I always believe that teaching compassion and understanding is one of the most important things we can do for children, and being in a classroom full of individual and unique learners provides us a great opportunity.
I took the time today, to tell the students about a very special athlete that I work with. To give you all the shorter version of the story, I volunteer my time to coach a skater named Alex. He is a Special Olympics athlete and has worked incredibly hard to get to where he is. Incase you don't know, the Special Olympics program is for athletes who have intelectual disabilities such as autism, Down's Syndrome, and many others. Alex first started skating 5 years ago, and he was the first SO athlete I had worked with. With an incredible amount of hard work, determination, and dedication, Alex leaves tomorrow as a part of team Canada to the Special Olympics World Games in Korea. You can find out more about Alex and team Canada here
This brought up a wonderful discussion in class about how people are all different, wether they have a disability or not, and that everyone is capable of amazing things. We also spoke at length about how we treat others has a big impact on them, and the importance of being respectful and polite no matter what a person's abilities are!
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