INITIAL REFLECTION 1

Think Piece-Initial Reflection

Emily Meler
INITIAL REFLECTION 2

Before I started college, I had not really thought about being a teacher. My freshman

year, my sister was going into 11th grade and the school decided she needed an IEP. Her having

the IEP was not the issue, the way the teachers and faculty members treated her was. At that

time, I had not had any experience with the major of education, IEPs, or special education at all.

I had been struggling with what I wanted to do when I graduated and her story really changed my

perspective. They saw her as a problem and they treated her like she was less than and a hundred

times more crazy than the other kids at school. The things they would say and the way they

would handle situations made it seem like they just wanted her to graduate and get her out of

their hair. The more I thought about it, the more it made me mad. I decided I wanted to do

something to change this. I switched my major and got my new advisor. I started taking

elementary education classes and special education classes. I know for a fact that this was the

right decision. I do not want any other student/child to have to go through the same thing she did.

My ultimate goal for my career in this is to be able to advocate for students who need

help that are in this situation and make sure that others never get put in this situation. For this

course, however, my goal is to observe and learn from a current teacher and try to pick up as

much knowledge as I can and try to implement the things that I see fitting in my own classroom

during my career. I hope I will be able to do this by just watching and listening the teacher that I

am to observe. If not, I will talk to the teacher more in depth about how they solve problems and

come up with ideas in order to best serve the needs of the students they have in the classroom.