Part of my job as a special educator has always been to advocate for my students, but to also educate those who are not in my room about what my students really are capable of doing. Reading the article "Social and Emotional Learning: Taking a Stand for What You Believe In," I started thinking back to what I stand for as a teacher of students with special needs.

Three years ago I took over the girls' varsity soccer program as head coach. Knowing that very few of my soccer players were actually going to play soccer beyond their high school years, I thought that my job wasn't just to coach these girls, but to also make them better people in general. So last year, I had my girls go to a group home for young ladies with special needs. There, the girls played games, ate a BBQ and hung out with the ladies that lived there. They got a good idea that just because someone has a special need, does not mean they are not human, that they do have feelings and they love to laugh and have a good time as much as they do. Then this year, my team went and played soccer with young children who have various special needs. The girls jumped right in and had a great time. When my players were out there, they asked questions about the kids with special needs and had lots of questions about what it meant to be "autistic" or have "down syndrome." I loved it because the girls really wanted to know about the kids and really wanted to make sure each kid had fun, no matter how "withdrawn" some of the kids actually were. They took the time to get to understand several of the kids and built a friendship! Now when they see my students on campus, they are more willing to chat with my students and to make an effort to invite my students to come hang out with them too.

The article discusses the idea of schools implementing a curriculum that also focuses on the social and emotional needs of students. I agree that this should become part of what students learn about throughout their high school. I do my part for the 20 ladies that play on my soccer team each year, but it would be great to see a larger number of students learn these lessons.