The masters I am going for is cross categorical, meaning when I graduate I can teach in any age group; preschool to seniors in high school. Though I could teach any age group, I am hoping for the grades preschool to second grade. I currently provide early intervention services for children birth to three who have been diagnosed with a disability. I have been doing this for about two years and absolutely love it, but I miss seeing each child daily. The way my current career is set up, I see roughly 25 children a week, each for only an hour. I miss working with the same children on a daily basis like I did when I was an assistant director at a local preschool/day care.
School has been tough, and it has tested my ability to stay on target with work, school and life in general. It was a rough first few weeks, but I think I have the hang of it now. Or at least, I hope I do. I am on my winter "break" right now, but still working so I don't really call it a break. I return January 5th.
Below are some blog posts I made on my MySpace over the course of my first semester at UoP.
---- Sunday, September 21, 2008:
Title: And it officially begins...
Post: Well, I started my Masters program about 4 weeks ago... So far, so good. I get into my actual Special Education courses this coming Tuesday (September 23rd). I am excited. My first course is "Orientation to the Exceptional Child." I just downloaded all the readings for this six week course, and I was a little overwhelmed. It is A LOT! But as I was saving them to my computer to read throughout the weeks, the nerves became excitement. The articles I am to read seem so interesting to me. A lot of them cross into what I am doing now, which is so awesome. I will learn more about the IEP process. Right now I deal with IFSP which deals with much younger children's educational goals. I cannot wait to learn more about all the disabilities that are out there. I am so happy I decided to go with Special Education and not Early Childhood Education. Don't get me wrong, I love working with children birth to three years of age, but I cannot wait to get into the school system. I don't know why I didn't become a teacher in the first place. I have always been interested in special needs yet the concept of teaching these wonderful people never crossed my mind until about 6 months ago.I am so excited for what the future has in store for me. If I am MIA, it is due to school. Just know I still love you all, and will try my hardest to remain in contact with you all. School is 1 right now. I need to keep my grades up and keep my 4.0 so that I can prove to the school districts that I am worth hiring in 2 years!
That is all. I am sure there will be more blogs about this and even a few "AHHH SCHOOL IS KICKING MY @*#" rants, but in the end, I am so glad I made this decision.
---- Monday, September 22, 2008
Title: 96.6%
Post: That is my grade for my first Masters class!!! I am so excited!! A little irritated that it was not the 98% I had before, but yay for groups who tend to not listen to advice on presentations, oh well. The one that ends today is just pass fail, so no excitement there.
YAY for School!
---- Tuesday, October 21, 2008
Title: First Observation for my Masters... plus an awesome interview!
Post: Some background.... I need 100 hours of observation hours before I graduate with my Masters in 2 years. The class I am currently taking, Orientation to the Exceptional Child, required that I visit a Preschool/Elementary School, Middle/High School AND a college special needs classroom.
Well, I was freaking out trying to get a hold of people for the High School observation. Well, a co-worker of my dad's is married to a woman who works at McClintock High School. I emailed her and she gave me a contact for the Special Education department. Well, I scheduled my visit for Monday October 20th from 9-10am.
I arrived around 8:45am and was given the classroom I was to observe. I was going to be observing a Reading 180 classroom and an Emotionally Disturbed (ED) classroom. The first class, Reading 180, was basically a language/lit class. One thing I noticed was about 90% of the students were either Hispanic or Native American. This seemed to prove that there are a lot of children out there that get diagnosed with a disability based on a language barrier.
So, after an hour in that class, I was walked to the class next door and introduced to that teacher. This was a history class for ED students. I was shocked to see Mike as the Student teacher. Mike is the husband of my friend Stasia. Well, this class was smaller in number. The students seemed to act out more and I was so impressed with how Mike handled them all.
After this visit I was somewhat torn. I want to work with younger children to try and mold them before "the damage is done." But seeing these High School students, it made me realize that this might be the last time for them to learn before entering into the real world. So, I think over the next 18 months, I have a lot to learn and then decide on which age group I would prefer to work on.
So, that was the end of my observation.
Tonight I also conducted my interview for another paper for this class. I was to interview someone who has a disability. Though I have talked to this person plenty of times, about their disability and other things. It was so awesome how this person takes their disability. I also realized tonight that the word "disability" seems to disabling, for a lack of a better word. As I learn more about people with these exceptionalities, I realize they always seem to find a way to make it work for them. I am honored to be friends with the person I talked to tonight.
Well, that is the latest update!
meep out!
---- Sunday, December 21, 2008
Title: Status: 1st Semester Completed
Post: Yup! I am officially done with my first semester of school. It has been hard getting back into the swing of things, but I have truly enjoyed it. I have learned a lot in such a short period of time, and cannot wait to see what I learn in the 18 months to come!
On that note, I have gotten all A's in my classes, but the one A- has brought me down to a 3.8. Which is a HELL of a lot better than what I got when getting my bachelors.
My next class is all about Special Education Methods.... and anything with "methods" or "theories" tends to kick my ass! One thing I am excited about is the observations needed for this current class. I get to observe the IEP process as well as write a case study on a hypothetical child created by my instructor! So cheers to keeping up and not going insane!
Thanks for listening
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WOW, until now.. I did not realize I was posting basically a month apart!
That is it for now!
xoxo- Kristen
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