My Personal Philosophy Statement Towards Becoming an Educator

For my profession, my attitude needs to constantly be encouraging, energetic, happy and endearing in the classroom.

Personal Beliefs

With America’s current standing in the education ranks, especially in math and reading, I don’t think there has been a more important time to be an intervention specialist. There are more cases of Autism and learning disabilities in schools than ever before and, now more than ever, we need highly qualified special education teachers, like I hope to be. I want to be in this profession because I want to be able to make a change in even one kid’s life. I want to know that I helped at least one kid to make their life a little bit easier. Everyone wants to leave their mark on the world and if I could leave a mark on just one kid then I can help that kid to make their mark too. I am going into this profession to not only help kids but I want to help the future generations so that they can help to mend the world and make good changes. I know this all seems farfetched and a little too high of hopes but really if I help just one kid I will know I went into the right profession. My road to choosing special education was not exactly the direct route. I came into college as a dual major early childhood and special education and I didn’t really want the special education part when I came into it. If I’m being honest my mother made me add it so I could be more marketable. Though, when I look back, the real reason I didn’t want to go into special education was because I didn’t think I could do it, I didn’t believe in myself. Luckily, I found two of my best friends in that major and they believed in me. At the end of last year, those two amazing girls and two of my closest mentors, Dr. Sabousky and Dr. Turner, showed me that I could be highly qualified and I could go into special education. From there I have never looked back, I am passionate about special education and I know that the goal of helping at least one child will definitely be accomplished in my profession of choice. Considering that these are the children who need intensive, individualized interventions to aid them in even functioning at the same level as their peers.

Goal Statement

My ultimate goal is to be a highly qualified special education teacher and help the kids in my district by advocating for them and teaching them, as they deserve to be taught. Knowledge is the main key to my goal, I need to know as much as possible about current legislation and the child’s disability so that I can help and advocate appropriately for that child and be considered highly qualified. There are many skills that are important so I can be considered highly qualified or be an advocate; these include how to plan individualized lessons, manage and adapt a classroom to fit my students, understand how to advocate for the child in a respectful yet demanding manner, and learn how to decipher legislation. Though the biggest skill I personally need is confidence. Attitudes are contagious, especially in a field where attitude so directly affects students. For my profession, my attitude needs to constantly be encouraging, energetic, happy and endearing in the classroom. This will be a challenge because everyone has their bad days but for the good of my students in my classroom I will need to exude these important traits.

Implementation of Goals

I am currently working to achieve my goal of being highly qualified by continuing my education. I am currently a junior in the intervention specialist program and I will be graduating with my bachelor’s in dual special education K-12 next fall. Immediately after that I will be continuing to get my master’s as an intervention specialist in spring of 2020. I believe that through these 5 years of college I will truly be a highly qualified special education teacher. I plan to not stop my education there but constantly seek out speakers and training to know more about the ever-changing department of special education. No one can reach their goals alone, throughout school and beyond that I will reach out to my professors and mentors in the field, along with my close friends working towards this major as well. My family and significant other are also huge supporters of mine and that support will always help me to work harder and believe that I can be as good as I want to be. I hope that my determination and the courses that I am taking will help me to truly fulfill my goal of being an advocate and highly qualified educator.

Personal Reflection

Currently I have the base skills toward many of the skills I need. I know how to construct a lesson plan that includes direct instruction methods, I have learned many adaptations to help specific children or the classroom environment overall, and I have learned the ins and outs of current legislation and how to sift through the jargon to understand the meaning. My strengths are in my attitude and in my skill of being able to break apart situations, symptoms and people to understand and adapt in accordance. I try to always keep a positive and nurturing attitude throughout my life because I have learned that it makes me feel better if I make others feel better and that is what my goal is in my profession. I do have multiple weaknesses that will hinder my progress towards my goals. The first being, that I lack self-confidence and belief; I get nervous speaking in front of peers and second guess things I know. I think that is my biggest weakness in life and it is integral to have confidence in a classroom. Since I have been dealing with lack of self-confidence and belief all my life I have figured out strategies like repeating “you can do this” in my head or out loud or talking to someone who believes in me. Though when it comes to public speaking/teaching I have worked on that by teaching at my summer vacation bible school but I know I need to try speaking in front of crowds more often to overcome my anxiety. I also have no current idea on how to individualize lesson plans so that the whole special education class can understand. I know that later on in my education this weakness will be addressed but I will also address it by speaking to professors and trying to apply the knowledge I am being taught to a hypothetical future classroom of mine. My final weakness is understanding how to advocate appropriately; I do not know what is professional and acceptable to say and what will be too strong or contradictory when speaking to a coworker or IEP team. I currently attend as many conferences as I can and listen to the political actions committee to try and address this weakness and I think the next step is to talk to them or to my professors who have worked in the field to understand what is okay and what is not okay. I currently think that my weaknesses and strengths are about even and throughout the rest of my education and beyond I hope to continue to address my weaknesses and reach my goal to be the best educator I can be for the students that need it the most.