Special Education Day!

I prefer to use the term Exceptional Learners because our students are each exceptional in their own way. They may have deficits in academic, self-help, communication, and social-emotional areas, but they have the same desire to be accepted and respected by their peers and everyone they meet. They have strengths and weaknesses just like everyone else. They may need more intentional repetition and teaching of topics and skills as well as time to practice their generalization skills across settings. But just like everyone else, they are human!

One of my favorite things about working with Exceptional Learners is the opportunity to build rapport with each student to better meet their individual needs. I must first love them as a person and respect them before I can teach them. I need to celebrate the things that make them unique and help them to find their strengths instead of focusing on their weaknesses. I enjoy celebrating the small things. Doing a major task can be broken down in so many ways, but what steps can you do and what can I do to help you reach the desired outcome. Is it a video model, a visual, extra time, repetition?

Teaching Exceptional Learners is no different than teaching typical students. We must look at each student as an individual and meet them where they are and look at where we need them to go.

Most people think of people with disabilities when they hear the term “special education.” Special education encompasses all learners from gifted to students who have severe disabilities. To me, special education means providing the support for students to be successful in all settings of their lives, not just the classroom. Special education is only as successful as the teachers who teach this area. They are the ones that help students to find their abilities they didn’t realize that they have. They are the ones that help build the self-confidence of their students.

I would say that special education allows students with disabilities to overcome their obstacles in school and allows others to be able to see their abilities because I think sometimes they can be overlooked with what they “can’t” do. They also get the chance to be a part of gen ed when they can and get that extra support to be able to be included with typical students. I celebrate the little things, and I am able to watch students go from nonverbal to verbal. It’s the moments of “aha” when they finally get something, and it’s about building a relationship with them. They need someone who won’t give up, and every student is different. You may be able to do one thing for one student then have to try something else for another student. I would say that special education has changed my life!

Every child deserves to feel safe and grow in a positive learning environment. This is only truly possible through deeply understanding the desires and needs of students. This is why I love special education! I love problem-solving environments so that every student can belong and participate in instruction. I love engaging students by tying in things they love from dinosaurs to Spongebob to food, showing them that the skills we are practicing at school directly relate to the things they care about. I love leading students to the belief that they can do more than they ever thought possible. There will be challenges, but helping students overcome those challenges through communication and self-advocacy is the most fulfilling job I could ever accept. Please don’t tell me I’m a saint; please don’t tell me I have incredible patience – ask me about my students, and you will love them as much as I do!

The goal of school-based special education services is to support differently-abled students in such a manner that they will thrive in life after their school years are finished.

Forming relationships with my students is the first step in understanding how to best support them in meeting their needs. When I’m building connections with my students, I learn about their interests, their learning styles and patterns, and their strengths.

Once I have established a solid relationship with my students, and then begin collecting and synthesizing data about their current skills, I enjoy using creativity and intuition to design and implement individualized strategies, supports and learning plans to help them meet their needs.

I enjoy being a special education teacher for so many reasons, the most important one being how I love to foster a space where my students can feel good about themselves. I am a resource teacher, which means my students spend 80% or more of their day in the general education setting, learning grade-level material. My students are 5th-graders and are all working independently below their peers, some markedly below, which can make for not always feeling successful. I get the chance to teach my students the same grade-level content/concepts, but at their “feel good” level, which makes for all kinds of confidence building! I love when they gain skills in my room that they put to use in their classrooms and I see their self-esteem grow. I also get to connect with each of my students on a more personal level since it’s always small group instruction. It is so much easier for them to share themselves in a smaller setting, with no fear of feeling like they are so much more different than their peers. In my room, we celebrate all kinds of seemingly small victories, which makes for a nice place to breathe a few times a day. I wouldn’t want to teach any other student population!

It takes a lot of time and patience to see it, but when a student starts to develop confidence in their work, that is what I enjoy about teaching. Sometimes, you catch a small smile when they finish their work or maybe hear a little less groaning about starting an assignment. They realize they can do something on their own. That will stick with them longer than memorizing a vocabulary word, and it starts to counteract some of the negative thoughts they may have had about themselves.

There are many reasons I enjoy being a special needs teacher. I love working with students to encourage their unique personalities and abilities to shine. I enjoy working with families, students and coworkers to problem-solve challenges and celebrate triumphs. I feel like it’s an honor to be an advocate for and teach so many amazing students.

I have been serving as a special needs remedial reading instructor for over 20 years. What I love best about my students is that they are all so unique. Each one learns differently, so I must teach to their specific needs. It is most gratifying to see them grow both in skill and confidence.

What is NOT to enjoy! The delight in their eyes when they have obtained a skill they thought impossible, the honesty they demonstrate when saying, “I don’t know how, can you help?”, the smile they share on the stage, as an actor at the end of a show they never imagined performing, this is why I enjoy being a Performing Arts teacher. They are superheroes!

I love to help my students realize that their learning differences only mean that they have to teach society to think differently. They grow to understand that advocating for themselves allows others to experience and benefit from their talents, which leads towards a more open-minded environment for all.

I enjoy now the same thing I enjoyed when deciding on what to pursue in education. That is, seeing the smiles on the faces of the students and feeling the gratitude in their hearts as we work together.

I love that beautiful “aha!” moment when the student’s eyes light up and they GET it. When you know that you have reached that student and through a combination of their courage and your determination, you have guided them to learning.

Teaching at the Fortune Academy is richly rewarding work. Not only do we transform lives here, we’ve saved a few also. Because of our small classroom sizes, we are able to share our genuine concern for each student’s cognitive, emotional and social welfare. We value our students and understand the uniqueness of our role in our school families’ lives. I personally value our highly supportive administration and staff who strive to lift each other up and help whenever/wherever needed.