. He means a lot to me, and how people treat him not only affects him, but it also affects me. I was home a heard knock on the door, I opened it and I was immediately greeted with a huge hug. In that couple of seconds, I became completely energized and a huge smile spread across my face. I returned the hug instinctively, I knew who it was without even having to look, it was Jeffrey. He lights up every room that he walks into, and he makes everyone feel as if they are the most important person in the world. We went to breakfast, everything was going great, we were all laughing again and talking about what we were going to order. When the waitress came she went around the table taking everyone's orders, but when she got to Jeffrey she stopped, gave an empathetic smile, and then turned to my dad to ask for Jeffrey’s order. Within seconds, Jeffrey’s whole mood completely changed, he went from a ray of sunshine to a cloud of sadness. I became enraged very quickly and I had to hold myself back from saying something rude. I put myself into her shoes and thought about how she may not have been educated on what down syndrome was, so I let it go, but when it was time to order the food I knew I had to speak up for Jeffrey. I had to make him feel comfortable and happy again. She came back to get our food orders and proceed to do the same thing. I quickly turned to Jeffrey and told him to tell the waitress what he wanted, he then turned towards me, smiled, and proceeded to read off his order. The waitress was a little caught off guard, but she complied and took his order. From then on everything went back to normal and Jeffrey’s mood returned to normal. He may deal with adversity sometimes, but he never lets it get to him. He keeps on pushing through, no matter the circumstances. Often people with down syndrome are perceived to be less intelligent than others and unable to make their own decisions, but most of the time this is not the case. Her actions, although not intentionally hurtful, treated Jeffrey as if he was less than a human being. She completely disregarded his feelings. He is 35 years old and he was treated as if he could not decide on what he wanted to eat, just because of how he looked. You should never treat someone as less than a human being no matter how they look or what disabilities they may have. Everyone should be treated equally, even if they are perceived to be “different”.

There are often instances that happen in our daily lives that most people take for granted. One of those things is, the way that others treat us. We interact with so many different people daily, we don’t usually stop to think about how our actions or words may affect them. Some people choose to treat everyone the same no matter how they act or what they look like. While others may change the way that they speak to each person based on how they perceive that person. This is a short story about how I have witnessed daily interactions that occur for a person who has down syndrome. The person that I am talking about is my cousin, Jeffrey, who is 35 years old and has down syndrome. Whenever I am home, I usually have him with me at least once a week. He means a lot to me, and how people treat him not only affects him, but it also affects me. I was home a heard knock on the door, I opened it and I was immediately greeted with a huge hug. In that couple of seconds, I became completely energized and a huge smile spread across my face. I returned the hug instinctively, I knew who it was without even having to look, it was Jeffrey. He lights up every room that he walks into, and he makes everyone feel as if they are the most important person in the world. We went to breakfast, everything was going great, we were all laughing again and talking about what we were going to order. When the waitress came she went around the table taking everyone's orders, but when she got to Jeffrey she stopped, gave an empathetic smile, and then turned to my dad to ask for Jeffrey’s order. Within seconds, Jeffrey’s whole mood completely changed, he went from a ray of sunshine to a cloud of sadness. I became enraged very quickly and I had to hold myself back from saying something rude. I put myself into her shoes and thought about how she may not have been educated on what down syndrome was, so I let it go, but when it was time to order the food I knew I had to speak up for Jeffrey. I had to make him feel comfortable and happy again. She came back to get our food orders and proceed to do the same thing. I quickly turned to Jeffrey and told him to tell the waitress what he wanted, he then turned towards me, smiled, and proceeded to read off his order. The waitress was a little caught off guard, but she complied and took his order. From then on everything went back to normal and Jeffrey’s mood returned to normal. He may deal with adversity sometimes, but he never lets it get to him. He keeps on pushing through, no matter the circumstances. Often people with down syndrome are perceived to be less intelligent than others and unable to make their own decisions, but most of the time this is not the case. Her actions, although not intentionally hurtful, treated Jeffrey as if he was less than a human being. She completely disregarded his feelings. He is 35 years old and he was treated as if he could not decide on what he wanted to eat, just because of how he looked. You should never treat someone as less than a human being no matter how they look or what disabilities they may have. Everyone should be treated equally, even if they are perceived to be “different”.

As a future educator it is important that when going into teaching, you think about the methods and approaches that are important to you. Each educator has their own set of views and values that influence the way the go about teaching in their classroom. It is also important to thing about different result that are desired in the classroom environment as a whole. In reference to this class, we are specifically looking into differentiation in addition to multilingual teaching. My teaching philosophy focuses on flexible assessment, routines, scaffolded instruction, and embracing diversity, this going to be explained in the following paragraphs. Flexible assessment is an important part of my teaching philosophy because it allows for students to show their knowledge in different ways. Standardized testing can be hard for many students, especially for those who may have a disability or are a mulingual learner. It is essential that these students are given an equal opportunity succeed and demonstrate their learning. So in my future classroom it is necessary that students are able to choose a form of assessment that works best for them, not whatever is easiest for me. Another critical aspect of my teaching philosophy is having a routine in the classroom because it creates a helpful repetition. For many students that have a disability, they enjoying having a routine that the can follow along with each day to keep there mind at ease. For students that are multilingual learners, routines allow them to understand instruction more easily in the classroom. Language can sometimes be hard for both students with a disability and multilingual learners, routines allow them to not rely on language, and focus more on actions. Scaffolded instruction is also an imperative aspect of my teaching philosophy because students can learn from more effective teaching methods. Scaffolding allows for lessons to be broken down into clearer and simpler steps. Both students with a disability and multilingual learners often struggle with following directions. This can be due to a variety of factors, such as speaking speed, complicated wording, or too many steps. Therefore, the way that teaching is approached is extremely detrimental to students' learning in the classroom. Scaffolding in the classroom allows these students to learn more easily while also receiving the help and support that they may need. The last aspect that is important to my teaching philosophy is embracing diversity because it allows all students to feel welcome, and it creates a classroom community. It is essential that students are in a space where they feel completely free to be their authentic selves. This is specifically beneficial for both students with a disability and multilingual learners due to the fact that they often feel like outcasts. They sometimes get excluded or overlooked in classroom settings due to being different from their peers. This is why having a classroom that embraces diversity is imperative. It allows students not only to be who they are, but also to teach each other about what makes them unique. Overall, these aspects of flexible assessment, routines, scaffolded instruction, and embracing diversity make up a majority of my teaching philosophy. They all embody the characteristics of what I want my future classroom to look like. I feel that having all of these things will allow me to understand and empathize with my students. Doing this will not only create a healthy classroom environment, but it will also allow me to create meaningful relationships with my students as well.