What I Wish I Knew Before Becoming A Special Ed Teacher

[@zoolzool1]

Teaching Special education is Not a science. Colleges tell us what to teach, how to go about it, and modify it. but modifying it for our kids, making it effective, and MEANINGFUL... THAT is an art.

[@VoiceoftheProphecy]

I find it science and art, plus….

[@Itsmeagain12345]

It's both

[@joehaley4668]

there is actually a word for this it’s pedagogy

[@pinkqueenscookie]

The paper work thing isn’t everyone! I didn’t know that being the case manager is actually A WHOLE OTHER JOB in some districts and at charters. We are doing two jobs but don’t get extra $ :-(

[@rach41484]

Say what?! That is definitely not the case in my district.

[@pinkqueenscookie]

@@rach41484 yes I was shocked too! Apparently case manger is an actual separate job 😂 which makes sense, I mean it’s a ton of extra work.

[@zoolzool1]

That’s why charter schools suck. That and the fact they’re often not unionized, in strip malls, and get taken over by the state left and right. There one year, gone the next.

[@rach41484]

@@zoolzool1 My school isn't a charter school. My school is one of many in a large urban public school district that is very underfunded and has a strong union. But that "very underfunded" part means that we are often working with less staff than a wealthy suburban school district.

[@zoolzool1]

@@rach41484 This is the way it is in almost every public school. Rich or poor areas. Always understaffed, underfunded, everything you said.

[@ritaconley9544]

People who are not educators have no idea how complicated the job is. It is so crazy that anyone would think that any person off the street could do this job well!

[@bisdakinflorida]

I am learning soooo much from you. I am a new Pre-k ( ESE ) teacher and I am honestly very overwhelmed. Thank you for your videos!

[@lizstephens3012]

This was awesome! I’m going into my first teaching as a behavior unit teacher in an elementary after 5 years in ABA. I’m so nervous and have had so many try to talk me out of it bc of how difficult it will be. I believe in myself though and my abilities and videos like this that are honest and nitty gritty are so beneficial. Thank you for this and I hope you’re able to do more like this in amongst your traveling this summer!! Liz

[@JB-ic9xl]

I worked in a class after a hoarder as well. It took a while to get the stuff to a manageable level. I still have things we don't use.

[@eryckagraced.mabana9956]

Totally agree with you, I'm blessed to find your video, thank you :)

[@Queen-Ellis]

Thanks for the video!!!!

[@arabiabarboza267]

We appreciate you 👍😎🤗💞

[@seawrightstudios]

Why didn't they tell me I would need to know how to do "take downs?"

[@gregorygranger6481]

I’m a special ed student can you tell what I have to Do to get to general ed

[@mylifeorsoithink2887]

You should be able to just apply for Gen Ed positions if you have a K-12 SPED license. If not check your state's requirements on the department of education website for your state and go from there. Best of luck.

[@nerdgeekcosplay909]

What I wish I knew before deciding special education. 1. How hard this career can be 2. How much the kids love you ( have you ever been swarmed by kids in a group hug? I have and it’s the best feeling ever ) 3. That my disability will one day lead me to a career and a passion 4. That I technically will have an advantage over my work peers. Because I know both sides of the desk. 5. I’m learning about my disabilities and understanding myself better 7. One day I’ll have a classroom of my own and eventually a school of my own ( I want to open and run a school in my city) 8. I’ll guide students and help them make their dreams come true 9. I’ll shape a child’s life 10. I may turn a child into a teacher ( it happened to me)

[@gloman0]

This is great bro I want to do something like this

[@XYZ-wp3ki]

❤❤❤

[@maryforest8193]

I thank the Lord that my teacher education program I was in that in my last semester prior to student teaching we did a mock IEP process. We were in a group of 3-4 and we had a whole mock student that was based on a real student or a real IEP and we presented that to a "parent" who were people in the special education field. While it was very nerve-wracking it was so helpful to know that I can fill out an IEP and a BIP and present it to a parent that was going to push back on things I was presenting on. There was also complicated cases like a child that didn't live with biological parents or a kid who had a parent die. It was one of the most educational experiences I had in college other than being a para in a significant support needs classroom.

[@TheJds04]

I didn’t realize it was more paper work than actually teaching. I wish my school would have taught ieps

[@Frazzle2Zazzle]

Nothing could have prepared me for how flexible you have to be day to day. Some days my kids are doing great and I can get through my plans. Other days, my kids are having really rough days and everything goes out the window. It’s an amazing job and I love what I do, but that can be frustrating if you’re not ready. Love your channel and needed a weekend pick me up. Thank you!

[@murakamireads]

I just found your channel and I'm so happy I did! I am starting my first special education teaching job in August and I'm TERRIFIED. I have no clue what i'm doing, i've never taught before, never made lesson plans, and I have no idea what to do. I'm binging all your videos now, so thank you!

[@naromyramirez1893]

Same here. I got hired this week for a sdc k-2 and I’m scared out if my mind

[@tamaraulmer2812]

@@naromyramirez1893 Same here! New teacher for K-2 mild mod with co-teaching! I have no idea what to expect or how to prepare.

[@naromyramirez1893]

@@tamaraulmer2812 yes I understand the feeling. So much to think about even more with co teaching. I wish you the best of luck 🤞

[@pearlcrystal7802]

I just started in Sept apart of me is like I got this !!! and the other part is like what is happening!!! I’m so lost

[@shydee8393]

How did your first year go?

[@AAB-intheATL]

The paperwork! The IEPs! Trying to balance all the needs of the students at the same time! No one prepares you. I'm a veteran teacher and still get overwhelmed and feel like a new teacher sometimes.

[@pearlcrystal7802]

This is my first year in sped and I feel like I’m going to feel new all year lol

[@Middleagedmutantninjaturtle]

My daughter has IDD and Spinocerebellar Ataxia. I have a degree in environmental science, but when she was diagnosed, my entire focus changed. I've been considering going back to school to become a special education teacher because there's a huge need where I live. Thank you for this video, it's very helpful.

[@sheenagarvin3636]

My son is on the spectrum and through him I found a passion and a need. I have a Juris Doctorate and I am contemplating going back to school as well.

[@aimeementzer7605]

Thank you for posting all these wonderful videos.

[@Kiddly3000]

I was a special ed kid in school had to have an IEP from first grade up until I graduated, even though I only spent 15 % of my day in special classes so a lot of the schools I went to they did not always follow my IEP like they should of because they did not have the money for it, but they did their best

[@remmered]

I am not coming from a teaching background. I just signed on to earn an emergency teaching license to teach special ed to 5th and 6th graders. There will be 10 kids in my classroom. I’m very excited, but I want to be prepared as much as I can be for the job. I just found you so I will be viewing as many of your videos as I deem helpful before I start and videos that become more valuable as I begin navigating an actual classroom. I do have a case management background along with ISPs and FSPs. I’m familiar with IEP in that I had a child with an ISP in his middle and high school years. Thank you for the tips and I look forward to learning more from you.

[@TheresaofTheWorld]

Hi there and thank you for your videos. They have been most helpful as I prepare to take a SPED position. I have a question for you: if a student has been absent for an entire year (young adult younger than 22) what would occur at their annual IEP meeting. Also if it was conducted past the due date is it no longer valid?

[@Gldengrl27]

I am taking my first special ed class in my masters program, and I really enjoy your videos! I am about two years away from being a teacher but I want the tea early haha. Thanks for the advice!

[@420thebestdayever]

Did your university offer special ed certs during undergrad? My school is only offering special ed endorsement after completing undergrad but I just want to get in the field post graduation next spring!

[@stephespi8373]

Hi what was your bachelor and major ? I don’t know where to start.

[@TeacherKellyTag]

Thanks for this. Just started a new job. I co-teach and I’m a KZbinr. I’ll start doing videos about it.

[@Lillyjpotter]

I was offered a position as a BSC para. It’s part of the special education department. I have some experience working with kids who have behaviors. I’m nervous about it. Advice?

[@ThomasReingold]

You can never learn everything you need to know before you start a profession. You have to learn on the job. And yes, some lessons are hard to learn. Now, I'm surprised you did not receive any instruction on teaching at different levels at the same time. That's what I'm learning explicitly in grad school as I'm currently earning an MS in Special Ed.

[@JayBababoie]

At least I won't feel bad when I feel overwhelmed and don't know what to do! Thanks for being so honest!

[@annettebrown829]

Good Morning. I wanted to know with all of the paper work that you must complete when do you actually teach?

[@madisonhendershot411]

Love your videos. Thank you 😊 can you do a video on how you organize your differentiated work. You always have so many different sets for your different students needs and I was curious how you keep track of it all. Thanks!!

[@rach41484]

I second that request, please! 😊

[@traceymorgan1718]

I just saw this vlog and LOVED it! After MANY years not teaching, I went back into the profession. You nailed it with all things no one tells you! I wish our mentoring program actually helped w these kinds if things, but sadly it is more about activities and protocol that just add more work to the teacher to do and check off so the district looks like it is meeting the needs of new trachers.

[@ambriellejohnson6347]

Thank You for this video. I am in a M.A.T program, and we have NOT gone over IEP writing. I will speak with my program director and express how UNPREPARED I feel. I have 1 year left. I NEED to learn this.

[@JayBababoie]

Thank goodness you didn't know all of this... Or maybe you would of changed your mind about teaching. Maybe they know we need teachers and this job sounds so impossible if we new the reality of it. 💜 Thank God for teachers! It definitely a calling from God.

[@jessicascreenwritingservices]

So glad I found your channel. I have a final interview coming up to be a teacher and for this program you become dual certified to teach in general and to teach special education once you complete it. Your video is so informative!

[@elisabethphillips-jones8787]

Can you link to the video you referenced?

[@rebekahmcgaughey3980]

Thank you! Your video was just the motivation and reassurance I needed today. I am going from a special ed preschool teaching position to an Elementary resource k -5 position. I am terrified of how to teach all the different levels. What other videos, from your collection, would you recommend?

[@sumajoseph4388]

Thank u for sharing ur experience. It's very Useful to me. To know more details about spl educational teacher.

[@mrsmarilynbrown]

This video is SO SO important! And 1000% relatable and relevant. Gosh, how much money did I throw into the storage closet, literally? And that is in the classroom and online.😐😐😐💸💸💸

[@almarodriguez7488]

Yes!! These are all so relatable! The money spent on TPT 😬 YIKES! Also, learning the IEP platform was absolutely the worst!

[@FitnessbyJenaye]

TYSM❤

[@triptimusaddi7167]

Hi, please make a video on special education and online classes

[@mollyfrey8708]

You make me excited to go into special ed

[@frana.4086]

Omg! I had an unassigned mentor (who saved me), and an assigned mentor. The unassigned mentor showed me the ropes and helped me gather used materials, which I loved and valued!

[@user-rq6id3gh3n]

OMG! Don't get me started on moving into a new classroom and finding it full of 25 years worth of other teachers' old, dusty teaching stuff and junk. My advice: Go in with gloves, a mask and heavy duty garbage bags and ruthlessly eliminate the "vintage played out clutter!" When I leave a class, I always leave the cupboards as bare as I can, leaving behind current resource manuals and materials only. Why stress the next person out with useless noise y'all. Do a friend a favour!

[@MinifigNewsguy]

Too many go in this field for their own mark in society then leave in a couple years... to me there is "I" in IEP teams. I worked with so many narcissistic SPED professionals in the dark ages of the late 1990s and early 2000s... who all they think about was themselves and messed people like up for the rest of my life. They want to make changes... it's the wrong venue.

[@carolinek8311]

I really like what you said about the trends and decor stuff. I am going into teaching and am determined to not fall into that trap...I just hope somebody doesn't perceive it as I don't care.

[@carolinek8311]

Thanks also for ending on a positive note! So refreshing to hear! :)

[@mackfam9798]

this was a good video thanks for doing this :)

[@michellehopperdietzel4154]

College basically sux at training sped teachers. I don’t understand this.

[@CalebSheets007]

This video was extremely helpful! I am in high school and am considering majoring in special education. Thank you!

[@Toothoo.19]

I have substituted many S.p.e.d teacher's in different schools. Seriously, it is very different in all schools (elementary) same county.

[@morganneville7397]

Hello!!!! I've just found your channel and I THANK YOU FOR IT!!!! I am FRESHLY new in this profession!!! I have started in Nov 2021 as a SPED Math Teacher. I have a Great Team around me that Helps in a HUDGE way!!! I know nothing about the art/science of teaching, managing behaviors in the class room while teaching the classwork !!! This a Major career change!!! I will begin earning my Master's in SPED this year. Is there any study tips etc. that you can give? Thank you for this channel!!!

[@minimalistact7246]

Hi I just found your channel and I’m already loving it, I’m going to start a new job as a paraprofessional and what are some tips that you would give me, that can help me out.😁 Thank you in advance!🙏🏼

[@pearlcrystal7802]

So true university teaches you how to teach and leaves out all what you really need for sped … I have 3,4,5 and I’m still trying to figure out how to teach every kid it’s so confusing !!!! Idk what I’m doing half the time

[@tahmidakhanam8507]

I'm so glad I found this video! Thank you so much!

[@dianefrisone5554]

Your videos are amazing!!!!!!!!

[@victoriaLL345]

Definitely helpful.

[@seawrightstudios]

Why didn't they tell me about due processes?

[@zoolzool1]

What college did you (and some of you reading this) go to that did not prepare you for IEP’s?! I had to learn the ins and outs of what an IEP must contain, how to use data to formulate goals, how to make them meaningful, etc.

[@elmerdsbaddays339]

iep's can be very overwhelming either from parent or teacher perspective.

[@sarahrafalski7593]

Thank you, thank you, thank you!! I just discovered your VLOG and am very happy I stumbled across it. I have been teaching for 10 years but I am starting this new school year as a SPED teacher. I am excited and nervous at the same time. Luckily, I have met my other team members and they are incredibly helpful, but I am still nervous going in as I will also be at a new school. Your words are so helpful :)

[@judymangum45]

Just found you and love you!! Wow! In my state Speech teachers can be the case manager. Some districts even have psychs be case managers for behavior only files. Not my district . . . yet! I have taught secondary with files for students in none of my classes. Not what I like. And YES to coteaching being unprepared. It can be very tough with horrid teachers (who are chosen to coteach because they have no classroom management). I had a guy who would just look at me and point to kids who were misbehaving (non IEP btw). He wanted me to be his bouncer. Oh no.

[@taradc6037]

I’m an elementary school speech therapist in CA and most school STs here (at least at the districts I’ve been at) usually case manage kids who are “speech only.”

[@wilsontoddd5253]

How. About. Vac. Work. Study. Program

[@lizzielove5898]

This video is extremely helpful for someone in college right now going to school to become a special Ed teacher. Thank you!

[@stephespi8373]

Hi Lizzie Love, what is your major ? I’m in college doing my basics rn, and I want to become a special Ed teacher, but I don’t know what major to get. Could you share your journey with me ?

[@Lillyjpotter]

@@stephespi8373you would get a bachelors of education with an emphasis on special education.

[@johnrainsman6650]

I need advice. When I was a Freshman in high school, my biology teacher patronized me (albeit, unintentionally, I'll admit). See, the second day, she had approached me at my locker after biology class. She put her hand on my shoulder and said something like, “If you ever have any questions in class, just ask.” She said this kind of slowly actually. Question is, why did she come to me? I don’t remember making a “struggling student” impression on her; the first day, I remember nothing. The second day, I was simply working on an in-class assignment with a partner. Not to mention the times she had the Special Ed worker help me with biology assignments. The first time, when we were partnered with a classmate for an experiment, the Special ED woman came in and my teacher had her partner with me. The second time, my teacher said she was here to help me and a certain classmate-who was a total slacker in class-come up with an idea for our upcoming biology project. But the thing is, I already had a project in mind. It very well sounds like the teacher didn’t think I could think of a plan on my own, while trusting the rest of the class to. Well, just because I didn’t generally have a quick understanding (especially in science), doesn’t automatically mean l would have no project in mind. Although I know she respected my hard work and personality,, I actually question if she respected my intellect and cognition. People tend to look down on my fellows with learning disabilities (who are such pathetic bigots by the way). Now here is the _current_ problem. I reunited with the teacher outside my job (her new neighborhood), and she told me she's gonna become a Special Ed teacher this upcoming fall. I can't let that happen. You all understood now how she spoke to me in biology, making me feel belittled. That's just it: being in Special Ed can already be tough, because of the insecurities of having a learning disability and requiring accommodations. It won't help if _she's_ the teacher there. I need you guys to give me advice quick, before September comes. How do I convince her _not_ to teach Special Ed? I'm not gonna be direct and honest and tell her _she_ isn't right for it. I have to find a way to persuade her the job isn't great, so that she'll decline herself. I have to protect those poor disabled learners from her. Please....someone help me.

[@stephespi8373]

Honestly, I don’t think you could persuade her but maybe tell her how you felt at that time , so she won’t do it to their kids?

[@nl212ep]

I think you’re the problem, not her.

[@johnrainsman6650]

@@nl212ep and why’s that?

[@stephespi8373]

@@johnrainsman6650 no good can come out of someone who says your a problem . Nobody has the right to invalidate other peoples feelings. Block this bot, and pay no attention .

[@marceletienne4320]

Love your videos :) this was so helpful!

[@DianeLStyma]

Thank You!!!!!

[@angelahenry71]

Thanks for sharing

[@jque3dog]

Yo this was helpful.

[@lifeliving5819]

Thank you for this!

[@Rebecca-sc2di]

The constant progress monitoring

[@rpstephans]

Its hard to focus on IEP goals always when there's so many other things to teach and curriculums the state/district wants you to teach. So much for "individualized" instruction. Parents usually only care about grades and not progress reports too but you spend so much time filling them out.

[@patriciadavis4919]

Amen Sister!!! Thank you for sharing and mentoring -- I taught from 1998- 2013( retired and subbing now) --- I wish there was KZbin and YOU then!! My first year - I had to write IEPs for kids I didn't have in my classes (it was Middle School) -- that was just crazy!! I loved all your advice about buying stuff too! and your earrings are so cute ;) You are a treasure -- Thank YOU!!

[@futuredeadcamper1736]

I graduate in 2028 and I am so excited but also so nervous to start my journey as a special education teacher ♥️♥️♥️

[@Dr.Sharron]

If special education was that rewarding, then why is there a special education teacher shortage? Get over political correctness and discuss the truth.

[@User_C5]

Because it can be very challenging and many people do not have the tact and emotional intelligence for it. If you do then it is beyond awarding. There is no political correctness going on. The truth, in my opinion, is that the combination of all the IEPs and awful parents is what makes it so exhausting. However, there is no other job that comes close to working in education. Wonderful and rewarding work.

[@thebeylaflenory]

I am going the college route in Special Ed then going to get my masters, I think it is smart and the best decision for me money wise and wanted to get more knowledge so I can prep myself for becoming a real teacher. I'll have more time and to look at your videos and others so thank you!

[@stephespi8373]

What masters are you planning on getting ?

[@missspecialeducator8002]

I wish I could express like you do but so glad you express what majority of us feel ❤️ thank you ❤️

[@adaptedspecialeducator9497]

First year as a teacher this year. I am so enjoying your videos. Thank you for all you do.