While working as an artist-in-residence in Brooklyn, Rhonda Bondie, Ph.D., then a student of educational theater, decided to tackle the subject of immigration by performing an original play with her fifth-grade students.
A thorny, though classic, problem arose: Students who were hard of hearing or deaf were not included because there was no teacher trained to assist them. Fearing that the other children would tease them, the school’s principal decided it was best to let them forgo participation.
For Bondie, now a clinical associate professor of childhood special education in the Graduate School of Education (GSE), the incident sparked her desire to find ways for all children—regardless of ability—to achieve at their highest levels in diverse classroom settings. Her solution: Empower students to self-educate by offering them choices in their learning.
Click here to read the full story in Inside Fordham.
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