Nancy Gedge on how to properly include a child with special needs; as a teacher and as a parent – PP98

Award-winning blogger, teacher and parent Nancy Gedge joined us for an inspirational conversation this week. Nancy qualified as a teacher in 1994 and took a break to have her own family. After returning to primary teaching, she now feels she is relatively fresh, despite starting her career some time ago. What drove Nancy to start blogging in the first place? Nancy’s dad encouraged her to start blogging as he knew she needed to find a more creative outlet. After attempting to write romantic novels for a time which she felt taught her a lot, she turned her hand to her first blog about her son who has Down’s Syndrome. She originally planned for it to be a book. The first piece was written for the local National Childbirth Trust magazine but then Nancy decided to send it into the Radio 4 Home Truths programme after realising it was was quite good. As a result, she was interviewed by DJ John Peel. After this, Nancy didn’t write a great deal for some time but eventually started writing about having one foot in each camp of teacher and parent. This turned into a rant against homework… So it turned into a teaching blog because Nancy is really interested in the relationship between parenting and teaching and what this tells us about education and society in general. Nancy tells her stories to illustrate educational points and hopefully to get people to think for themselves. I never thought it would happen to me This is the title of the first post on Nancy’s blog and it’s very much worth reading. It’s all about Nancy’s alternative view on the experience of having her son and discovering that he had ‘an extra chromosome’. Nancy explains her point of view in a passionate way and believes a lot of her different reaction can be attributed to her experiences as a teacher. This chromosomal abnormality was a pain but it didn’t stop me loving my child or being glad that he was here. A lot of Nancy’s writing springs from other people’s reactions… Read the rest of the show notes on the Pivotal Education site Nancy on Twitter The Diary of a Not So Ordinary Boy Class Teaching Tips NEW! Pivotal Education’s Open Badges: Pivotal Badges help recognise your skills, achievements and professional development activities. You can earn badges by engaging with Pivotal support and training. Each badge has specific requirements. Start earning badges today!   (Creative Commons Sound clip by Johnny Pixel Productions, Inc. – http://www.johnny-pixel.com/ http://www.freesound.org/people/jppi_Stu/) What would you like to hear covered in forthcoming episodes? Let us know by emailing [email protected] * Subscribe to the podcast * Listen for free every week * Send in your comments or questions * Get involved!