Lessons Learned From Third Graders

We were filming today at Oxford Middle School for the first of two days of taping. As a small part of an extensive look at the history of special education in America, two classes of Oxford Middle School third graders were shown the award winning 1975 film A Day in the Life of Bonnie Consolo. The documentary tells the story of a suburban housewife and mother who goes about her day like any one else. She gets her kids ready for school. She packs their lunches. She cleans the house and drives to the store to pick up a few groceries that she cooks later that evening. Everything is precisely the same except for the fact that Bonnie Consolo was born with no arms. Her incredible story of perseverance in spite of her handicap still teaches lessons today. It was truly remarkable to see the children’s faces in the class today as they witnessed Bonnie do all the mundane tasks that we take for granted all with her legs and toes.

After the film, the students were asked to draw a picture of what stood out the most to them during the movie and the results were hilarious and poignantly honest. Tomorrow, we will be back at the school taping interviews with the students on what they thought of Bonnie and what it would be like to live with that kind of disability.

This History of Special Education project is written and produced by Dr. James Payne of the Ole Miss School of Education with production support by Media and Documentary Projects. Check back tomorrow for more info about the project as well as some images of the drawings the students colored.

-Matthew