Special Education and Me
I have always had a passion for teaching special education. I grew up in a family of special education teachers and when I was younger I spent countless hours interacting with students with disabilities. I never saw the kids as strange or weird. I simply saw them as kids who did things a little differently than I did.
As I grew up, I continued interacting with students with disabilities through volunteering in my high school's Independent Living Skills classroom. Still, I didn't see the students as much different from myself. I enjoyed sharing my love of dance with a high school peer with Down Syndrome and I was amazing by a boy with Autism who could recited the daily weather report from the morning news by memory 5 hours after he heard it. This was where my passion for teaching blossomed, even though it took me several more years to realized my heart was in teaching.
In college I was the student who changed my major a million times! I went into college thinking I would do pre-med. It didn't take long for me to realize that pre-med was not for me. During my first 2 years of college I had short lived dreams of being a nutritionist, an astronomer, and a public health educator. After a whole lot of soul searching, I found myself volunteering in a classroom of students with Severe and Profound Disabilities. After 5 minutes in the classroom, I was hooked, and I haven't looked back since.
I received my Bachelors Degree in Special Education- Cross Categorical Services in May of 2010. Through my undergrad years, I did practicum work in many different classroom settings. I spent time working in a special education preschool classroom, a resource room, a kindergarten English Language Learner classroom, a Severe and Profound disabilities classroom, and a Mild and Moderate disabilities classroom. Although I had so much experience various classroom settings, I was still hungry to learn more.
I attended graduate school at the University of Arizona and was intrigued by a program with an emphasis in inclusive practices. I loved every class I took as a grad student and was so eager to put all of my learnings to good use in a classroom. During that time, I acted as a Graduate Assistant for a program which helped 18-22 year old students transition from high school to adult life. I loved being in the community everyday, teaching my students how to ride the bus, shop for groceries, build a resume, and apply for jobs. The experience as a graduate assistant really gave me prospective of teaching older students, which was just what I needed to help round out my experiences in special education. In May of 2011 I graduated as a Master of Art in Special Education- Severe and Profound Disabilities.
My Take on Special Education
I believe that Special Education should be exactly that, Special. Every student has different abilities and different needs and that is why my classroom is run on individualized instruction. As a Special Education Teacher it is important that I treat each of my students as individuals. I often hear people say, "If you know one person with autism, you know one person with autism". This statement is so important and it is a great reminder that even students with the same disabilities can be so different.
I also believe in inclusive practices. I believe that every student, regardless of their cognitive ability, deserves to be treated with respect and dignity. I believe that part of that includes having access to the general curriculum with their same age peers. Same age peers can be a great resource in giving students peer models. Although I do have one "self-contained" classroom (the other in inclusion), and I constantly inviting typical developing peers to come into my classroom to model appropriate behaviors as well as play with students. As a student who grew up in inclusive settings, I know how important it is to give typical developing peers the opportunity to befriend students with disabilities. I feel that my positive interactions with my peers with disabilities helped shape me into a more kind, compassionate, and giving individual.
My Take on Early Childhood Education
As an Early Childhood Educator I want my students to learn to love school. My classroom is the very first school experience for these children, and I hope to plant a seed of a passion to learn in each of my students. I believe that learning should be fun in preschool. In my classroom, much of the learning in play based and inquiry based. You will NEVER find a worksheet in my classroom. I can achieve the same goal of a worksheet with hands-on activities that engage higher-level thinking in a fun and exciting way. In my classroom, you will NEVER store bought classroom supplies. My color charts, borders, calendar pieces, and alphabet charts are all child made. This allows for students to be engaged in every aspect of our classroom, and it make the classroom a child friendly place. In my classroom you WILL see children who love to come to school, kids who are engaged in imaginative play, creativity at its finest, and a teacher who loves her job more than anything in the world.
What You Will Find Here
This blog is dedicated to everything that makes my classroom what it is. Follow me as I attempt to change my corner of the world as a Special Education Early Childhood Teacher. Here you will find lesson plan ideas, crafts, bulletin boards, circle time activities, and Special Education strategies. I can't take credit for everything though. I have two amazing Teaching Assistants who have greatly helped turn my crazy ideas into a reality.
