Why I want to be a special education teacher.

I have not been able to post because I have had problems getting into the blog, but I have figured it out now. I saw the prompt on 'why I wanted to get into special education' and I thought it was a good starting point for me.

I guess the main reason I wanted to be a special education teacher in the beginning was because it made me more marketable (I'm just being honest), but when I began doing observations, and watching the students and how they interacted I relaized that I enjoyed being in a resource room, or just watching a special education teacher with his/her students better than the general education classroom.

Again, I'm just being honest, which can sometimes seem pessimistic, but in every school that I have observed, particurally non-inclusion schools, I saw a pattern. I saw that these schools desperalty needed qualified teachers for special education. Most of the students with 'minor' disabilities were in general education classrooms for most of the day, which can be good, but in some circumstances, the students were in there for the simple fact that there was not enough staff to accomadate everyone but the students with the most severe disablities.

I noticed that the general education teachers had a hard time dealing with the students with disablities and although they tried to make accomadations, most of the time it was futile and whatever problem the child was displaying was handled quickly but not efficiently.

I am not saying that these teachers were under-qualified. I am simply saying that these students needed more time to be worked with, and without special education teachers, it was hard for these students to get the education they deserved. I guess I felt that it was unfair to the students in the general education classroom because I would watch them trying so hard to understand something (slamming their pencils down in frustration) because the their teachers did not have the time to help them. I realized that I wanted to work with students with disabilities because I really enjoyed working with them, and it felt very rewarding to help them to understand something that they had been so frustrated with just a few moments before, and all they needed was a little more attention. Above everything else, I would have to say that the reason I chose LBD students is because they inspire me and humble me, because they try harder to achieve something that many of us take for granted: learning with ease.

Erica Jones