Special Education Interview Paper

I had the pleasure in meeting and interviewing Mrs. Robinson* from Wellington Elementary in LISD. She has been a Special Education teacher there for the past three years. Before working here, Mrs. Robinson worked at a middle school in Plano, TX. Collectively, this is her 16th year teaching and I think that she is a prime example of adapting her practice to meet the needs of each learner. Mrs. Robinson's inspiration started when she was little. She always knew that she wanted to work with small children in a classroom setting. She has had to adapt her teaching to work in small groups and one-on-one with each student. Through the Special Education program that the school offers, there are students of all ages. However, she mostly works with fifth graders and a couple of kindergartners. She enjoys meeting with her students individually and going into classrooms to observe. In addition to her resource kids and observing, Mrs. Robinson meets with parents quite often to keep them updated on her students progress. Parents, administration, and fellow teachers are among the support system that Mrs. Robinson has available to her through Wellington Elementary. Her experience with parents is a positive one. She recommends always keeping an open relationship with your
students' parents and don't be afraid to tell a parent that their child is struggling in a certain area. Through her past experiences, Mrs. Robinson's has noticed that the more you put in with parents, the more you will get out. She advises to always welcome their input and keep your students' parents updated. Mrs. Robinson's administration team and fellow teachers support her through her ongoing professional learning. She mentioned that it can be hard sometimes to find out details going on within the school if its not directly related to the Special Education team. There are multiple special programs at Wellington Elementary.
Special Education, a base program, and a dual language program. The base program and Special Education program are available for all grades, and the dual language program is available for Kindergarten through 4th grade. Although language barriers could be very prevalent in schools throughout Texas given the ethnic diversity. Almost all of the students that Mrs. Robinson comes in contact with are English proficient. There are a couple kindergarten students that can be a little difficult to understand but it is related more to these young students still learning to form complete thoughts and sentences, rather than a language
barrier. Mrs. Robinson has worked with a wide variety of students. These students differ in family socioeconomic status (SES), behaviors, culture, racially, ethnically, and many more. Evaluating her practice and the needs of each individual child is how Mrs. Robinson adapts her instruction through the diversities. At Wellington Elementary, Mrs. Robinson stated that her students now have many more opportunities than her students at her old middle school had. She believes this is because most families are middle to high economic status, compared to the families in Plano at her particular school being on the lower to middle economic status. Mrs. Robinson's behavioral management technique that she implements is the token economy system. She is a fan of positive reinforcement and uses her own money to buy treats or prizes for the students. She happily spends around a hundred dollars every few months to stock her treasure chest for her students. Her students earn points based on good behavior, such as sitting still, paying attention, and completing activities given in class. Although Mrs. Robinson has been teaching for many years now and feels well equipped, she remembers specific obstacles that she had to overcome her first few years of teaching. She is originally from Kansas and moved to Texas shortly after she got married. The move came with several challenges, including different standardized tests that slowed her down. She had to adjust her lessons to follow the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS) standards and learn new terms used throughout the teaching community in Texas. My interview with Mrs. Robinson was quite short but filled with many great stories and advice to help myself through my ongoing professional learning experiences. She has given me hands-on insight on how to adapt my future lessons to meet the needs of each learner. I have realized through her experiences and struggles that practically no class I take will prepare me for everything that will happen within my classroom, but if I use my common sense and keep an open communication relationship with my future administration team and fellow teachers, I will be able to manage myself appropriately through my professional career.