Special Education Philosophy

Improved Essays
The job of a special education teacher may be very difficult and challenging at times. The profession requires patience, creativity, and adaptability. To be successful in this profession, I think you have to have a true passion to teach special education. I believe I have that passion. I fell in love with working with students with disabilities when I volunteered at a summer camp for people with disabilities. Through the courses I have taken at Fontbonne University and my own experiences, I have developed my personal philosophy that I plan to implement in my own classroom. I want to be a teacher that makes a difference for students. I believe all students want to learn, and it’s the teacher’s job to figure out how to engage students. I might …show more content…
I want to commit myself to assuring every student is given the resources and skills to succeed. I feel my teaching style strongly supports progressivism and Howard Gardner’s ideas of Multiple Intelligences. Progressivism puts the emphasis on the students, rather than the content (Parkay, 1998, p.134). By focusing on the student, a teacher will develop a child as a learner. Progressivism gives students the skills needed to learn and think on their own. This philosophy insists that I teach students skills and strategies to become efficient. I also think Multiple Intelligences should guide instruction. Multiple intelligences identifies which learning style best supports a student’s learning. We all learn in different ways, and that is especially true in a special education classroom. I plan to assess students’ preferential learning style to guide instruction. Each student has a different set of strengths and weaknesses, and strengths should be identified and used in the classroom. When a student is learning in his or her preferential learning style, the student is much more likely to remain engaged in the lesson. Lessons should be differentiated to target multiple learning styles. I, as a future teacher, want to use progressivism and Multiple Intelligences in my classroom to make learning individualized to each …show more content…
While I have a great deal of experience managing a large group of children, I have not had the opportunity to have my own class to develop my own sense of classroom management. I feel confident in my ability to control a class full of students, but I look forward to the opportunity to organize my own classroom and set classroom expectations. Since I have not had my own classroom, I feel there are many little things that happen in a classroom that I have not gotten to practice. There are procedures developed for everything students do in the classroom. I want to see my own growth in classroom management because classroom management can make or break a classroom. Strong classroom management skills make a class run smoothly. One way I plan to work on classroom management is to develop my own plan before I begin my clinical experience. It is best for me to be over-prepared with procedures to implement before I begin my clinical experience. Another important part of classroom management is to reflect on the plans I have implemented. If the plan does not work, I need to find a new plan that will work. I hope to grow in classroom management so I feel confident and in control of my class in the future. A future employer will expect me to develop an effective classroom management plan. By creating my own plans, I will have evidence of effective plans I have implemented. I

Related Documents

  • Improved Essays

    Ethical Standards: Being a special education teacher, there are multiple roles to help students succeed in school. In diverse schools, special education teachers need to build a professional platform to help their students succeed. Special education teachers are held to ethical standards when it comes to the way they conduct themselves when working with students and their families. The Code of Ethics Principle (CEC) for Special Education Professionals has 12 principles that maintain special education teachers to a higher standards (*****, 235).…

    • 394 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    When observing a special education classroom I am not only observing the class, but I am observing a glimpse into my future as a teacher. I was privileged enough to observe a multi-needs intermediate classroom with students who range from eight to ten year olds at Hope D. Wall School who have moderate to server learning disorders and physical handicaps. The purpose of the multi-need classroom is for the teacher to assess which path the student will take after the year is over. For an example some students might need more intensive guidance during their education, while other students attend life skills classes in order to prepare for life outside of school. While I was observing the class, I was fortunate enough to witness the students participate…

    • 1126 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Special Education Goals

    • 714 Words
    • 3 Pages

    I am interested in seeking a Master’s degree in Special Education because I want to pursue the best training and education possible to excel at my job. I enjoy learning and want to reflect this and pass this on to others. I’m a committed student who is dedicated to my education and the future education of my students. My goals as a teacher are to sharpen my student’s academic skills, drive them to think alternatively, and influence them to step outside of their comfort zone. I intend to help my students evolve as human beings, both morally and ethically, and for them to improve within their community.…

    • 714 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The Special Education field is a brand-new field to me. I am currently subbing at Special Ed (SpEd) class in San Bernardino School District. This is my first time subbing for a SpEd class. I am also new to the SpEd credential program. I first started school in the Multiple subject credential program hoping to be a Kindergarten teacher.…

    • 714 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Decent Essays

    Throughout my high school career, I have participated in New Palestine’s Best Buddies program. Best Buddies is a program where students become paired with another student who has intellectual and developmental disabilities. The goal of this program is to give everyone a friend. During my time in high school I have moved up in the office ranks. My senior year I earned the right to be the chapter president and I was overcome with joy.…

    • 246 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Great Essays

    Developing my own personal philosophy has helped me become a better teacher, and instill confidence in…

    • 1219 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    I have wanted to teach school since middle school just like my mom. I decided that I wanted to do Early Childhood and Special Education as my major. It truly hit me towards the end of middle school and the beginning of high school. I knew that special education was something I was going to do because of something in my heart that told me to pursue it. After high school I started at Grand Canyon University then transferred to Middle Georgia.…

    • 750 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Special Education Essay

    • 1170 Words
    • 5 Pages

    With close to 6 million students aged 3-21 receiving special education services as of 2012 (Institute on Disability: University of NH, 2014), it is obvious that there is a need for qualified special education teachers nationally. One might mistakenly think all that is needed is a bachelor’s degree. The required certification is only s small part of what it takes for an effective special education teacher. First and foremost, a special educator needs to have a sound understanding of learners.…

    • 1170 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Looking back at my fieldwork, I am apprehensive about how much experience I actually have spent in a classroom teaching. However, I also know that my time student teaching will overturn this thought and replace it with the amount of experience I did gain. I also recognize that I need to work on my classroom management skills, which I hope to learn from my cooperating-teacher. While I do have general ideas on how to manage a classroom, and even some specific strategies I would like to try, I know that this is something I will have to fully learn by being in a classroom. As a college student, one does not really get to practice classroom management skills, so I believe that my time in an actual classroom will help me develop the essential skills necessary to ensure that my future classrooms run safely, smoothly, and…

    • 1002 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Student Mission Statement

    • 823 Words
    • 4 Pages

    As a University of St. Thomas undergraduate student, I believe the school’s mission statement has contributed to my personal growth these last four years. I have been shaped into a morally responsible leader, who thinks critically, acts wisely, and works skillfully to advance the common good through my experiences on campus and my involvement in several clubs, organizations, and volunteer groups. All of these experiences taught me skills to better myself as a future educator. As the president of the University of St. Thomas Special Olympics Club, I learned to be a morally responsible leader.…

    • 823 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    L.M. Montgomery Middle School is located in the Blithe county district. This district has been ranked at 92nd out of 182 districts in the state of Georgia, according to SchoolDigger.com. L.M. Montgomery is in the process of becoming a Title 1 school, as about 63% of the students in attendance receive free or reduced lunch. This school is also in the final stages of a renovation, which began during the second half of the previous school year. As a result, the students and teachers are enjoying a fresh environment and new technology in their classrooms.…

    • 1825 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    As I started reading this first legal case study, red flags started to go up right away. The first flag was the fact that Patrick 's mother, Rose, didn 't want to be at the meeting due to being so confused. The next flag that I saw was the fact that Mellie Jackson, the special education teacher, wasn 't even in attendance. The last flag that I saw while reading this case was the fact the Rose didn 't say a single word during the hour long meeting. This means that Rose didn 't have any say in Patrick’s IEP goals.…

    • 792 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The study used 15 seniors who went through a three-and-a-half day training by trained teachers. The result was the teachers felt more prepared and confident in classroom management because they were able to reflect on their field experience and develop concrete connections between the classroom management techniques they used and the result it had on the student and/or…

    • 372 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Classroom Management Philosophy Good classroom management is arguably the most important factor in the ability to teach children effectively. The rationale being that, a perfectly planned lesson plan will not make a difference if the teacher does not have a receptive, and well-managed group of students to teach it to. Just as well, the way the classroom is managed can reflect the teaching abilities of the teacher in that, if the students are actively learning and engaged, they will be well managed. My own personal teaching philosophy is founded on this belief.…

    • 275 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    Introduction Since the passage of the Education of All Handicapped Children Act, now codified as IDEA (Individuals with Disabilities Education Act), No Child Left Behind (NCLB) and the required adequate yearly progress (AYP), students are being served in various ways and the United States is striving to improve the quality of the educational practices and academic outcomes for students with disabilities (Palmer, 2015 and Stoutjesdijk, Scholte, & Swaab, 2012). In an attempt to meet the mandates of NCLB and IDEA, educators must address impediments to special education student’s academic achievement. Therefore, it is necessary to evaluate how culture, specifically special education culture is keeping students with a disability from achieving academically. In the United States, there are many cultures and many…

    • 1062 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Great Essays