My Name is Vannessa Taylor and I am an Elementary School teacher. I am also a Special Education Specialist. But what does that mean exactly?...
I have had the pleasure to teach many amazing children and youth throughout my career and something I am very passionate about is Special Education. I know that being a Special Education Specialist that all children come with many unique traits and we need to honour what the children bring into our classroom. I find that all children have a reason behind their behaviours and struggles, and we as educators need to dig deep and find their interests, strengths and area of need in order to support the students in a proper successful education. Something I have learned is that all children at like an onion, you only see the outside, once you start to peel back the different layers you start to see the underneath of what the child is brining to the table. Some students may allow you to peel back their layers right away and some may take time, to build that relationship and trust with you. It is all about getting to know our students as much as we can and bring those interests into the classroom learning environment. Everyone comes with their challenges, but we should always look for the positives in every student. All children should be loved, cared for and have the right to education.
We may not have to dig for those answers as some students may want to tell us about their exceptionality or learning as they may be learning about this at home with their parents. If so, never hinder or shut down a students who wants to talk to you or tell you something. If you are busy or not a time to talk, tell the student you will come back to their comment and make sure that you did as this could be really important to the child and you do not want to make them feel like they can not tell you anything if you do not go back to them with their comments. Students voice and choice should be recognized and praised for talking and this is a very important understanding to be able to communicate and advocate for yourself and what you like. Students can educate us, just as much as we educate them. Thank that student for telling you or sharing something to the class even if it is that they found a rock. Cherish the students wanting to talk and build that relationship with you as their teacher, as they may not have this at home. You may be their only person they feel comfortable to talk to.
This job can be challenging but also very rewarding in seeing the success and growth of your students in getting them the best supports, strategies and resources to succeed in the classroom. With time, effort and care you will be able to see a little light go off on the child, take that moment and see that as a major success for the student. They need to know how well they are doing and when they reach a goal they have been working on, go above and beyond with happiness, and joy to show that students how far they have come and how proud you are of them as this can be very hard for some students to reach those goals right away. Any progress in our students is an amazing job for them! Every child need to have someone cheering them on to give them strategies, advice and resources to know that they are capable of reaching that goal and we are going to be there along the way to get them to where they would like to be. Here is a great video that can show you the importance of being the child in your classrooms support system.
Every child needs a champion:
Now, we have just learned that we need to be our students cheer leader, their person cheering them on the side lines, but the big question is how do we know if they are succeeding and if we are truly making a difference in their learning environments. In learning, just recognizing and accepting children in your classroom with a welcoming open arms will make such a huge impact on the child. We need to create a caring, inclusive and accepting environment for all types of learners in our classroom. By doing this, we need to model and teach how to be accepting an how to include others that may be different that you are. We need to show students how to play with someone who may be in a wheel chair or who may be non-verbal. Exposing out children to these types of exceptionalities allows the students to learn and feel comfortable to interact with students of all types. Allowing the students to ask questions and not shy away from their curiosity will allow them to understand more and be able to find more ways to include a friend when they are educated. It is not like they really do not want to play with that one child, they may just not know how or feel nervous to, which is why we need to talk about inclusive education in our classrooms for students to find ways to be more accepting to other students around them. Students with exceptionalities will feel more included, they will feel accepted and like they belong to the classroom and school if we take that step to create an inclusive education classroom. We are letting all students know that it is okay to be different and unique as we are all important members of this classroom and we are al bringing something important forward.
The Power of Inclusive Education:
I personally have learned, that once we see that inclusion education is happening and that we have gotten to know our students on a personal level we can take the time to sit back, reflect on our teaching and see if things we have put into place for our students through differentiation and universal design we can evaluate the effectiveness of the students in making a difference. If a strategy works for one week, we need to know that it may not work another week.
This is why as teachers we need to be constantly updating our professional learning and knowledge in regards to what is happening around us, to be able to support our students with the most up to date resources and strategies to make
them succeed in their learning environment. We may not be able to have full success with every student, but any little step forward is something to recognize on us as the teacher and on the student.We need to give ourselves phrase as well to know that teaching special education can be hard, but if we put our mind, body and soul into making the best year for the students, we will feel better at the end of the year knowing we have done the best that we can for the students in our classroom.
I hope now that all teachers can see the importance of getting to know you students on a personal level to be their role model, leader and teacher all at the same time!
Until next time Teachers!
Thanks Miss. Taylor
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