Jiada Nucci

Dr. Warby
EDU 203
8 December 2019
(EDU 203 Portfolio Artifact # 4)
The outstanding purpose of special education in our society and community is to

hopefully mold children and young adults into participating and functioning members of society.

I believe the main goal of special education, similarly to general education, is to teach. Teaching

can be done on many levels, and I believe a classroom is a place for students to learn the

curriculum, and to also learn valuable life lessons and skills.

I have learned a lot over the course of this semester and my opinions about education

have changed a little. In my “Pre-Personal Philosophy” statement I had made the comment “I

believe people with disabilities should be educated in a way similar to students without

disabilities by being in a classroom setting with their peers.” While I do still believe that students

with disabilities should be in classrooms with their peers, I no longer believe that they should be

educated in a similar way to students without disabilities. I think that students with disabilities

who need to be in a special education classroom should be in a much more intimate classroom

setting where the teacher-to-student ratio is much smaller. To be able to give each student with

an IEP the best possible education a teacher must be able to focus more on the student and spend

a little more one on one time with them. As for students with disabilities in a general education

classroom, I think they should be placed in regard to their ability and not their age-based grade

level. I had also made the comment, “I believe a system of teaching that focuses more on

intellectual ability rather than age or grade would be beneficial to both teachers and students.

While in the CCSD classroom I noticed that students were placed in the same classroom
expected to learn the same material despite being very different intellectual levels which caused

the advanced students to not be pushed and the students who required a slower-paced education

to be pushed to an unreasonable expectation. I would implement a more hands-on learning style.

I feel students should be assessed based on their abilities, and not their disabilities.” My views

on this have not changed. I believe this to be the case for students with disabilities and students

without them. By placing students in classrooms based on their abilities it makes it easier for

teachers to teach curriculum on a more stable level where the students are all on the same page,

opposed to placing students in classrooms based on age where some are more advanced or

further behind in the curriculum causing some to struggle and other to be bored and not reach

their full ability. I was hopeful to learn more about special education and I certainly believe that

that goal was met. I learned that special education is a much broader category than I had initially

known. My mind has been opened to the different kinds of disabilities, both mental, intellectual,

and physical that students have and I learned about how to try and best help each student. My

goal for the semester was to learn how to make an IEP and it was one of the subjects covered

during the class. I learned how to fill in an IEP guideline taking into consideration the student’s

previous academic success and struggles while taking to previous teachers and the parents.

Specifically, the role of the special education teacher is to work with the students IEP’s

and make sure that they are getting the most fro their educational experience while following the

guidelines of their learning objectives and goals. A special education teacher should be able to

teach a classroom of students with different disabilities to the best of her ability while keeping in

mind that every child is different and requires different learning accommodations.

I don’t believe that there is one way that students with special needs learn best. Each

student has a different learning style. As we learned throughout the semester, each student and
their disability are vastly different, and their learning styles are no different. Some students may

learn best from hands-on teaching styles, while others learn best from listening to a verbal

lesson. Some students require assistive technology or other special education tools that would

change the way they learn best.

In general, my goals for my students with special needs is for them to learn. I would love

if my students fully understood the curriculum. As my teaching goals lead me to adult special

education, I would hope that my students leave my classroom minimally with a better

understanding of how to take care of themselves and how to better achieve their work and

educational goals.

An effective special education teacher should be attentive, patient, and have the ability to

be open to changes and make new decisions quickly. A special education teacher has to be

attentive because they have to be able to see if the student is struggling or excelling so that

changes to the IEP can be made to ensure the student is making progress and learning to the best

of their ability. They must be patient because some students with disabilities require a lot more

time to learn, or require special accommodations. One would have to be open to changes and

making new decisions quickly because working with students with disabilities can be

unpredictable and the teacher has to be prepared for any situation whether it be a medical

emergency, or a student having a meltdown or an especially rough day to ensure that the student

gets the appropriate care and that the other students remain calm and can still learn and

participate in class.

I strongly believe that all students can learn. Learning does not have to be purely

curriculum-based and all students have the capability to gain academic knowledge and life skills
and work skills. With the appropriate tools and proper attention and consideration, every student

has the ability to learn.

Teachers owe their students with special needs an appropriate education. Not only is it

the law to offer each student a free and appropriate education, but it should also be a moral

obligation of teachers. Every student, especially special education students, are owed an

opportunity to learn in their very best ability with the help from their teachers. This can be done

by teachers being attentive, aware, and preparing and following an IEP.