I have been offered a position as a LD special ed teacher. This will be my first teaching job and I’m very excited about it. I wonder if some experienced teachers can tell me what I can expect….I can handle the good and the bad…this summer what should i become aquainted with respect to the position.
Congratulations on your position! As a special education teacher I welcome you to a very rewarding experience. During the summer the first thing you should do is get access to your students files. Read them carefully! Make a note of when their psycho-educational evaluation will be due (it is every three years, or more often if necessary). Pay very close attention to the current IEP. Make a note of what subject area/s the student will be needing resource (I am assuming you will be in a resource model classroom)services. Next note how many minutes or hours the student will be receiving services from you. Read what we call the PLOP or the Present Level of Performance (usually the second page of the IEP). This should tell you how the student is currently performing. A good PLOP will be a page or more, most are not. :( Also read the psycho-educational evaluation from beginning to end. If there is anything you don’t understand, ask for help. Read everything you can on the subject. To start I would purchase the book Faking It by Christopher Lee and Rosemary Jackson (Amazon has it). It gives you two perspectives: that of a student with learning differences and that of his teacher. Rely on your mentor teacher, that is what he or she is there for. Ask your principal who this person maybe and contact them. They may have resources that will help you. MOST IMPORTANTLY, search the Internet for a copy of the IDEA. This is what will dictate what you do in the classroom and the paperwork you will be completing. Some state dept. of ed. websites have a compressed version or a copy that you can order. Beware, it is quite extensive!! Lastly, contact (postcard or phone call is fine) your parents and their child and introduce yourself and how you are anxiously anticipating their arrival in the new school year. This should get you through until school starts. Don’t worry about room decorating right now, that is unimportant compared to knowing as much as you can about special education and the children you will be teaching. Good luck!!!