Special Education Day 2024 is on Monday, December 2, 2024: Special Education?

Monday, December 2, 2024 is Special Education Day 2024. DECEMBER 2, 2013 – NATIONAL FRITTERS DAY – NATIONAL SPECIAL ... Special Education Day marks

I am a special education teacher, and I LOVE my job. Yes, there is a numbing amount of paperwork and data collection, but there are unpleasant parts of any job. And as far as I am concerned, the wonderful parts far outweigh the negatives.

I suspect that most special education teachers are somewhat sensitive people; I know that I am, although I have long since left behind taking things personally. Being sensitive means that you CARE, and I think that's mandatory in teaching any type of students. I am fine with public speaking now, but as a young woman, I hated it. You'll get more comfortable with life experience. And being a great public speaker isn't a requirement for being a special education teacher.

What I love about my job is that it is a thrill to see a child learn, whether it is learning to use the toilet, learning to print his name, or learning how to behave appropriately. I LOVE it when a child says, "Hey, I'm getting pretty good at this!" A couple of months ago, I got one of the biggest thrills in my decades-long career. I have a student who had several unsuccessful class placements due to his extreme behavior, which included physical aggression. And he has pinched, scratched, pushed, slapped, punched, kicked, and hit me with a rock - I'm not saying this is easy! But as time went on, he started to realize that there are other ways to relate to people, and he started to calm down and actually interact with other kids. One day another student asked him if he wanted to color with her, which he did, and they were enjoying each other's company greatly. And this little guy said, in amazement, "I got a friend!!!" That made my day, my week, and my school year!

It is true that there are shortages of credentialed special ed teachers in most parts of the US. That's to your advantage, as it means lots of job opportunities.

If you have no experience in special ed, I would suggest spending some serious time in a classroom first to make sure that this is the career for you. Many districts are also having shortages of teaching assistants, and that can be a good way of gaining experience. But if you know in your heart that being a special ed teacher is what you are meant to do, then go for it! I hope you love it as much as I do!

Peoria Unified Special Education-All day Class?

Try asking the school if there are any schools which have special ed facilities nearby, if not ask your state education department what the closest special ed facility is to your area.

Sorry that's all I can come up with.

What exactly are the facilities for special ed at this school? Is there a partial day special ed class where the students are in mainstream classes for the rest of the day or are the special ed kids integrated straight into the mainstream classes.

It may be an idea to reconsider whether an all day class is still the most appropriate setting for your child or whether he may be able to cope with whatever setup they have at this school for speial ed students.

How many hours a week do special education teachers work?

Special Education Teachers work the same contract hours as general education teachers. Some will teach full-time in a self-contained special education classroom and others divide their time among the students on their caseloads. The special ed teacher may be in as many as 4 regular classrooms per day for a specified amount of time (depending on the amount of intervention time written in each child's IEP) and they may also work with students "pulled-out" of the regular class to work in the special ed resource room.

Hours spent outside the classroom depends upon the work load - adapting lessons for individual students, making materials and visuals, meeting with regular ed teachers, therapists, parents, and so on. At the secondary level, most have planning times to do some "extra" work,

Many "hate" their jobs because of the increased paperwork - keeping detailed data, writing individual evaluation reports, developing IEP's,etc. Meetings with parents, therapists and outside agencies are often scheduled after schol hours to accomodate others. Finally, some people do not treat the special education teacher as the professional that he or she truly is. His or her professional "expert" opinion as the teacher who spends the greatest amount of time with the student in the education setting is often disregarded by parents and sadly other colleagues in the school system, mainly school psychologists and educational diagnosticians.

***EDITED TO ADD***

Required time is 7-1/2 hours per school day for all teachers, so that's 37-1/2 hours per week .

Nearly all my special ed teachers stay about 1 hour extra each day for paperwork, phone calls to parents, consults with regular ed teachers and/or special ed assistants, grade level team meetings, staff development, etc. etc. I have often seen several at school up to 3 hours beyond contract time - some because they are new teachers and need to be here longer, but many are here because they want to be.

If an IEP is to be developed, most agree it takes about 5 hours per child from assessment to presenting the draft copy to the parents. An IEP meeting averages 1 hour in length and that is without a parent advocate present; if an advocate or another out-of-school professional attends, we believe it adds another 20-30 minutes.

Since each teacher's caseload varies in number of students, the total IEP hours vary. (anywhere from 8 to 15 students depending upon the specific class or program)

As to work at home, that also varies. Newer teacher will spent a lot of time making materials or reading and preparing lessons and making adaptations. They find the "real" world of special ed is much different that what was presented in the college classrooms. More seasoned teachers have the basics down, but still spend time with researching ideas and trying out new adaptations to lessons, materials, etc.

All in all, Special Ed teachers are a pretty dedicated bunch!