(POST) Personal

Philosophy of Special
Education

Karen I Villatoro
Gonzalez
EDU203
 Professor Vicki L. Rieger
M. Ed.

1. The Profession: Why you are choosing this profession? Who or what experience has inspired
you? What is your personal knowledge or skill set that will serve you? What is your current
understanding of the school system you are choosing to enter?

As I mentioned in my Pre assignment, I love this feel and when you love something you do its not

work. After working and visiting schools and seeing the differences that administrators have in each

school, it continuous to impact me in the reason behind being an educator. The most reason

experience is the one happening in my school where I am also doing the observation and their battle

to not turn it into a Charter school. The administrators and staff have gotten together to prove the

impact that our administration has had on the student population. The growth in the grade

achievements and the drop in school incidents. As I stood there outside holding my sign of

disagreement with this, I spoke to a few parents and students and felt that even though you are

behind four walls, you are valued. The parents were scared and dont want any changes. One

parent took a sign that read Dont fix what is not broken and was so proud to support our school. I

thought about leaving the students behind and how it would hurt me to leave such a good school and

specially community, parents and students. I think of my mother again and remember how many

obstacles she has overcome and how many battles she has won. I continue to grow and gain more
personal knowledge and skills that help mw every day and will continue to help me in my field and

desire to work with children. I know that there is no such thing as knowing too much or not

wanting/needing to learn new ideas that will help. I continue to volunteer outside of my daily working

hours in games, in church as a Sunday School director, and in the community. My current

understanding of the school system is still not much and honestly with all of this possibility of

becoming a Charter School is probably best. I dont want my heart to be filled with doubts as to why

people have accounts overseas, why they have family members working under them that approve

the mess they are trying to create and so on and so one. It is not really I am in this field for and in

any place you work, there is always drama.

2. Teaching Philosophy: What educational philosophy and psychological orientation dictate your

current beliefs about special education? How does your knowledge of historical events set the stage

for how you will think about children and schools?

My educational philosophy is still and always will be to have a positive outlook in people and life. I

still refuse a student telling me that I cant or I wont. Seeing their smiles showing that they believe

me when I say they can achieve anything in life is such a Blessing. All children will continue to be

given a fair treatment from me and will receive guidance and understanding in anything they face in

life. We are like a second parent, we are with them a long part of their day and we are their role

models. My psychological philosophy falls in the same category as my education philosophy and I

think thats how it should be. I love for children to challenge themselves and to achieve things. In this
current observation I noticed the will power of Saul a student with limited had movements but so

independent. He asked me for a tissue paper and was trying to clean his nose on his own, actually

he did clean his nose on his own by putting the tissue on a table and then bending down and rubbing

his nose on the table. I praised him on his independence and told him he was such a bright young

man with a lot in his future. It got me though, not because I felt sorry for him but because he didnt

and doesnt give up. He always has questions for me and always wants to know what is next and

does it all on his own. Students that impact my life is why I also do this. I dont like it when an

educator says that they are the authority and that is it, that children are there to learn from them.

They fail to realize that they teach us many lessons as well. My current knowledge and daily lessons

and experience with children and life will help me continue to impact the lives of children as well as

my own. The events that we read on, the turnaround in the laws and beliefs in Special Education

and Children is amazing. The people that fought for the laws to take effect are people to be admired.

I pray and hope that I can also make a difference in all of the childrens lives. There is no normal

child that is teachable, all children are teachable. The people and events show improvements and

we have to continue making positive stories in every child.

3. Instruction: What strategies will you implement? What will be your approaches to learning, student

diversity, student variability, and assessment?

After I did my pre assignment on these questions and evaluated and analyzed my way of thinking. I

was impacted by an article that fit in with this post assignment. It focuses on a few things:

Facing any achievement gaps in a student:

We have to face it as educators that all children have gaps in their achievements and it can

be for various reasons. One of the main reasons is English deficiency and another is

poverty. If we do not understand this and help them face the gaps than what good are we.

Closing the achievement gaps in student:

We have to understand that there are not only academic needs there are social, emotional

and physical needs and strengths. Educators are being challenged to broaden strategies to

meet all of the needs and strengths of all children. The way in which we teach exert a

powerful influence on the social, cognitive and general educational development. We have

to acknowledge students gender differences and reaffirm their cultural, ethnic and

languages. Recognizing all of this will improve our teachings and their learning building a

better future for all of us.

Embracing the diversity

Diverse students offer a powerful resource for resource for everyone to learn. Every diverse

person serves as a resource for others including us as educators, administrators and our

community. Rather than taking the diverse students as a problem in your classroom, take

them as a tool to help you teach those wonderful life lessons. The article stated these factors

as well and here I summarize it, we have to have a clear sense of the childs own ethnic and

cultural identity. Communicate with high expectations for the success of all students and

believe in them. Develop a bond with the students and their family, provide academic

challenging curriculum and focus on students creating a good and safe learning environment.
 We have to help each student see that the learning tasks have meaning and will help in

every day of their lives.

There is so much we can do for each child and the role as an educator never ends. It is not only for

book knowledge but for life skills as well. You have to be able to provide a safe yet diverse

environment where all can learn.

4. Future: What qualities do you need to possess to move forward in this career? What specific steps

(education, employment, volunteer experiences) do you plan to undertake in order to achieve your

goals?

There are so many qualities that we need, one of them is to have the love for others not only in a

school setting but in every part of your life. You have to be a caring person and be able to provide

love, care and support to each child whether in your class or not. Smile at them and show them you

are there for them. I am looking forward every day to finishing my education at CSN and to continue

with the accelerated program through the District and National University. I have already registered

for five classes for next semester and looking forward to just this one month left in this semester

classes. I am happy to be able to meet professors with the knowledge to help me in my teaching

endeavors and to learn from them as they share stories of work with us. I am starting to look into the

requirements for the substitute licensing and will do that by the end of this semester. I am looking

forward to travel to different schools and to see and learn from different cultures, communities and

students. I am very very proud of myself and of the morals my father and mother instilled in me.
They are one of the reasons why I strive to give it 100% and more. I cant wait to have my own

classroom and to interact a whole school year with my students and their parents and serve them in

any way I can. After all the challenges I have been through, with the support of my husband,

children and family I can say I am almost there. All is worth it and I am driven by everyone and

specially by Gods grace.