Special Teacher Interview

I decided to interview Mrs. Seppa first because I wanted to be able to have a basis for the questions that I would ask Ms. Villalobos, who teaches in a sixth grade special education class. I noticed after reviewing and comparing responses from both teachers how much of a difference there was not only in the grade, but also the teacher. My first question was asking if they always wanted to be in the area of Special Education. I asked this because I knew I did not always see myself as a potential special education

For this assignment, I interview a service provider for special education services. The service provider I interviewed, takes part in the educational team, and provide services. The service provider is developmental therapist. I was able to develop a better sense of the importance of inclusion. After interviewing the service provider, and learning her philosophy of inclusion I have was able to better understand the accommodations and modifications for special needs students.

This is a very important component in education to be aware of and when you are a teacher. I interviewed a first-grade teacher at my local elementary school to gain more information about the processes that our local schools go through for professional training, interventions, and in the classroom to ensure that students are developing their abilities in reading. My main focus was on what our school’s process was, how support is given, professional training offered, and what more is needed to be done to increase success for students.

My contribution to NYC public schools children in education has been extensive. I first began working in NYC public schools as a speech pathologist in 1980. I would examine expressive and receptive language skills of children and through task analyses develop strategies of language acquisition. In short, I was able to gets students to improve their reading and writing skills in order to master grade level competencies. In my educational journey, I was recruited by Principal Louis Rapport to become an Assistant Principal. Principal Rapport ran an after-school program for teachers who wanted to become school leaders. I worked in coordinating summer programs at George Westinghouse Vocational High School in 1986. I worked hand in hand with the principal to build community partners for our school which offered twelve or more trade programs and internships for students ranging form optical to jewelry making. In 1989, I was selected to serve as Assistant Principal of Special Education at Automotive High School, with Principal Steve Gilbert, who has since passed away. Principal Gilbert much like Principal Rapport was my mentors in leadership within the educational arena. With the support of Principal Gilbert, I was able to go to a Harvard Graduate School of Education and participate in a Summer Seminar in 1995. This was the season of “Inclusion in Schools”. Principal Gilbert recommended me for a program, Assistant Principal to Principal Program

Special education programs and services are available in many school and are fast growing. In a high school, a principal named Debbie Young has been presented with a situation with the parents of a special education student. Mrs. Young has been a special education teacher and assistant principal in a progressive and affluent school district in the South. Mrs. Young was approached by the parents of Jonathan a severely disabled tenth grader whose parents want him to attend one of the schools in the district. He is profoundly mentally disabled, has spastic quadriplegia, and has a seizure disorder. Mrs. Young refuses his parent’s request because of the huge expenses and the school is not an appropriate place for Jonathan.

The author performed two separate interviews face-to-face, selecting two individuals with different backgrounds in order to obtain unique perspectives. The first interviewee, named Jennifer Hodge, works for Allen ISD as a special education teacher for a self-contained DEAR (Developing Early Academics Readiness) class for students in kindergarten through sixth grade. In addition, her experience includes teaching for 22 years, with seven of those years teaching students with disabilities in both self-contained classrooms along with resource and inclusion environments. The meeting to discuss psychoeducational testing occurred in Jennifer’s work place during her conference period over a 45 minute period on Friday, August 28, 2015. The second

I interviewed a childcare teacher engaged in the Early Childhood Development. She graduated from East Tennessee State University. She has been intrigued by children her entire life, she has volunteered with children with disabilities and worked with children since age 16. You can say that teaching has been a dream job of hers. Going through the interview I went through a series of questions as follows. What are positive and negative parts about being a teacher? What disciplinary styles work the best? And how can teaching in America be improved?

For this assignment, I chose to interview Ms. Lisa Parker, who is a Math co-teacher and resource teacher for grades K-5 at Krahn Elementary which is a part of the Klein Independent School District and is one of the teachers I have been observing for my field experience. Ms. Parker has been a teacher at Krahn Elementary since 17 years. She started as a 1st grade teacher and was moved to 3rd grade after three years. The administration saw that she was really good with management and math, so she was given the below average, special education students and kids with adaptive behavior after seven years of teaching. With this, she adopted a style for teaching kids with special needs and decided to get a certification in Special Education. Ms. Parker has been teaching specifically in Special Education (SPED) since five years now and the special populations served by her in Krahn elementary include Gifted and Talented students (GT), students with Autism, students with Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder (ADHD), students with Learning disabilities (LD), students with Other Health Impairments (OHI) and Emotionally Disturbed children (EBD)

The special education teacher interviewed, did not expect to teach special education when she graduated college. She got a job helping at a personal home with children ages 5-6 years old with some disabilities. After her experience with this first job she loved it, and began to seek positions in Elementary special education. However she was only able to obtain a position in a High School special education classroom.

This past week I had the privilege to observer Mrs. Roer’s resource classroom. During my interview with Mrs. Roer I was informed on her duties and the different strategies she must use to accommodate the needs of the students. Mrs. Roer explained her role as a resource teacher is to provide special education student with a variety of learning strategies to help them in the classrooms, and to assist in any help with the lesson from classes. The need for a “study hall” or resource for special education student allows the students to receive extra help as they need it on an individual basis or in small groups. Mrs. Roer stated that the special education student were not able to receive the extra help in a regular study hall to assure they received

The year was 1972 at Central High School in the small town of Bridgeport, Connecticut. There lived my father along with his sister, his mom, and his dad later to be known as my aunt and my grandparents. Knowing that my father lived in a completely different state as I live in now, I felt that interviewing him about his high school experience would be a smart idea as there could be major difference between high school in Connecticut and high school in New Jersey especially during that time period. Just after I started to interview my father (Barry Schnee), it was very evident that high school back then was definitely not the same as it was when I went. To begin the interview, I tried to get a good feel about my father's basic high school life

Sounds great! We will all plan to be there for parent teacher interview. I think you nailed it right on school has been really easy prior to him and he never really had to put in any effort or work. General, he hasn't had to work hard at things as they came easily to him including sports. He was reading and had a head start in math and writing before he started JK. We are constantly talking about the future and how working hard will payoff. I try to keep him motivated and confident, but not sure if that's making a difference. If there is anything you recommend to help him get motivated I'm open to suggestions lol.

For my interview, I interviewed a woman by the name of Mrs. Miskell. She is a close family friend and also teaches at the elementary school that I used to attend. Mrs. Miskell has been teaching for fifteen years. She has a class of 21 including 2 special education children who are mainstreamed into her class for a few areas of study. She team-teaches one day a week with the remedial math teacher, and one day a week with the remedial reading teacher. Her children switch classes with one other class for social studies and science. In this interview, I covered her views on special education and security in today's schools.

This semester, in HPE3200, I worked with students at the KSU Play program, Kennesaw Elementary (KE), and Big Shanty Elementary (BSE). Within the Play program, my student, Troy, was a student with special needs. Troy lives with autism; therefore, he requires a more complex set of teaching skills, behavior management, and instructional strategies. However, while working with Troy and other students in the Play program in contrast to those at KE and BSE, I found the challenges offered me growth as an educator.

Furthermore, how is it possible for a teacher to devote attention to finding students with learning disabilities?