Professional Dispositions Statement Assessment

As a future special education educator, I will always strive to remain professional, uphold

high expectations, embrace diversity, and remain forever curious to continually reflect upon and

improve my skills to enhance the classroom environment and be a compassionate and dedicated

advocate for my students. My goal is to create a warm, fair, and inviting classroom in which my

students, parents, and my fellow teachers feel welcome to learn and share ideas, thoughts, and

feelings. I want to be a role model of advocacy, fairness, compassion, and education for my

students whose educational and emotional needs may be greater than others.

When I started my program and began my journey to become a special education teacher,

the only students I had in mind were students who had moderate to severe disabilities, as I had

been working with adults who have severe developmental disabilities. As I started attending

observations and interacting with students an understanding of the other side of special education

started to develop which cemented the importance of my studies. I experienced the dedication of

teachers working long hours and through lunch breaks to tutor and speak with students, write

IEPs, and take time to share relevant information and advice about the field of education with

me.

My curiosity, compassion, and desire to improve my education to be able to teach my

future students has grown as I have witnessed students struggle through reading simple passages

and delight when they can understand the information and pronounce a problematic word

without help based on tips and strategies employed by their dedicated teachers. I have become

more understanding and knowledgeable about different disabilities and how they may impact a

student’s life and education. As of now, I am using the theories I have learned to start being able
to make that impact in the classroom and enhance their learning experience of the students in my

care.

The areas in which I will strive to improve are my professional relationships, professional

learning development and embracing diversity as I feel that is an area where that can be

continuously improved as I meet new people, experience different students, people, and ideas,

and learn new strategies to enhance the learning environment I am trying to nurture. Lastly, I am

striving to improve in the areas of planning and instructional strategies. My few teaching

experiences over the last week had shown me the importance of being prepared, having a solid

back-up plan, and an excellent collection of strategies to use if the plan does not work out, which

goes hand-in-hand with my goal to continuously take advantages of professional development

opportunities to enhance my knowledge and skills. In order to succeed and improve in the areas

that were mentioned, I will continue to develop strong professional relationships to learn from

the dedicated and experienced professionals in my field. I will take time to be prepared and take

advantage of opportunities to attend professional development sessions and read books about

different educational ideas, strategies, and techniques. Lastly, I will always strive to learn from

and listen to my students as they often provide the best information and advice on how to meet

their educational and emotional needs.