S11 E19 Andrew Goff
TTim VillegasFeb 8, 2024 at 1:59 pm49min
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00:02Tim Villegas
Hi everyone, it's Tim, your friendly neighborhood inclusion just some of you know that I've been producing this podcast and conclusive since 2012. And since then podcasting has evolved especially in the last few years. video podcasting is all the rage. And while this podcast for the foreseeable future will always be audio, we will be using video more and more as we plan for our next season, starting in September of 2024. Now, I'm not going to pretend that I'm not reading this from a script. This is exactly my process. When I produce the audio podcast all this to say is that for this episode, we're trying out a video version which will be posted on our YouTube channel. Oh, and by the way, if this is your first time hitting play on thinking inclusive, Welcome, we are glad you're here. On thinking inclusive, we bring you conversations about inclusive education and what inclusion looks like in the real world. Are you a teacher in a special education classroom? Have you ever thought maybe there's a better way to support learners with disabilities than to segregate them in separate classrooms? Our guest this week struggled with this exact question. If you want to hear his story of how love transformed his classroom and practice, keep listening. Dr. Andrew Goff was an educator of children with and without disabilities for 12 years before transferring his knowledge and skills he developed as a teacher to work as a researcher, author and college professor. He holds a bachelor's in child psychology and a master's in early childhood education, special education from University of Minnesota Twin Cities. He earned his doctorate in Leadership for Educational Equity, with an emphasis in early childhood special education from the University of Colorado Denver. Every day, Dr. Golf learns more about how to advocate for the inclusion of children with disabilities and society. Love is a classroom. His first book shares what he learned as a classroom teacher. But the lessons do not end with this story. learning and sharing are lifelong endeavors for him. This is what happens when you record. On a Wednesday at noon in Georgia, you hear the tornado sirens in this episode, we welcome Andrew Goff, who discusses his journey from supporting highly specialized class settings to embracing full inclusion in early childhood education. Throughout the conversation, Andrew reveals his insights on why the classroom should be a place of love, and growth for all children. Regardless of their abilities. He shares a powerful narrative centered around his experience with a student named Javon eliminating the challenges and triumphs of creating a nurturing learning environment. The discussion delves into the complexities of advocacy, within an often rigid education system in the transition to leadership roles that can influence change. After a short break, in my interview with Andrew goth, and for free time this week, I want to take you on a walk with me, as I reflect on this episode, stick around, we'll be right back.
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03:41Tim Villegas
Andrew golf, welcome to the think inclusive podcast.
Unknown Speaker
Thanks, Tim. It's wonderful to be here.
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03:46Tim Villegas
Let's talk about why love is the classroom like what was the transfer, transformational moment that turns you around? You know, you said that, at one point, you're thinking, maybe, you know, some kids really do need a special classroom with highly trained staff and intensive support, like what changed your mind from that line of thinking?
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04:16Speaker 1
To be honest, it wasn't something that like it was this aha, that's actually I think, part of the writing process. So when I went into writing this book, it was more for therapeutic reasons. I didn't expect it, you know, I needed to process this experience that had been, you know, three years, two years since, you know, the passing of Javon and I think I was just coming to a place just both professionally and personally where I was like, this is this is something I need to talk about. And as I started to unpack it, I think I started to be able to articulate the ideas now the turning point, professionally because I'd said, you know, earlier that I, when I left the self contained classroom, I did say it might be good for some children. I think it was during the second half of the 2012 2013 school year, when I saw as I saw how children without disabilities, were growing, and benefited from this experience, and even furthermore, how appreciative parents were to see their children being inclusive, but I could see the correlation between their child's success and their child being kind to everyone in the class and, you know, creating a sense of belonging and welcoming, Javon and welcoming, you know, the other children, of whom I've given new names, remember, what did I call them in the book, I, when I saw how beneficial it was to children without disabilities, how beneficial it was to the families, how beneficial it was to the children with disabilities, even the children who don't have IEP s children who are just disabled by the curriculum, I, it became clear to me that no child should be I mean, this is, in my mind, it was neglectful to not in early childhood of all places, not provide children with the opportunity to thrive and grow. And to a certain extent, thinking back to, you know, I can look back on my experiences in the self contained classroom. And, I mean, it was on many aspects, it was degrading, like, the children at the end of the hall in the classroom, like, nobody deserves that. And it reinforces a lot of these internalized messages. I think parents have, you know, bringing their kids to a classroom that's self contained, versus bringing their kids to a classroom that's inclusive. It creates a different level of, of energy for me as an instructor, as a teacher is instructed nicking College, me as a teacher, as parents. And so, yeah, that turning point was really at the end, or was the middle of the school year as I saw everybody growing together?
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07:17Tim Villegas
If you are listening to this conversation, you're a teacher, and you're like, wait a minute, I teach self contained? And I don't think it's that bad. Like, I think, like I've been there. Andrew, I know you've been there. I think inherently we, like educators want their students to succeed, they want they want their learners to grow. I don't I've met up, I guess I say, I have met some people like this, but that like the vast majority, like, out of 1000 educators, maybe one or two are gonna say, you know, they need to be segregated, because, you know, they don't belong, you know, type of thing. It's very much the the majority of educators that if they do think a student should have been self contained, it's not because they actually want to segregate kids. You know, like, in the most negative sense of the, of the way of that thinking. Now, it's ableist. Yeah, it is. But just like being racist, like, those are all baked into the experience of being an educator, like we have to fight against that tendency. Absolutely. But, you know, so I think there's a lot of good intentions going on, even if those intentions are actually harming kids. You know what I mean?
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