Reflection Of The Special Education Teachers

The amount of people who live with disabilities is a controversial number. Depending on what law and diagnostic tools used, a person may have a visible disability, or one that may lie beneath the surface of his or her appearance. Some people believe that the term “disability” is merely a label use to hold back, or prescribe helplessness. Meanwhile, individuals who have been properly diagnosed with disabilities struggle to maintain respect and acceptance every day. In plain language, there is a lot of misunderstanding between people with disabilities and those without. It is firstly important to get everyone on the same page regarding the definition of disability.

Achieving a school district’s mission and vision requires the commitment of its stakeholders. In order to involve them in the process, it is necessary for educational leaders to “motivate staff, parents, students, board and community members” (Educational Leadership Constituencies Council, 2002, p. 4). The transformational leadership theory emphasizes the importance of educational leaders acting as role-models in order to motivate and inspire the school community. This approach has the potential to involve all stakeholders, leading to increased student success (Bush, 2007). The Assistant Director of Special Education in Northwest ISD directly supervised the school district’s assessment staff. Her education, experience, and passion set an example for her subordinates, stimulating them to achieve more, leading to her promotion to Executive Director of Student Services.

I enjoyed this 20-hour field experience, special education has always been a passion of mine. This gave me the opportunity to see first-hand what my future teaching job could look like. I noticed there was numerous amounts of paper work that must be filled out for each student that is in the special education classroom. There is also a lot of data scores that must be collected and used when determining a student’s IEP. Time management is very important when creating a daily schedule to meet the student’s needs.

When Public Law 94-142 was passed in 1975 it had a positive impact on the education for children with disabilities. Millions of children in the United States were supported by the law. These children had previously been excluded entirely from the education system.

My personal philosophy of special education drives not from teaching in the field, but from, observations, and personal experience, and the workshops I attended. I have had the opportunity to work with individuals with special needs in many different settings, all this help cultivate my knowledge in handling the needs of the special needed student. Special needs students have the ability to learn, to function, to grow, and most importantly to succeed. The difference comes into how they learn or how they need to be taught. There are as many beliefs about the "hows" as there are teachers and each of us forms our own philosophy through our experiences and research. As a student in a special education teachers’ program, learners with

By implementing this idea in Area Two schools to support special education students, we will create a more data driven approach to increasing student achievement. By following this idea the team will also do a better job of implementing professional development and mentorships that greatly increase teacher effectiveness. The idea will also increase understanding of the diversity of the schools and promote community involvement by establishing more open communication with the parents and the community to support their students’ needs. The leadership teams will work together to set goals and objectives to support achievement in all grade levels. They will develop a framework for good communication between teachers and leaders so there is

In what type of school do you teach? (Type an “X” next to the appropriate description; if “other” applies, provide a brief description.)

The special education teacher interviewed, talked about this goal to meet each child’s need is challenging to her especially in eleventh and twelfth grade. The teacher tries to strive towards their educational goals, their need areas, and work on their strengths.

My interest in pursuing a position as a school administrator for an elementary school system is to provide leadership for staff members and quality education for all students, and to become part of the world of education. The Benjamin Franklin School located in the Dallas School District serves as a growing population of approximately 1,070 students. The school offers a well-defined educational system for the students, and it has an overall student-to-teacher ratio of 17:1. In addition to the statewide curriculum standards, the school offers special education programs and classes for the gifted and talented. As a result of the school district rankings in the student’s performance, Benjamin Franklin School has become the worst in the

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.

The purpose of schooling is to help our special education students to be functional and independent in the real world. I want them to learn how to deal with real life situations and to be able to understand and adapt to the changes it may bring. For example, being an autism teacher of high school students, my philosophy is different than of an autism teacher of elementary students. The most important thing of concern for the older students is to make sure they are as independent as possible and teach them some type of job skill to help them acquire a pay check to help with their care. I also help them have an

Autism Speaks. (2012). The Federal Response to Autism. Retrieved June 17, 2012, from HYPERLINK "http://www.autismspeaks.org" http://www.autismspeaks.org.

When I was asked to reflect on my experiences in EDSE 316 and the fieldwork, I had to think long and hard on how I would sum up four months of classes and fieldwork into four pages. I have learned so much about the various disabilities and how it has change the world of special education. I think a better term would be the “endless possibilities of education”. It wasn’t too long ago when children with disabilities would be stuck in a room in the back of school only to be seen in the beginning and end of the school day. They were the ones who rode the other buses and no one really talked about. This class has allowed me to speak of my own family and how special education impacted my life. I have a brother whose whole life was spent in the special education class, and my own sons with speech and learning disabilities who are now receiving special education services. It also allowed me to reflect on my own participation in the special education program in my early elementary years when I was struggling with my own speech disability. This class gave me the chance to see the timeline of special education, from its earliest beginnings to what it is now.

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.

     Special Education 332 (Education and Inclusion of Individuals with Special Needs) has been enlightening for me as a secondary mathematics educator. In the beginning of the semester, my feelings towards special education were those of apathy and insensitivity. I now understand that my feelings were due to my lack of knowledge and my judgment based on stereotypes.