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Johana Dominguez

Elizabeth Hudson

EDU 203

3 May 2018

Post Personal Philosophy Statement

Throughout this course and what I have seen from my field observation is that special

education teachers do so much for their students and is often more than what a general education

teacher does for their students. The role of special ed teachers is to help students learn with any

disabilities they have, much like a general ed teacher except special ed teachers go in depth to

give the help the student needs. Special ed teachers work step by step using IEP’s to help

students develop. Their lessons most often include teaching basic skills like communication and

literacy.

I believe just as any other student, students with special needs learn best with reward

systems, lots of practice, along with discipline from the teacher. I think the main thing is the

amount of help and practice students with special needs get is what really helps in improvement,

like assistive technologies and daily routines. For example, during my field observation there

was a student who missed almost half of the school days and had not made much progress

compared to the rest of the students who did attend school almost every day.

My goal with my future students with special education needs is to help them as much as

I can in order for them to not feel like they cannot be at the same level as their peers and simply

make them feel confident about all the things they are capable of accomplishing.

To be an effective special ed teacher, the main qualities one should have is to be

accepting and very patient. I do not think anyone who is not accepting of everyone should be a
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teacher especially not a special ed teacher because that comes with the job, accepting all students

for who they are and helping them succeed. Patience is very important too because students with

special needs go at a different pace than students without special education needs so a special ed

teacher needs to slow down and teach their students step by step.

I believe all students are capable of learning, no matter if they are a student with special

needs or are not special needs. Nobody is just born knowing things, there are steps we take to

learn. Some learn things a lot sooner and then there are others who it takes a while longer.

Students with special needs are an example of that, even though it might take longer they and

any other student is capable of learning at their own pace.

Teachers with students with special education needs owe their students to at least

comprehend the students’ needs, try to help them the most they possibly can to succeed, and

learn how they can accommodate those students.

My personal philosophy has not changed much from my pre-philosophy statement but I

did use to think students succeeding was more of the students’ responsibility than of the teacher.

For example, I felt students succeeded more for the amount of effort they put in themselves, but,

I never thought about students succeeding more for the amount of help general or special ed

teachers put into accommodating them.