LEARNING CURVE
WRITTEN & PERFORMED BY JODIE KNOWLES
DIRECTED BY NIKKI VISEL
LEARNING CURVE is a powerful one-person play that tells the true story of Jodie Knowles as a kid growing up in Nashville Tennessee that was unjustly diagnosed with a Learning Disability and put into Special Education for 9 years segregated from peers and endured bullying and student shaming. She eventually moved to Seattle Wa where she was quickly put into an Arts Based Program where she thrived. Her story is set in1981 to 1998 during the era of war on drugs and the rampage of pharmaceutical drug companies entering our school system. Knowles highlights Special Education as the bed rock that fuels the school to prison pipeline as she recalls witnessing the loss of her friends and peers to futile suspensions and three strikes your out rule. Learning Curve bravely explores the school-to-prison pipeline, over-diagnosing, medicating, isolation, segregation and expulsion of students while breaking the silence of shame and stigma around these vital issues. Knowles uses spoken word poetry, dance and traditional story telling to open your mind to the power of the creative arts. Told from a personal perspective, Jodie hopes that all educators, teachers, school counselors, parents, activists, and civic leaders begin to understand the lived LD/ADHD experience, not only the academic struggle, but the social and emotional reality that students in Special Ed go through every day. After each performance audience members will be invited to reflect on how we might begin to collectively move forward toward inclusion, awareness and social change in the education system.
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California School Resource Officers Association fully supports the presentation of Jodie Knowles. As you are aware, she brings to life the many challenges and negative stereotypes of those with learning disabilities. Her presentation brings understanding to the issues, challenges and emotions so many of our adolescents in and out of the juvenile justice system face. In turn, this understanding should bring about change in the way we view young people and how we conduct operations.
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Wayne Sakamoto
Executive Director
CSROA
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