Chapter 10: The Starfish Effect: It Matters to This One

It was the end of my sixth year of teaching, and I received a teacher thank you card from the school librarian at my middle school. As I opened it up, I read, “Mrs. G, thank you so much for helping me move up four grade levels in reading. Love, Marius.”

As I put the note away in my keepsake box, I reminisced on this student’s journey. This particular student was a special education student who was enrolled in my sixth grade general education and inclusion English language arts class in 2010. In this class, he struggled with everything: spelling, writing, and reading. However, being in a high-stakes testing system, I was pushed by administrators to teach the state standards and keep pace with the district pacing guides so that all grade level content was covered for the 9-week period, mid-term, and end of year assessment which is what I did in my 60-minute block. Due to this, I failed this student because I did not have the time and support to meet his needs which caused him to be a behavior problem.