Pre-Personal Philosophy Statement !

Pre-Personal Philosophy Statement of Special Education

Kirstin N. Sanchez

College of Southern Nevada

Authors Note

Kirstin N. Sanchez student at College of Southern Nevada, online course EDU 203 with

Dr. Dale Warby.

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Abstract

This paper will be explaining in detail about my knowledge with becoming a teacher in special

education, the strategies and approaches that will be implemented to students, the qualities that

will be adapted into becoming a special education teacher, and my philosophy on people with

disabilities in the school system. Understanding these points and how they affect students along

with the teachers is an important factor on whether a teacher is truly ready to teach, to be

confident and accepting of those students with disabilities having them gain your trust into

providing them the education they deserve and making them feel comfortable in a classroom

with other students who do not have disabilities or special needs.

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Pre-Personal Philosophy Statement of Special Education

The Profession

I am choosing to become a special education assistant helping students with special needs

in their classroom. My mother works in the library at an elementary school and when she has her

group of Autistic students come in for a lesson and check out a book I have seen how much a

teacher needs assistants with other students. In that class there are six students and two assistants

and a teacher. Watching how much work it is for one person to take care of three students while

the other is taking care of their three students I felt that there needed to be more people helping

out especially when it comes to getting their work done. I have taken some time when they come

into the library to help one of the students out on their work and picking out books and the next

time they visit the library I would help another student.

I have volunteered my time working with other teachers having their students practice

their sight words, a list of the 1000 most common words in the English language where students

have to be able to read the word and pronounce it correctly. There have been many students who

struggled saying these words, reading them, and some students who parents/guardians wont take

the time to help them. Those students who I see struggling I will give them extra time to practice

with me, with the teachers approval. We would sound out every word and I would write it

phonetically for them to practice, we even set goals for each time we would see each other trying

to get as far as we could in the packet. For those students who had the hardest time I would make

practicing these words a game. I would do so much for them to get through all 1000 words by the

end of the year.

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I love helping students out. Though I do not have that well of an understanding of the

school system, I am ready to lean and to prepare myself for these challenges. I had a rough time

in school, as stated in my student profile, because of that I never want another student to feel the

way I did. I want to make sure they do their absolute best at everything, giving everything a try,

to be understanding of everyone and everything around them, and to prepare them with life

lessons I wish I knew at their age.

Educational Philosophy

My belief on special education is that everyone is unique but no matter what you will

always find something similar about others around you. I strive for my students to feel

comfortable in the classroom. It doesnt matter where they come from, where they live, their

parents economic status, their religion, their beliefs, their learning style. In my classroom

everyone will treat each other with respect. Going to school I never felt comfortable in my

classrooms except in my choir class. We were like a family, though we had our differences we

still felt close. That is what I want in a classroom. Whether all of my students have special needs,

if the class has half students with special needs, or if the class has no students with special needs

I want them to feel comfortable in their learning environment.

Instruction

The strategies I would implement into the classroom would be to have open discussions

frequently. When taking my valuing diversity course I learned about many methods on how

students of different cultures learn their best. In my classroom I would be having students talk to

each other about themselves to people across the classroom that they dont interact with as much.

No matter where someone comes from there will always be one thing they will have in common.
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There is always a reason for students to get along. Another strategy I would be implementing is

alternative teaching, especially in exercised where students will talk and get to know each other.

A classroom I observed last year has implemented the alternative teaching and the students

enjoyed it. It gave them to work with other students in their class, being able to get help from one

another and learning how they do something different. It was a teachers dream class, of course

there were some problems at some points in the year. Watching this teacher have their class all in

sync inspired me to adapt their teaching strategies for my classroom in the future.

Future

The qualities I have work well with wanting to become a teacher. I understand students at

their level and can excite/engage them into lessons, my discipline and classroom management

skills are good (classroom management from observing and giving a lesson to a class), I have

high standards for my students wanting them to be their best, and I am good at building trusting

relationships with my students. There are plenty of qualities that I will still need to learn and

adapt on being a good teacher. I plan on learning these through my observations and volunteer

work. I will be gathering teachers input rom each grade level (Kindergarten to 5th) and what they

wish people told them about their work before they started. Learning from others mistakes and

misbeliefs help, seeing people saying I wish someone told me about this before I worked here

gives me the inside knowledge that most people wouldnt get from lectures or textbooks but

rather from interactions with their soon to be coworkers.

Goals and Conclusions

My goals is to be the best teacher and person I can be. I want to be the teacher you see in

movies impacting a students life, to tell them to never stop following their dreams, the teacher
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that you see on the news about getting their students to have some of the highest grades in the

county. Though these are big things that many teachers believe, I will not stop until I am there. I

am the person who has weird and unusual strategies/examples to help kids understand a concept.

My teaching methods are definitely different than the teachers I have observed but I have seen

that mine are some of the most effective. I will be the teacher that students will remember and

tell stories to their children about how I sang and danced to the states and capitals song from The

Animaniacs and to this day they remember every word to that song. Having students with special

needs I want them to have as good of a time in my classroom as anyone would. Though things

may be a challenge for them, nothing will stop them from having a good day and learned

something new while still having fun.