The directions for this assignment is, “please create one on a topic of your choice.”
The topic that I choose is about my experience as a Special Education teacher.
About me: Currently, I am a special educator. I taught in the public school system for 6 years as a special education teacher, teaching 4 year old students with severe disabilities. I left to work as a partnerships coordinator for a non-profit orgnaization because I was feeling burnt out from terrible administration procedures at the school I worked at. I left the partnerships coordinator job after working there for 6 months due to a toxic enviornment. Therefore, I returned back to the classroom as a special educator teaching in an inclusive 3/4 year old classroom.
My experience in the public school system:
I want my essay to talk about my passion for working with students with disabilities. I wrote my student’s IEP’s (Individualized Education Plan) and faciliated IEP meetings with their parents. The students that I’ve worked with had severe disabilities like Autism, Down Syndrome, Cerebral Palsy, Visual/Hearing Impairments, Intellectual disabilities, and more. Many of my students were chronologically 4 years old but developmentally were 12-18 months old and were non-verbal. I taught them communication skills, fine/gross motor skills, pre-academic skills, and social emotional skills. During my time as a special educator, I’ve had to lead two teacher aides. All of my teacher aides were older than me and didn’t want to work under a younger teacher. Therefore, I had to build a relationship with them and push through adversity for us to work together as a team. Two of my students passed away due to their disabilities. My first student that passed away was during my first year being a teacher so it was devastating as I did have to attend the funeral. The second student that passed away was during my fifth year and it was just as hard. Even though my students didn’t make as fast as progress than their typical peers, they were able to achieve some of their goals. Some of those goals included staying engaged during large group activities like circle time for 5 minutes, following 1-step directions like taking off backpack when arriving, and identifying their body parts.
My experience working in an inclusion classroom:
I’m currently working with 7 students. These students are 3/4 years old and developmentally 2 1/2 and 3 1/2 years old. They are all verbal. I started this job as a teacher in February 2024 so coming in towards the end of the year. I walked into a classroom with no lead teacher meaning no structure or routine. Four of my students had instense aggressive behaviors including hitting, kicking, spitting, and throwing chair at the teachers or peers. After 3 months of consistently mplementing structure and routine in the classroom and visuals/modeling for communication, the behaviors have significantly decreased and are more manageable. My supervisors and coworkers are surprised that I was able to do that since my class was known as the behavior class. I have a new love and passion working with students with disabilties with behavior challenges because it is a way of communication.
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