March is the month when Spring finally arrives, and while we’re all happy about that, it’s also the month in which we celebrate women’s history and acknowledge the progress made in teaching the developmentally disabled. Let’s look at the significance of recognizing the achievements of both these groups.
This year’s theme of National Women’s History Month is “Leading the Change: Women Shaping a Sustainable Future,” This theme highlights women who are rebuilding outdated systems to ensure long-term sustainability, including environmental, economic, and societal, with the goal of creating a more resilient future.
Check out this timeline that shows the long history of celebrating the many contributions and achievements which women have given us:
1908 – Over 15,000 women marched through the streets of New York City demanding better pay and voting rights.
1909 – The first Women’s Day was organized in the United States by the Socialist Party. This day was to remember the women’s strike that took place a year earlier in New York City.
1911 – The Socialist International established an International Women’s Day to honor women’s rights in Austria, Denmark, Germany, and Switzerland.
1920 – The 19th Amendment granted women the right to vote in America.
1975 – The United Nations began celebrating International Women’s Day on March 8, 1975.
1978 – The first Women’s History Week started in the school district of Sonoma, California. Presentations, contests, and a parade were held all week to bring attention to women’s rights in history.
1980 – President Jimmy Carter declared the first official Women History Week for March 2-8.
1987 – Because many states had already been dedicating a full month to celebrating women, in 1987 Congress passed a proclamation that officially established March as Women’s History Month.
Remarkable Women in History
Throughout history there have been many women whose contributions have advanced art, music, science, and society. Here are a few of the standout women in history:
- Harriet Beecher Stowe wrote novels that popularized the anti-slavery campaign.
- Susan B. Anthony led the charge of winning voting rights for women by establishing the National Woman’s Suffrage Association.
- Emily Dickinson transformed the art of poetry.
- Catherine Brewer Benson became the first woman to receive a bachelor’s degree in 1840 from Georgia Female College, the first college in the world allowed to grant degrees to women.
- Hattie Caraway of Arkansas was the first woman elected to the Senate in 1932.
- Sandra Day O’Connor is the first woman Supreme Court Justice in 1981.
- Lilly Ledbetter is an activist for women’s pay equality who is behind the legislation that eases the time limitations of filing a pay discrimination claim.
- Kamala Harris was the first woman vice president of the United States.
Show your respect and admiration for the women of the past who paved the way for women today and honor all the remarkable women in your life during Women’s History Month.
Developmental Disabilities Awareness Month
March is also Developmental Disabilities Awareness Month. A lot has changed in the 39 years since Ronald Reagan proclaimed the first Developmental Disabilities Awareness Month in 1987. The main change has come in education which, until recently, had no cohesive plan for teaching the developmentally disabled.
It took decades of trial and error to find the best method for teaching children with special needs. For most of the last century, there were no best practices guidelines for schools to follow, and individual schools determined the methods they thought best.
Some educational philosophies promoted separating special needs learners, while others didn’t make accommodations for them at all, mainstreaming everyone into the same classroom, no matter what their abilities.
Happily, today’s educators have tools and strategies, developed over the years, which provide successful outcomes for those with special needs. The method currently used to ensure the best outcomes for special students is known as inclusion and, thanks to the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) of 2004, and the required implementation of an Individualized Education Program (IEP), the federal government has set the standard for special needs education.
An IEP can assist students in various areas such as oral expression, listening comprehension, written expression, basic reading skills, reading comprehension, mathematical calculation, mathematics reasoning, and spelling. By providing individualized instruction in these areas, students can then return to the classroom for subjects where individual attention is not required. It’s important to note that while the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) primarily focuses on addressing disabilities, gifted children are also considered to have special needs. These children may require attention outside the typical classroom setting and may also benefit from an IEP.
