Finding Joy in the School’s ‘Mixing Cup’

One of my favorite places in the world is the classroom across the hall from me. This room full of wonderful children and teachers is affectionately known throughout our building simply as “Mr. David's class.”

But each morning, as I pass by their door on my way to pick up my second-grade reading group, I hear music and I am drawn in.

Today, I heard that music and stopped to listen. I looked through the window in the door and saw the students and teachers sitting in their chairs in a circle. They saw me smiling at them. Mr. David asked me to come in. “We like to have visitors," he said.

They were singing The World Is A Rainbow by Greg and Steve [2]. Mr. David and Mrs. Fuller were also signing in American Sign Language as the kids were singing and signing along. This classroom is a mixture of students who have Down Syndrome and students on the autism spectrum. Perhaps to a trained musical ear, these children were out of key, off rhythm and loud. But the finest of choirs and musicians with masters degrees couldn't have created a more beautiful sound than they did in Mr. David’s class.

My favorite moment was when L, a little boy with autism who has never spoken to me, looked over from Mrs. Fuller's lap and stirred his arm around and around to the words, "Now you be you, and I'll be me. That's the way we were meant to be. But the world is a mixing cup. Just look what happens when you stir it up!"

This is certainly a best practice, to include different types of children in our lives daily. So I start small by finding opportunities to meet every special education student in my school and become friends with their teachers. We eat breakfast and lunch together and try to do special projects together during the school year.

And on rare occasions I might even try to sing along with their class.

Knowing the names of all of our special education students and hearing them call, "Hey, Mr. Barton," is my badge of honor as a teacher.

Our special education children aren't nameless asteres planetai (wandering stars), moving in seemingly aimless ways. Each one is a world in our system waiting to be explored, wanting to be known by name, hoping to be friends with other people and to say “hello.”

As Greg and Steve say in their song, “the world is a rainbow with many kinds of people and a place that takes all kinds of people to make it go around.” I’m thankful for these and all the special students and teachers at my elementary school. They add so much depth, color and meaning to my world.

Barton is an elementary school teacher in South Carolina.