Practicum Experience Paper

For the disability ministry project, we were asked to choose a practicum experience where we shadowed or spoke to someone helping someone with a disability. For my project I chose to spend some time in the class for disabled children at the high school I graduated from. Throughout the glimpse of time that was allotted for this particular practicum experience I learned a lot of exciting things about disabilities, but also made some disconcerting revelations. While spending the day at school I was able to interact with the students, teachers, and overall staff of the high school; gaining insights, perspectives, and forming thoughts on everything I had witnessed. From start to finish, my day back at school has left a lasting impression on me. Upon first entering into the entire assignment I emailed the teacher in charge of the disabilities class in my high school. The teacher was very friendly and very eager to have me come in and spend time with the students. One of their biggest concerns was the privacy …show more content…
I am somewhat disappointed to discover that even though I had hoped the teachers would have nothing but love and compassion for their students, I found their words and actions to be harsh at times. This would be one area that I would suggest improvement on by providing the teachers an avenue to appropriately release their frustrations. I would also suggest training special needs teachers in how to handle situations in which they may already seem frustrated. With this being said, I also feel as though this is equally as important for parents with special needs as well. Providing parents and teachers with the tools to help channel frustration, pain, or even suffering caused by the suffering their loved one is experiencing will help better the relationships between all those involved and will ultimately result in a happier life for the disabled