Special Education Personal Statement

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.

“A teacher affects eternity; he can never tell where his influence stops.” – Henry B. Adams. For as long as I can remember, I have always wanted to play a big part in children’s education, which is why I have decided to enroll for an education course. I believe that educators have a lifelong impact on their students and on the development of resilience. Thus, I aspire to inculcate my love for learning into the next generation, by influencing and inspiring children all through their formal education.

The time is now to become a Special Education Teacher. I believe the best fit for my academic and vocational goals is the UWM Exceptional Education Post-Baccalaureate Teacher Certification Program.

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

Throughout my life, I have lived on four continents and four states. After receiving my bachelor’s degree in Communication Disorders with a minor in Special Education from Auburn University and a Master’s Degree in Special Education from Alabama A and M, I applied for employment with the Department of Defense School Systems. I have worked in schools in such diverse areas as Lajes, Portugal and Ft. Rucker, Alabama. Currently, I am working at Seoul American Middle School in Seoul, South Korea. This is an American middle school, which serves the school age dependents of United States military and civilian personnel living in Seoul, South Korea. At the end of this school year, I will be moving to Rota, Spain with my wife and two children.

Hi Adrienne! Although your post is somewhat different from mine, I find your reminder about pivotal moments in our path on life incredibly encouraging. In my post I discussed the fact that God’s desired result for my life was to become a mother, and I believe that in order to become a mother, God needed me to become a teacher as well. Although I did not begin my pursuit of a degree in the field of education, somewhere deep down I always knew that I wanted to be a teacher. It was not until I received a bachelor’s in business administration, and a promised job following graduation, that I understood where God was directing my life. Following the merger of two major companies, the job that I was promised upon graduation was eliminated.

Parentship skills. The true recipe of a great parent partnership comes from trust, respect and communication. The collaboration of a true parent partnership allows both the teachers and parents to be able to work as a team to provide the student the best personalized education. This year, I have started as new special education teacher in two half day, integrated preschool classrooms for Thompson Valley School District. I was very confident that I could teach preschool however, this year would be my first experience with special education.

I use to work with special ed with my mom at my local high school. It was the best experience I ever had. Teachers and high students are there to help and teach them but sometimes they teach us something that reflects us. It takes practice on how to work with them and to become closer with them.We become close with the special ed students and become more than just staff members to them. I’ve seen many teachers and teacher’s assistants come and go. They left because it was either too much to handle along with stress and taking away their patients. I also think that it is the same situation when working with children at the Mini-Corps program. It takes time to develop a relationship with each student. Student and teachers must work together

As I reflect on my life, I am unable to cite one incident that made me want to be an educator; instead, I feel that I was groomed into wanting to work with children and families. Learning was a high priority in my family, as some of my earliest family memories involved education. I recall my dad sitting at the kitchen table studying late into the night for his college classes, and the nightly ritual of my mother reading to my brother and me. These memories, plus the encouragement of family, friends, and teachers, provided me with the desire to become an educator. The final factor came when I discovered the world of School Psychology.

I think that both knowing the subject and knowing the skills is important. In regards to special educator I believe it is more important to know skills because that is the area students in special education struggle with. As a secondary special educator I was assigned to teach science content with only have one course of science during college. I felt so lost when I first started, but when I focused on the unit I was teaching and how to teach it too my students things got easier. I collaborated with general science educators to help me learn the content and now in the middle of my second year I feel very confident teaching the material. It is more important for me to teach the skills of how to learn the material than it is to help the material

I want to use my knowledge and my experience to help alter the hospitality industry’s perception when it comes to seeing disabled people as potential hires for various positions. I would also like to take the general idea of helping disabled jobseekers obtain full-time employment beyond limitations of the nonprofit organization, Respectability USA. I really would like to help disabled people on a more industrial, global scale. For example, the services provided by RespectabilityUSA are usually targeted toward college age or postgraduate students, which in turn only allow them to help a small percentage of the disabled community. I feel that by going for younger crowd; specifically high school sophomores and juniors, begin give those that

Dr. Ingle said this in his book, “Always be aware of what god is teaching you in the moment whether an enjoyable moment or a difficult moment”. To be honest, that’s exactly what God made me see and I found what his calling was for me. I was dead set on doing something in the medical field my entire life, but the moment I stepped on campus, I immediately changed my career path. When talking to God, I felt this sense of power for teaching. I felt that God was guiding me toward becoming teacher, to help and lead students in their academics. I looked back on my childhood, when people were playing with dolls, I was teaching my dolls. I would set them up like they were in class and I was their teacher. It made me realize that like Dr. Ingle says, I became aware of all the moments where God was teaching me to become the person I really am meant to be.

One of the most major questions for educational advocates as regards middle school Special Education students is whether and how much they are included in regular class. It is virtually impossible to tell if this policy should be adopted in general: “Current legislation supports the concept of including students with disabilities in the general education classroom but leaves many wondering, 'Is this approach working?' Determining the effectiveness of this practice is a task not easily accomplished. The term...is not found in any law and is used inconsistently..Inclusive programs differ greatly from district to district... [A]mount and nature of support provided to the regular classroom teacher differ dramatically from district to district” (Hines, 2001). In general, the primary justification for this reform approach is one of justice. Disability students should be in classes with their able-bodied peers: It's a form of de jure segregation based

For my project, I went Grandville Christian and shadowed for an afternoon while there I got to hang out with 3 different students who are apart of the special education. During my time there, I began by doing the math, it was first-grade math and we got to play a game so it was super fun. I ended up working one on one with the student which was super helpful and really fun. I then went to the pre k room, there we cut out pictures and matched objects to colors. I then got to the music class with the class which was one of my favorite classes. After that, we proceeded to go back to Mrs. Doorn room and have a snack, during our the snack break we did a book that had an ISpy feel. The student was so quick to find the objects it was actually really amazing. Then after that, I got to brush up on my Spanish skills and observed a student in a Spanish immersion class. I loved that the students in the class were so inclusive with the student. It was perfect evidence of an idea Mrs. Doorn had to told me before we started the day which was “inclusion is not in but instead of”. The class was catered toward the student, but instead, we took what the student could do and did that not undermining their abilities.

I have a belief that for some teaching might be an occupation, but for most it is a vocation. I was called to work with children and never looked back. Regardless of the political strife, stress, lack of time or money, I have never considered leaving the profession. There are many times when I call upon God to guide me in the decisions I make especially regarding the children that he puts in my care. I remember waking up one night after a particularly difficult day with a student with whom I just did not feel I was making a difference. There in the dark I prayed about what could I do to help this child. I believe God spoke to me and told me that I was not put in this child’s life to make a difference in him. He was put in my life to make a difference in me. With six weeks left to the school year our relationship changed greatly and he still stops by to visit 10 years later! I attribute this change to asking for, receiving, and acting on advice from God.