What is your philosophy of Special Education?
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Students are people. Short, inexperienced people, but people nonetheless. Regardless of disability, ethnicicty, family income, etc. all people have the right to an education that prepares them to become functioning adults (Free Appropriate Education/FAPE, and Zero Reject).\n\nSpecial Education is the way that our education system recognizes that some people learn differently than others, and so differently that they need different programming than the "average" learner. Therefore the variety of research-based instructional approaches accessed by highly trained special education teachers and therapists. Therefore the Individualized Educational Plan/Program (IEP).\n\nThis is all about the difference between "equal" and "equitable." Equal access to the general education program does not allow for differences in learning styles and needs. Equitable access involves creating programming and environments that help the person use their learning strengths to learn as much as they potentially can (just like the general education environment does for "average" people). Therefore Least Restrictive Environment and the continuum of services.\n\nStudents are people. Therefore, when they walk into my classroom, I treat them like people... We search for their strengths, their goals, their dreams, and the only language forbidden in my room (besides cursing) are the phrases "That's easy" when looking at someone else's work (don't judge someone else's needs, but focus on your own), and "I Can't" (you need more time, more explanation, etc... but You Can!).
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You'd get more answers if you posted this in "higher education" rather than "special education." Special Education focuses on helping people with special learning needs/differences in school.\n\nI can say that if you are reviewing literature in the English language, a way to speed up your reading would be to read the first and last sentence of each paragraph. If these two sentences look interesting, go back and read through the whole paragraph. Use the headings to give you an overall idea of each section.
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What is important for the students to learn and why.\n\nMost schools (districts, etc.) have a published philosophy that teachers are expected to abide by. Your philosophy may not be exactly the same, but if it's too divergent, it may be hard to work there. The more you agree with the school's philosophy, the easier it will be to do things their way.
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I don't think that's a Special Education related question. Special Education refers to the provision of services to kids with disabilities.
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No... being in special education does NOT mean you are stupid.\n\nAs a matter of fact, there is only ONE out of 13 categories in which a person is a very slow learner...Mental Retardation.\n\nALL the other categories are NORMAL or higher smarts, with something keeping that person from being able to learn as fast as they should given their smarts. That something could be a learning or language disability, or health issues, or emotional problems, or physical disabilities, or hearing or vision problems, or social skills difficulties, and so on.\n\nIf you are in special ed, you learn DIFFERENTLY than most people. You are NOT stupid.
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And this is in special education because.........?
267849
This isn't a Special Education related question. Special Edcuation refers to the provision of services to kids with disabilities.
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I became a special education teacher because I grew up with a sister who has a significant developmental disability.  Now that we are both adults, I am her conservator, because our father is deceased and our mother is in poor health.  So I can relate to both sides of this equation.\n\nAs a family member, I know how important it is to know that my loved one is getting the concern and attention she needs and deserves.  I do get annoyed when the adult program she is now in doesn't communicate with me, especially when it is an issue that could have more easily been resolved had they been in touch with me as soon as the problem arose.\n\nAs a teacher, I make a sincere effort to communicate with the families of my students.  In addition to the classroom phone number,  I give everyone my email address and my voice mail number, and I send a communication notebook home with each child.  Ideally, I would be able to jot a quick note daily, but in reality, I have 10 students, and if I spend even 3 minutes writing to each person, that's 30 minutes a day.  I don't have a planning period like the general ed teachers do, and because of the special needs of my students, I cannot just send them out to recess or to the cafeteria;  I need to be present with them.  So I am literally on duty from the moment the kids arrive until they leave in the afternoon.  I only use the restroom after checking that my assistant is OK with managing things for 4 or 5 minutes.   Our kids need assistance with toileting, and about half are not toilet trained or have accidents.  About half my students do not communicate verbally, and nearly as many have significant behavioral issues, including physical aggression. And then there is the need to work on the specific IEP goals of each student;  with 10 students, we are responsible for implementing activities and collecting data on anywhere from 60 to 100+ objectives.   It's an incredibly intense and busy day, and if you haven't lived it, you really can't appreciate it.  \n\nAnd as I said, I have the legal responsibility for a sibling with a disability, as well as taking care of a mother who is in severe decline mentally and physically.  And I have a husband and children who need my attention and care.  And now and again, I would just like to have a couple of hours where I could just think about myself.  But I spend between 50 and 75 hours per week on classroom related activity, because I LOVE my job and I LOVE my students. \n\nSo - as far as your particular situation is concerned, knowing first hand the stresses of both family and of teachers - I would not make a judgment.  As I said, if I even take 3 minutes of time during the school day to write a note to each parent, I have spent 30 minutes of my instructional day, which is 30 minutes that I am not teaching anyone.  (And time yourself - you can't write much in 3 minutes, especially if you are supervising 10 kids with special needs at the same time.) \n\nI do try to give the benefit of the doubt to the families of my students when they are not exactly considerate or politically correct in their communications with me.  I also try to do the same when the residential and adult programs involved with my sister communicate.  We are all human, with lives outside the immediate moment, and none of us is without fault.  So perhaps, when you are able to communicate in a calm and unemotional way, you could ask the teacher to clarify what she meant.  Try something along the lines of "I understood you to say that I shouldn't make waves because my son's IEP was nearly taken away.  Is that a correct interpretation, or did I misunderstand?"  And please be open to the possibility that you did not understand what she meant.  Life is full of miscommunication, even between people who know each other well;  communication is a two-way street, and both sides need to keep the roads open.
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Physically.. I am a athelete.\nMentally...I am a student.\n\n\n\n"Never stop striving for perfection, never stop learning"
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This belongs in a different topic, not "special education." What the heck are you asking about anyway?
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Special as in special ed?
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Ahhh the nightmare that is letters of application - I know it well!  I, too, have gone over mine a million times but am more than happy to share what I'm doing (not that I've had much success at the moment)!  \n\nI had a chat with my tutor and she said to organise it so you are demonstrating your priorities.  So mine starts with "Class Organisation" - where I've discussed my classroom ethos, the guidelines I set, and relationships I establish within the class.\n\nNext up for me is "Current policy", where I talk about government initiatives I think are relevant (I focus on Excellence and Enjoyment).  Then "Assessment" - progression of students and self-assessment mainly.  Followed by "School Relationships" - management styles, skill sharing, communication, etc.  Next up is "Use of Resources" (self-explanatory, lots of focus on ICT).  \n\nI then move on to "Subject Specialism" - what I teach best and an example.  Next is "Career Progression" - how I plan to improve.  And end with a section on my hobbies and interests and how I could include them in eg extracurricular activities.\n\nOne tutor recommended basically using the person specification for the headings, that way you can be sure you have included everything they've asked for.\n\nBest of luck.
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what does this have to do with special education?
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Since you posted this in the special education category, are you asking if a question and answer session would be a good strategy in special education?  In most cases, no.  If you had a class of high-functioning, verbal students, this might be appropriate as a review technique.  But kids are in special education because they have some differences in their learning styles and abilities, and very few would do well with a traditional classroom method of reading the material, then following up with a question and answer period.
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I'm in Middle school and I'm blind in one eye and have limited vision in the other. There are a few hard parts 1 not being able to do somethings your friends and peers can, 2 not having teachers get papers enlarged so you can read them # having people hear "disability" and think you are mentally handicapped. But every day gives you new hardest things and you learn to work around them. My impairment has given me a lot of patients and helps me understand other people with disabilities.
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Well since each state has different definitions of things I will do my best to answer your question without having further information about it.\n\nI teach High School special education in a Cognitively impaired classroom, so I guess you could say I teach life skills.  \n\nI teach:\n  Table manners\n  how to eat\n  washing dishes\n  cooking\n  washing clothes\n  Toileting\n  Dressing\n  Communication\n  Community involvement\n  Vocational skills...i.e. applications, work ethic, job coaching\n  and various resource room subjects like Basic computers, basic math, and single living.\n\nI am responsible for:\n  The wellfare of my students\n  scheduling students and paraeducators\n  Writing IEPs\n  Writing MedBills\n  Writing Quarterly Reports\n  Progress updates\n  Informing student's other teachers of their accommodations and goals.\n  Helping other teachers come up with techniques to use to teach these kids.\n  Keeping parents informed of their student's progress.\n  Getting kids on and off the bus.\n  Daily Physical Therapy, OT and Speech\n  Tube feeding\n  distribution of Medications. (Odd)\n  Ordering supplies\n  Managing accounts\n\nI am too tired to think of anymore, I have to go do all these things in less than 9 hours.  I better get to sleep.\n  I hope this all helped.
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I will include the answer I gave a few days ago to a very similar question about "Mainstreaming" which is just another way of saying "inclusion"......\n\nIt always depends upon how the mainstreaming, or inclusion, is done. It also depends very much upon the needs of the individual and the resources available in the system. There is no easy answer to your question, and unfortunately most people are either strongly pro or strongly con, and often don't see shades of grey. Also are you looking for the information from the perspective of a student, a parent, or a teacher? The perspectives tend to be quite different sometimes.\n\nSome of the postive effcts would be that the student theoretically has the opportunity to make more friends and participate in more activities. This is certainly true if inclusion is done in a careful and caring manner. Students who are mainstreamed have to learn to live by the same rules as other students. Other children become more accepting of students with disabilities. Everyone learns to respect each other's differences, and it should lead to a more tolertant and accepting society overall. Generally in the years since IDEA, students with disabilties have shown improvements in standardized test scores, better social and communication skills, better knowledge of the world and are better prepared for post-school experiences.\n\nSome people say that inclusion lowers standards in the regular classroom. It may not always be possible to meet the needs of students with disabilities in the regular classroom. Classroom teachers do not necessarily have the background or skills to address different disabiities. Some students with disabiities need very specific programming that cannot be delivered effectively in the regular classroom. Some people believe that kids with disabilities fall further behind as a result of inclusion because they can't get the amount or quality of attention they need.\n\nThe key is appropriate training of clsssroom teachers, good specific programming for the students with disabilities, and resources to properly support classroom teachers in implementing inclusion. \n\nI've tried to give an overview of both sides of this issue.  I hope my thoughts are helpful to you.  Take care.