PERSONAL PHILOSOPHY REFLECTION PAPER

Personal Philosophy Reflection Paper

Sarah Kerschgens

EDU 203 Special Education

Dr. Becky Norton

October 9, 2018
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My philosophy of Special Education and Education in general comes from having

taught ESL for so many years and seeing how capable children with and without learning

disabilities are when given the opportunity to actively participate in new things. I love teaching

and seeing the responses and wonder from children when they learn something new or are

introduced to new things and the look of joy on a child's face when they succeed. As a future

teacher my job is to ensure that the children are continually learning something, are always

learning something new, while not forgetting what they have already learned and that they will

be hungry to learn even more.

Education is the most important gift we can give every child. Every child in my

opinion can achieve great things, if they are given the chance. In the classroom there should

be no division between social classes, social status or disabilities, this is something I strongly

believe in and will always be with me in the classroom. “ Every Child can achieve success”

I believe that inclusion can work and have seen it many times myself, I had a child in

one of my classes that was 90% blind, but that did not stop her in any way or form from

learning a new language, she was totally involved in the class and only needed help when she

had to learn about a new animal or action that she had never heard of before in her native

language but in that she was no different to the other children. But I also believe some

children if they have severe disabilities may need a contained classroom, especially if they

disrupt the learning abilities of their peers. I believe as a teacher you have to give your
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students 100 percent and this cannot be done if you are constantly disrupted by a child that

needs a contained classroom, but I believe the inclusion children can be fully integrated in the

classroom if the teacher uses the proper modifications and accommodations to ensure that

classwork and learning is achieved.

Instruction is a skill and this can only be honed in with experience, trial and error. It is

important for me that I know what my children need, who is a visual learner, who is an

auditory learner, etc but I also feel that whatever type of learner the children are they must

also strive to accept all types of learning as valid types of learning and not just to rely on what

they feel comfortable with. Secondly for me respect is important, for me as a teacher, I have to

respect the child's culture, needs and capabilities and on the other hand the students need to

respect me as their teacher.

The future of learning will be a challenge and a blessing for teachers, with more

technology we will be able to teach our students things that we couldn't before, whether it is

using holograms to participate in field trips or whether it is being able to provide our children

in Special Education with the tools needed to succeed for example in the form of a writing

device. As a future teacher it is important that I am up to date with new teaching methods and

technologies in order to ensure that my students obtain the best education I can possibly

provide them with.

Society today is much more open and aware towards Education and Special Education.

Disabilities are not hidden away but are being talked about. This has provided possibilities for

many children that 50 years ago did not exist but we still have a long way to go. I am glad that
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I am majoring in Special Education as this will give me a better insight into the disabilities

that we have in our world but will also provide me with the tools to ensure these children

receive the proper education according to their capabilities and it has opened up a whole new

world for me as I never knew that the 'gifted' children were also under this category. But there

is also a challenge, now that Education is much more talked about, we as future teachers, will

be even more challenged by parents as they know what new technologies are out there, they

know about different teaching methods and they know about all the accommodations that can

be provided to their children. This makes it even more important for future teachers to know

the trends and new technologies that exist and not to just rely on the old and trusted methods

of teaching that may not exist in 10 years time.

As a teacher I find this is an exciting time, we are seeing people questioning the need

for homework, standardized tests, the need for general education classes but also the need for

more technology classes. I am looking forward to seeing how teaching evolves in the future.
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