Absurdities and Realities of Special Education
Absurdities and Realities of Special Education: The University of Vermont Center for Digital Initiatives Collection is a complete set of all of the cartoons created by Michael Giangreco with the assistance of the artist Kevin Ruelle. This includes a total of 335 cartoons from four previously published books and searchable CD that went "out of print" in 2019 and a few newer cartoons. Michael Giangreco created the original ideas, text, and sketches for each cartoon and Kevin Ruelle redrew the sketches.
The cartoons in the first three books all were originally in black and white. That was a conscious decision, both for aesthetic and practical reasons. The cartoons were designed to be easily copied on to overhead transparencies for display in classes, workshops, and other learning environments. A group called Alliance for Inclusive Education (ALLFIE) requested permission to use one of the cartoons on the cover of their magazine and subsequently colorized it. Prompted by Giangreco’s colleagues associated with ALLFIE, Giangreco and Ruelle began to colorize the rest of the images. In this complete digital collection, we have included a total of 335 different digital images; including the 315 different cartoons from the four earlier books, 12 cartoons that were on the CD only, and eight that were not included in any of the previously published books or CD.
Cartoons from the early books have found their way on to the pages of many newsletters disseminated by schools, parent groups, disability advocacy organizations, and professional associations. They have appeared in books, manuals, and journals; a few were even published in a law journal. The cartoons have been used extensively as projected slides or within learning activities in college classes, at conferences, in workshops, and at other meetings. Parents have framed cartoons that closely reflected their own experiences and hung them in their homes or offices. Other parents have used them in meetings with professionals to help get their points across. They have been given as gifts to people who "get it" and handed out as door prizes. The Vermont Coalition for Disability Rights used them as part of "Disability Awareness Day" at the Vermont legislature. The cartoons can be used in innumerable creative ways.
Showing 21 - 30 of 342 Records
High Standards
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- Creator: Giangreco, Michael F., 1956-.
- Date Created: 1999
- Description: The cartoon shows Mr. Moody (administrator) standing on a chair reaching up to the top shelf of a book shelf. The labels on the shelves say Reports, Journals, and the top shelf he is reaching toward says Standards. It looks like he may fall. The tag lines reads "Mr. Moody complies with his district's promise to maintain high standards."
- Parent Collections: Absurdities and Realities of Special Education, Flying by the Seat of Your Pants
Stone-Age Shaping
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- Creator: Giangreco, Michael F., 1956-.
- Date Created: 1999
- Description: The cartoon shows three panels with a father and son from the stone-age. In all the panels there is a fire with a bird cooking on a spit, a stone wheel, and a spear. The first panel shows the son and his father sitting near the fire. The Father asks, "Son, show me cooking." The son is pointing to the spear with a questions mark over his head. The father says "No you are cold." In the second panel the son points to the wheel and the father says, "You're getting warmer." In the third panel the son is pointing to the fire with the bird cooking over it and the father says, "You're Hot, Hot!" The tag line reads "Stone-Age origins of shaping."
- Parent Collections: Absurdities and Realities of Special Education, Flying by the Seat of Your Pants
Dry Heat
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- Creator: Giangreco, Michael F., 1956-.
- Date Created: 1999
- Description: The cartoon shows a large group of people sitting around a table all talking at once. One person looks to the guy beside him and says "Is it me, or is there a lot of hot air in this room?" The guy responds "Yes, but it's a dry heat." The tag line reads "Alan always looks for the positive in every situation."
- Parent Collections: Absurdities and Realities of Special Education, Flying by the Seat of Your Pants
Job Coach
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- Creator: Giangreco, Michael F., 1956-.
- Date Created: 1999
- Description: The cartoon shows four people in a fast food restaurant. Two of the people, a young man and a job coach, are standing inside of a bright yellow field of light. And two men are standing just outside the field of light. The tag line reads, "Tim notices a mysterious force-field around his job coach that co-workers cannot penetrate."
- Parent Collections: Absurdities and Realities of Special Education, Flying by the Seat of Your Pants
Sustained Silent Reading
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- Creator: Giangreco, Michael F., 1956-.
- Date Created: 1999
- Description: The cartoon shows a man with very long gray hair and beard sitting in front of a class of students sleeping. All the students in the class appear old with gray hair and beards and are sleeping too. The teacher, Mr. Winkle is sleeping with a book open in front of him on the desk. The tag line reads "Mr. Winkle's second grade class sets a new record for sustained silent reading."
- Parent Collections: Absurdities and Realities of Special Education, Flying by the Seat of Your Pants
Crystal Ball
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- Creator: Giangreco, Michael F., 1956-.
- Date Created: 1999
- Description: The cartoon shows a Gypsy wearing a turban looking into a crystal ball. The Gypsy says "I see two sessions of PT, OT, and Speech Therapy weekly." The tag line reads, "The district's experimental method for determining related services works just as well as making those decisions before knowing student's IEP goals and other learning outcomes."
- Parent Collections: Absurdities and Realities of Special Education, Flying by the Seat of Your Pants
Subtle Reminder
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- Creator: Giangreco, Michael F., 1956-.
- Date Created: 1999
- Description: The cartoon shows a classroom with kids sitting at their desks and an Elephant in the corner of the room with a sign on its trunk that says "Remember to include my child!!" The teacher saying "I don't see an elephant in the room…do you?" and another person in the room says "No...I don't either..." The tag line reads "After meetings, phone calls, and letters had failed, one parent tried a subtle reminder."
- Parent Collections: Absurdities and Realities of Special Education, Flying by the Seat of Your Pants
Inclusion Patrol
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- Creator: Giangreco, Michael F., 1956-.
- Date Created: 1999
- Description: This cartoon has two panels stacked vertically. The top panel is divided, showing two people talking on the phone. The man on the left says, "Inclusion patrol can I help you?" the woman on the right (Mrs. Snippett) says, "Yes. We are trying to develop a model to transition our preschool students with disabilities into inclusive settings when they reach school age. Have you heard of any good models?" In the bottom panel the same two people are on the phone. The man says, "Yes, ma'am. It's called kindergarten in the neighborhood schools." She replies, "Right?! We hadn't thought of that!" The tag line under the cartoon reads, "Another annoying true story from the files of the inclusion patrol."
- Parent Collections: Absurdities and Realities of Special Education, Flying by the Seat of Your Pants
Conditions
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- Creator: Giangreco, Michael F., 1956-.
- Date Created: 1999
- Description: The cartoon shows two panels stacked vertically. In the top panel there is a man (Carl) walking down a sidewalk with a clipboard writing. Behind him is an open manhole with a "work area" sawhorse sign and a blind man (Jim) walking with a support cane. The panel below shows the Jim falling into the manhole and the Carl says, "I knew I should have paid more attention to the 'conditions' associated with that objective." The tag line reads "Carl Changes the 'conditions' in his objective: 'given a sidewalk route without an open manhole cover, Jim will safely walk from home to work...'"
- Parent Collections: Absurdities and Realities of Special Education, Flying by the Seat of Your Pants
School Calendar
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- Creator: Giangreco, Michael F., 1956-.
- Date Created: 1999
- Description: The cartoon shows two people, a man and woman, looking at the school calendar. The man is pointing at the calendar and says to the woman "Have you seen the proposed school calendar? We have 10 days for teaching and 185 days for testing." The woman replies "Well, at least it's fewer lessons to plan." The tag line reads "Based on current political trends, within two decades 95% of the school year will be devoted to testing."
- Parent Collections: Absurdities and Realities of Special Education, Flying by the Seat of Your Pants