Reflective Essays
Special Education Reflection
Coming into the field of education is one of the better decisions of my life. An even better decision I have made was switching over to the Dual Credential program at Dominican University to have both a special education and multiple subject credentials. As soon as I began working in schools, I realized that one of my favorite things to do was to find solutions to even the most complex of problems. I have always considered myself as a critical thinker and this has been well exercised when working in classrooms. I got to do this more so when I began working in special education as a substitute teacher and teacher's aide. It was around this time where I've learned that special education was a lot more exciting than I thought, and this was the career that I wanted to pursue in education. In the beginning, I never knew how big of a field education was and I only had simple ideas of what it was like to be a teacher. I am glad that I can now see a clear picture of what teaching in the public education setting as there is a lot more to teaching than what most people perceive.
Teaching is not that simple, and that is what I love about it. I'm always one who desires challenge and cannot settle for something that is given to me too easily. If I don't get challenged I become bored and I know that no one should be bored in their own careers. I can safely say that there was never a time in my student teaching or when I subbed in classrooms where I was bored. In special education, there was always something to do, or rather, something to solve. Working in special education was a great exercise for my mind, and I saw it as a way that benefited me as well as the students I taught. One of the most special things about working this job is that there are reciprocal self-rewarding feelings and sense of achievement that come from both ends - both the students and me as a teacher. Out of the other jobs that I've worked and other fields that I have ventured in, there was no other career that gives me this sense of fulfillment and satisfaction with the work I do. There are many people who get that special education teachers are the most patient teachers among them and what they do is very rewarding. They are right about it in this sense, however, I learned that patience alone is something that a special education cannot solely rely on.
Lately I have put more thought into this - does it really take patience make someone a good special educator? I like to think that patience is just a component out of the many other characteristics a person needs to be a good special education teacher. Another colleague once told me that it wasn't patience that makes some a good special education teacher, but rather, that person must be tough and not settle for anything less out of the students that they teach. She believed that standards most always be set high and that a teacher must believe that their students can achieve those standards while guiding them along the way. I tend to agree more this statement than what the majority think is "patience." I like this idea better because I also feel that I should continue providing my students with the challenge that they deserve. I say that they deserve challenge because they need to be proven to that they are capable of tackling on whatever they encounter - whether that is the toughest long division problem, the most complicated passage in a reading text, or a social issue such as a fight with a friend in the school yard. As they encounter challenges such as these, I want to be there to guide them along the right path as their teacher.
Being able to guide students in such a manner is what some say is a natural nurturing instinct that only some people have. I partly believe this is true, but I also see nurturing as a craft - especially when teaching. Planning lessons itself is a craft as you have to design the lesson to meet the needs of all students in your class. Crafting that is a challenge in itself as this required a lot of creativity and consideration on my part. As fun as it was, I also had the challenge of wanting the lessons to be perfect for all of my students, both in RSP and in the general education 3rd grade classroom. For the most part, I was able to draft lessons that were delivered well and they were lessons that students actually learned from. This comes to one of my favorite parts of teaching - the assessments.
Assessments are one of my more favorite parts about being a special education teacher. For what some would consider odd reasons, I love analyzing data that gives me a clear picture of a student's levels. The staff at Penngrove RSP knew how much I liked testing with the formal instruments such as the Woodcock Johnson, WIAT, and Brigance, so they gave me the experience of testing many different students. I find testing a lot of fun as it gives me the opportunity to work with these students one-on-one and I get to observe them outside of the general education setting. Reviewing the scores is also exciting for me because the numbers then give me more meaning. Reviewing the student's work and the observations that were made while testing was also fun as it gives me the time to think more critically about where the student may be struggling, and in what areas. Aside from formal testing, I also find pleasure in reviewing completed student work as they are the evidence on how well I have delivered a lesson or how much did they get out of it. I got to have this experience in both RSP and in general education.
Being able to know my students' responses allows me to make an assessment of myself and what are the next steps that I'm going to take in the classroom. Aside from creating engaging and enriching lessons, I carefully look into the kind of environment I am setting up for students. I try my hardest to keep the environment positive and inviting as this is essential for better learning. This is also my way of modeling to students how they should carry themselves personally and with others. Unfortunately, self-esteem is something that many of my students lack, and I wanted to maintain an environment where they know they can be successful every day that they come to school. I personally know what this experience was like when I was going to high school, and I would not want my students having that same experience where they are struggling all the time and are not encouraged enough.
I fear that this happens for too many students, especially those who receive special education services. I have seen real senses of defeat from a couple of students that I have worked with student teaching at Penngrove, but I made it one of my efforts to make it clear to these students that the challenges that they are currently facing should not be the determining factors of the kind of kids they are. It can be difficult to see some of your nicest students feel so defeated in school and I had to remind them that they really are good students who are capable of learning what they need to learn. Another great piece of advice that was handed down to me was that I cannot save them all. Not any teacher can save all of their students. If it cannot be me, then it will hopefully be someone else down the path in their school careers. However, it can start with me when I put that effort forward.
Being a new teacher, I would take any advice and guidance I can get. Not only from other teachers, but students as well. Both Dominican University and Penngrove Elementary have been places that helped me grow into the best teacher that I can be, and I will forever take away the lessons and learnings from these past two years of being in the Dual Credential program. Beyond completing the credential program, I am going to continue my professional development by obtaining my Master's in Special Education and pursuing a Moderate to Severe Disabilities SPED credential. But in the near future, I want to maintain and establish more connections with parents at the schools I work at, especially at Penngrove. I also want to maintain close contact with my supervising teachers at Penngrove, as well as the rest of the staff. Penngrove is a place I always want to stay connected with, and I don't know how I will ever leave them. I always remember Penngrove as one of the places that helped make me the teacher that I am today, and the teacher that I will become.
Teaching is not that simple, and that is what I love about it. I'm always one who desires challenge and cannot settle for something that is given to me too easily. If I don't get challenged I become bored and I know that no one should be bored in their own careers. I can safely say that there was never a time in my student teaching or when I subbed in classrooms where I was bored. In special education, there was always something to do, or rather, something to solve. Working in special education was a great exercise for my mind, and I saw it as a way that benefited me as well as the students I taught. One of the most special things about working this job is that there are reciprocal self-rewarding feelings and sense of achievement that come from both ends - both the students and me as a teacher. Out of the other jobs that I've worked and other fields that I have ventured in, there was no other career that gives me this sense of fulfillment and satisfaction with the work I do. There are many people who get that special education teachers are the most patient teachers among them and what they do is very rewarding. They are right about it in this sense, however, I learned that patience alone is something that a special education cannot solely rely on.
Lately I have put more thought into this - does it really take patience make someone a good special educator? I like to think that patience is just a component out of the many other characteristics a person needs to be a good special education teacher. Another colleague once told me that it wasn't patience that makes some a good special education teacher, but rather, that person must be tough and not settle for anything less out of the students that they teach. She believed that standards most always be set high and that a teacher must believe that their students can achieve those standards while guiding them along the way. I tend to agree more this statement than what the majority think is "patience." I like this idea better because I also feel that I should continue providing my students with the challenge that they deserve. I say that they deserve challenge because they need to be proven to that they are capable of tackling on whatever they encounter - whether that is the toughest long division problem, the most complicated passage in a reading text, or a social issue such as a fight with a friend in the school yard. As they encounter challenges such as these, I want to be there to guide them along the right path as their teacher.
Being able to guide students in such a manner is what some say is a natural nurturing instinct that only some people have. I partly believe this is true, but I also see nurturing as a craft - especially when teaching. Planning lessons itself is a craft as you have to design the lesson to meet the needs of all students in your class. Crafting that is a challenge in itself as this required a lot of creativity and consideration on my part. As fun as it was, I also had the challenge of wanting the lessons to be perfect for all of my students, both in RSP and in the general education 3rd grade classroom. For the most part, I was able to draft lessons that were delivered well and they were lessons that students actually learned from. This comes to one of my favorite parts of teaching - the assessments.
Assessments are one of my more favorite parts about being a special education teacher. For what some would consider odd reasons, I love analyzing data that gives me a clear picture of a student's levels. The staff at Penngrove RSP knew how much I liked testing with the formal instruments such as the Woodcock Johnson, WIAT, and Brigance, so they gave me the experience of testing many different students. I find testing a lot of fun as it gives me the opportunity to work with these students one-on-one and I get to observe them outside of the general education setting. Reviewing the scores is also exciting for me because the numbers then give me more meaning. Reviewing the student's work and the observations that were made while testing was also fun as it gives me the time to think more critically about where the student may be struggling, and in what areas. Aside from formal testing, I also find pleasure in reviewing completed student work as they are the evidence on how well I have delivered a lesson or how much did they get out of it. I got to have this experience in both RSP and in general education.
Being able to know my students' responses allows me to make an assessment of myself and what are the next steps that I'm going to take in the classroom. Aside from creating engaging and enriching lessons, I carefully look into the kind of environment I am setting up for students. I try my hardest to keep the environment positive and inviting as this is essential for better learning. This is also my way of modeling to students how they should carry themselves personally and with others. Unfortunately, self-esteem is something that many of my students lack, and I wanted to maintain an environment where they know they can be successful every day that they come to school. I personally know what this experience was like when I was going to high school, and I would not want my students having that same experience where they are struggling all the time and are not encouraged enough.
I fear that this happens for too many students, especially those who receive special education services. I have seen real senses of defeat from a couple of students that I have worked with student teaching at Penngrove, but I made it one of my efforts to make it clear to these students that the challenges that they are currently facing should not be the determining factors of the kind of kids they are. It can be difficult to see some of your nicest students feel so defeated in school and I had to remind them that they really are good students who are capable of learning what they need to learn. Another great piece of advice that was handed down to me was that I cannot save them all. Not any teacher can save all of their students. If it cannot be me, then it will hopefully be someone else down the path in their school careers. However, it can start with me when I put that effort forward.
Being a new teacher, I would take any advice and guidance I can get. Not only from other teachers, but students as well. Both Dominican University and Penngrove Elementary have been places that helped me grow into the best teacher that I can be, and I will forever take away the lessons and learnings from these past two years of being in the Dual Credential program. Beyond completing the credential program, I am going to continue my professional development by obtaining my Master's in Special Education and pursuing a Moderate to Severe Disabilities SPED credential. But in the near future, I want to maintain and establish more connections with parents at the schools I work at, especially at Penngrove. I also want to maintain close contact with my supervising teachers at Penngrove, as well as the rest of the staff. Penngrove is a place I always want to stay connected with, and I don't know how I will ever leave them. I always remember Penngrove as one of the places that helped make me the teacher that I am today, and the teacher that I will become.
General Education Reflection
Penngrove Elementary School was not exactly a new place for me. This semester was the beginning of the second school year I've been at Penngrove. At this start of the semester, I took advantage of the connections that I have already established on campus and it was the time to roll out any master plans that I had after familiarizing myself with the school and its students the previous school year. Unlike most other student teachers, I felt comfortable in my setting and I was very excited to start the new school year.
Coming in at the beginning of the school year was a great advantage for me as a student teacher starting out in the fall because I got to see how everybody kicks off the school year. For my first couple of weeks of student teaching, I was in RSP. It was very valuable to see how RSP sets up at the beginning of the school year, and it gave me the idea of how the general education classrooms were beginning their year. We did not meet with any students the first two or three weeks as we were still setting up. But I can imagine that the general education classrooms were engaging in various ice-breaking activities that help the students get to know their new classmates better as well as their teachers. During this time period, I got to hear about different ideas on activities that you can do for the first week of school, and how you can use these activities as pre-assessments to measure your students' skills at the beginning of the year.
Throughout my time at Penngrove, I have continued to do this - picking up multiple ideas for classroom management, assessing students, and making my lessons more engaging. I believe that my most favorite part about working in the general education setting was to put together lessons for the third grade class that I was placed in. The third grade curriculum seemed like a lot of fun for me, especially in the core content area of Science. I designed a Life Science unit in the Integrated Curriculum course for this class. Teaching lessons out of this unit was not only fun for me, but for the kids as well. This had me start thinking of other ways to continually integrate curriculum in the other core content areas such as Language Arts and Mathematics while holding up to the Common Core Standards.
The Common Core Standards were something else that I began to familiarize myself with more during my student teaching at Penngrove. I got to have the experience of seeing them implemented in Language Arts and Math lessons in different classrooms. I've also had the opportunity to talk about them with various teachers at Penngrove and listened to their opinions on them and how they use them in their lessons. It was also great to dip into many resources such as their Common Core ready books and figure out different ways on how to utilize them. I wanted my lessons to be as creative and enriching as possible, and I was able to do so with the resources and support of my supervising teachers and the other Penngrove staff.
Aside from planning and teaching lessons, making connections with the students is another huge part of Penngrove that I can take away with me for a long time. I always try to make time for them, especially for those students who wanted to have that time with me to talk or need any extra help with their work. I am also an advocate for garnering more student involvement on campus. On Fridays, I hold an upper grade Lunch Bunch during the lunch time where upper grade students can meet in designated classroom to sit down, have lunch, and listen to a story that is being read to them. Sometimes students would choose to do another activity like just chatting or playing a board game if there is a smaller group of students. I also do a private lunch bunch on Wednesdays for two of my RSP students who need this quieter time the most. I believe that these Lunch Bunches were started by another Dominican student teacher from the previous semester and that I am continuing to do them for this semester. Just recently, another Dominican student teacher and I started a new group called "Girl Talk" which is a group for upper grade girls. When we started this group, our intentions are to be mentors for tween girls on topics such as friendship, self-esteem, team building, and striving for success. We also plan on doing a lot of other fun activities such as arts and crafts and games for building new friendships and exercising team work. The group is brand new but we hope for it to stay as successful as the initial meeting was.
I have done a lot of work at Penngrove that will be hard to leave behind. Switching over from RSP to general ed was hard enough. I never thought I was going to be ready to be switched over to third grade when I first started it but I believe that I adjusted well. Although the class was a tough one, I was able to figure out the best strategies to help me with classroom management and maximizing instruction time when I am teaching. I have also grown to appreciate all my students' talents and skills that they brought to my lessons and in turn, they have also shown me how I can adapt my lessons to their diverse learning styles and interests.
The biggest thing that I can take away with me from Penngrove is all the connections that I have made with not only the students, but with their parents and the rest of the staff. This is something I believe not everyone can get at any other school, and I have been more than lucky to have been placed in a school that values their student teachers and are very supportive. I hope that one day I can find a job in a school that is as welcoming as Penngrove was (hopefully the school I would be teaching in in the future is Penngrove). But I know that the connections can be established once again when I make that outreach to all the students, parents, and colleagues that I will encounter. I will always appreciate Penngrove and Dominican University for helping me become the teacher I am today, but I know I can continue developing myself as a better teacher as I move forward in this career.
Coming in at the beginning of the school year was a great advantage for me as a student teacher starting out in the fall because I got to see how everybody kicks off the school year. For my first couple of weeks of student teaching, I was in RSP. It was very valuable to see how RSP sets up at the beginning of the school year, and it gave me the idea of how the general education classrooms were beginning their year. We did not meet with any students the first two or three weeks as we were still setting up. But I can imagine that the general education classrooms were engaging in various ice-breaking activities that help the students get to know their new classmates better as well as their teachers. During this time period, I got to hear about different ideas on activities that you can do for the first week of school, and how you can use these activities as pre-assessments to measure your students' skills at the beginning of the year.
Throughout my time at Penngrove, I have continued to do this - picking up multiple ideas for classroom management, assessing students, and making my lessons more engaging. I believe that my most favorite part about working in the general education setting was to put together lessons for the third grade class that I was placed in. The third grade curriculum seemed like a lot of fun for me, especially in the core content area of Science. I designed a Life Science unit in the Integrated Curriculum course for this class. Teaching lessons out of this unit was not only fun for me, but for the kids as well. This had me start thinking of other ways to continually integrate curriculum in the other core content areas such as Language Arts and Mathematics while holding up to the Common Core Standards.
The Common Core Standards were something else that I began to familiarize myself with more during my student teaching at Penngrove. I got to have the experience of seeing them implemented in Language Arts and Math lessons in different classrooms. I've also had the opportunity to talk about them with various teachers at Penngrove and listened to their opinions on them and how they use them in their lessons. It was also great to dip into many resources such as their Common Core ready books and figure out different ways on how to utilize them. I wanted my lessons to be as creative and enriching as possible, and I was able to do so with the resources and support of my supervising teachers and the other Penngrove staff.
Aside from planning and teaching lessons, making connections with the students is another huge part of Penngrove that I can take away with me for a long time. I always try to make time for them, especially for those students who wanted to have that time with me to talk or need any extra help with their work. I am also an advocate for garnering more student involvement on campus. On Fridays, I hold an upper grade Lunch Bunch during the lunch time where upper grade students can meet in designated classroom to sit down, have lunch, and listen to a story that is being read to them. Sometimes students would choose to do another activity like just chatting or playing a board game if there is a smaller group of students. I also do a private lunch bunch on Wednesdays for two of my RSP students who need this quieter time the most. I believe that these Lunch Bunches were started by another Dominican student teacher from the previous semester and that I am continuing to do them for this semester. Just recently, another Dominican student teacher and I started a new group called "Girl Talk" which is a group for upper grade girls. When we started this group, our intentions are to be mentors for tween girls on topics such as friendship, self-esteem, team building, and striving for success. We also plan on doing a lot of other fun activities such as arts and crafts and games for building new friendships and exercising team work. The group is brand new but we hope for it to stay as successful as the initial meeting was.
I have done a lot of work at Penngrove that will be hard to leave behind. Switching over from RSP to general ed was hard enough. I never thought I was going to be ready to be switched over to third grade when I first started it but I believe that I adjusted well. Although the class was a tough one, I was able to figure out the best strategies to help me with classroom management and maximizing instruction time when I am teaching. I have also grown to appreciate all my students' talents and skills that they brought to my lessons and in turn, they have also shown me how I can adapt my lessons to their diverse learning styles and interests.
The biggest thing that I can take away with me from Penngrove is all the connections that I have made with not only the students, but with their parents and the rest of the staff. This is something I believe not everyone can get at any other school, and I have been more than lucky to have been placed in a school that values their student teachers and are very supportive. I hope that one day I can find a job in a school that is as welcoming as Penngrove was (hopefully the school I would be teaching in in the future is Penngrove). But I know that the connections can be established once again when I make that outreach to all the students, parents, and colleagues that I will encounter. I will always appreciate Penngrove and Dominican University for helping me become the teacher I am today, but I know I can continue developing myself as a better teacher as I move forward in this career.