Five Practices That Would Benefit Leadership In Special Education

After reading chapters one and two of the book “Exceptional lives”, I could more easily understand special education. As a teacher, I will mostly likely have many students with disabilities in my class throughout my career. With

Preparing regular education teachers to address the diverse needs of children with special needs in inclusive set up.

In this paper I will discuss what exactly is a Special Educator, what education is needed to become one, salary, job outlook, and work environment. I have also interviewed a Special Educator and I will discuss how she feels about being

“One of the essential roles of special education teachers is coteaching and working with other professionals, as well as communicating with family members and between special education teachers and other school-related professionals(Vaughn & Bos, 2015, p. 114)”. With the importance of a least restrictive environment special education and general education teachers are working together in a classroom with varying levels and abilities of learners. It is vitally important to have an effective relationship between the two teachers while developing and implementing lesson plans for learners with special needs. The physical space and dynamics of the classroom should fit the needs of the students and the established procedures should ensure a highly functional environment. Importantly, educators need to communicate to families “encouragement about what they can do at home and about an effective plan for providing instructional supports for their child(Vaughn & Bos, 2015, p. 114)”.

The National Association of Special Education Teachers (NASET) is an organization for special education teachers to provide an effective learning and safe environment for students with disabilities. NASET was developed to educate, inform, support, and train teachers and upcoming teachers of special education. To conclude, NASET is a national organization with professional association for members of special education across America.

A special education teacher needs to acquire a variety of different skills in order to succeed. “The majority of young men and women who major in special education bring a heaping helping of heart, personal commitment, and passion to the profession” (Hollingsworth). A special education teacher must enjoy working with children and developing activities and lessons to help them learn. Qualities necessary for

In the article The overrepresentation of African American students in special education, Fanion (2010) suggests some of Georgia’s public schools are struggling when it comes to the placement of minorities in special education (Fanion, 2010). Fanion (2010) suggests African American students still are placed in special education more than any other students in Georgia Public Schools. Georgia’s data shows African American students are more likely than any other minority group to be placed in special education and labeled with behavior and learning disabilities (Fanion, 2010).

Leadership in Special Education has been the objective for a long time. A few years into the education field, through collaboration with peers, shared visions, and most importantly several years of experience in the area of special education, becoming a special education director is now becoming more of a reality. Even though lifestyle changes prolonged this dream, until recently things started to fall into place, and now the opportunity is presenting itself again.

Starratt’s work resonates with any educational change initiative, but this book has added dimension and depth to my work. Every day I attempt to orchestrate organizational change in dysfunctional special education departments that serve special needs individuals. First, Starratt (2004) makes it clear that an overarching goal of an effective and ethical educational leader is not only to identify the critical areas of concern, but to initiate the change needed to uphold and enhance the “common good.” In my current career, that applies to special education systems requiring reform where unwilling administrators do not reorganize priorities for that to happen. While the definition of the phrase, “the common good” may be unclear, when it comes to initiating change in special education practices, the indisputable outcome should be the ownership of all special needs students by every staff member.

Within the past decades and a big discussion has occurred regarding the most appropriate setting within which to provide education for students in special education. Although the change in the educational environment is significant for handicapped student the concepts of inclusion also bring up new issues for the regular education classroom teachers.

Presently I am a Special Education teacher working with children who have a wide range of disabilities. My class setting is integrated, which mean half of the class is general and the other half is special. My primary goal is to modify general education lesson plans to meet each student’s needs and abilities. These needs may include, but not limited to emotional, physical or cognitive disabilities, teaching basic literacy and life skills. I have an interest in this field because I feel with the proper help and assistant; students make positive changes in their academic and social life. Providing early intervention is essential when teaching kids with disabilities. One of the main reasons why I have made the decision to pursue a PhD in education, specialization in Special educator, is because I enjoy what I do and would like to make a difference. My ultimate goal is to keep making a difference by helping those that needed it and provide them with the proper resources to enhance their ability. I want to be an example to my children and have them see the end result of what happens when one desire to strive for the best and what they can accomplish. I want my children to see that with hard work, motivation, dedication, concentration, and having no limits that they will attain any goals they may set forth.

Special Education is a topic of controversy with many advocates fighting for the justice children and adults with special needs so rightfully deserve. With laws being passed and modified so frequently, it is important that the educators being brought into the world have an extensive knowledge of the developmental needs of many different types of children. With this knowledge and their constant measures to keep up to date with the fast-moving world of education, they will be able to deliver an appropriate atmosphere that is in accordance with the law that ensures ethical practices and guidelines are always being followed.

In discussions with Ben Robertson and Matthew Rose on what our topic for the Instructional Leadership Action Plan (ILAP), we all believed that providing teachers with more information on the Special Education Process would well serve the needs of all teachers. Ben and I both talked to our principals about having the ILAP at our respective schools and both principals agreed that the need for it was great in both buildings. However, when discussing travel for Matthew it was decided that we would have the ILAP at Nickelsville Elementary and would later hold the same ILAP, based on our feedback from teachers at Nickelsville Elementary and our cohort, at Gate City Middle School.

It was the first day of class when my professor asked whether we would prefer an unconventional approach towards learning about critical thinking throughout the semester? And as you have guessed, almost all the students said yes in regards to the approval of the notion. As a result, instead of reading multiple chapters from the book and taking multiple-choice questions exam, we took part in volunteer programs. A program which was substituted as a class project along with another simple task. This paper will analyze on the following aspects of the class project. Firstly, how my leadership qualities were developed through working with the disabled students? Secondly, the conflicts I faced through the semester and their resolutions. And

Whilst there is no one single definition of special education there are some inherent similarities between the various definitions given by a plethora of philosophers, politicians and academics. Special Education is a form of instruction that is designed to meet the needs of students with disabilities in order that they can learn the very same skills and information as other students in school (Giordano, 2007; Osgood, 2005). Under the banner of special education there is high prominence placed upon individualised