Special Education Teacher In A Public School
Career review from a person working in the job
How I Got The Job
My Education: BS, Education, Seton Hall University (South Orange, NJ)
My Prior Experience: I've worked for over 14 years as a teacher.
My Job Profile
My Company: I work for a school district in northeastern Pennsylvania.
Job/Career Overview: I work with special education students. Helping learning-disabled students to be successful in the mainstream is my biggest goal. I modify tests and quizzes in the mainstream classroom to adapt them to my students needs and limitations.
More Insights: I think sometimes kids just need a break once in a while. If you think about good teachers that you have had, it is usually the ones that are the most "human" or understanding. You have to be compassionate, but you can't be a pushover either. It's hard, at times, to find the balance between those two things. You have to have good control over your class and you have to have mutual respect between you and your students but you can't let them walk all over you either.
Love It? Hate It?
I rate this career 6 out of 10.
What I Love or Hate
The best part of this job is that it can be extremely rewarding! To have a child tell you that you have made a difference in his or her life is an incredible feeling! I have touched the lives of students in ways I would never have guessed, if they hadn't told me! For example, a student in my homeroom told me at the end of the school year that I changed his life! He had come from a home where he had an alcoholic parent. He told me that I was the only one who talked to him and asked him how he felt about things!
I guess if I were to say what the worst part of the job is it would be students not showing respect. It is very disheartening to me that kids can be so disrespectful to a professional person who went into the job just to help kids!
My Career Tips
Ask yourself how dedicated you are to a career like this one because it can be very discouraging at times! You really need to love kids in order to be successful at it. You also need to be extremely organized to be a good teacher and to show or teach kids how to be organized. Make sure you're a good role model because kids really need that! Also, make sure that you realize that a teacher has many bosses. You have your principal and possibly a vice principal but you also have all the parents as your boss as well.
