Student Teaching begins in a month

Your bullets stating 'experience gained' are bland. Use more active verbs: UTILIZED SmardBoard to....FACILITATED student understanding through....DIFFERENTIATED learning in.....CREATED....

 

That was my point. Have you considered plan B being curriculum development for students with disabilities?

 

Really, Bros. Administrators might much prefer that you don't know special education laws inside and out. They may prefer to train you with their interpretation.

 

In terms of your resume, you list "Skills" which is plural, but only list one skill. If it is plural, you need to list multiple skills. Personally, I wouldn't list the singular skill you have listed. It is expected that someone with a SPED degree would know that.

 

I think your resume is too wordy. I would rewrite the whole thing, delete some things, but definitely reword everything. It sounds more like a narrative than a resume.

 

Yeah, I thought the skills section of my resume was a bit out of place.

Perhaps combine the two field experiences under one heading and compress it a bit?

I can think of 4-5 lessons that I have used multiple intelligences and differentiation in, how they went, and how I may have changed the lesson. There was at least one that I did in my first field experience that was a great example of that. One in my second field experience. And a few in my current field experience.

It's technically not a history minor, but a content area.

Many job listings say things like "Elementary School teacher HQ in Math" or "Special Education Teacher HQ in Social Studies" which is why I am listing it.

I'll probably ask for the principal to observe me sometime in the afternoon class before the end of my student teaching.

Surprisingly, a lot of people in my program don't know a lot about sped law. Whenever my adviser who teaches the capstone class with my professor asks a hypothetical question, or if anyone knows the answer to a students question and it concerns special education law, I am the only one raising my hand with the answer. It is very odd.

Most people in my program just know most of the federal classification categories. We didn't get taught about RTI or the referral process.

Yeah. I knew it was rather bland, but I couldn't think of another way to phrase it at the time of typing it up. Well, this is a work in progress at least.

I think positions in curriculum development require experience in teaching. I might be wrong though.

Yeah, I was also thinking that. Hopefully wherever I end up working doesn't interpret the law in a manner which is illegal.

I'll do a revision tomorrow when I get home.

 

Here is a copy of my resume...
RESUME

A lot of people like the template of it, and I got 12/12 jobs I applied for this summer.

 

Sorry for double post, but here are my resume thoughts. I've been looking at a lot lately.

IF you are going to highlight skills, (personally, I wouldn't) but Skills needed for SPED I think would be important to include...

Differentiated Instruction
Universal Design for Learning (UDL)
Classroom Management
Standards Based IEP Development
Measurable Goal Writing
Data Driven PLAAFP writing
Providing appropriate accommodation and modifications in accordance to student's IEP.
Collaboration with General Education Staff
Positive Reinforcement
ORGANIZATION (critical for all future special educators)
Progress Monitoring

I could continue.

At my district, all SPED teachers (starting new year if board approves the plan I'm working on) are required to apply directly to the Special Services office. They will be screened and interviewed. The SPED office will create a "ready to hire" list. Then the principals can call from that list to see if the teacher will be a good fit for his/her school.

Lots of districts are doing that, might be something worth considering.

We are implementing this (hopefully) because principals do not know the amount of skills needed to be an efficient SPED teacher.

 

Don't know anything about UDL. I know the term, but only because one professor mentioned it in a class in Fall 2011 for a five minute conversation.

Have no experience with IEP development, goal writing, PLAAFP writing, or progress monitoring.

 

Haven't you had any sped classes on the IEP?

 

:wow:I am surprised and a bit shocked that someone could get a degree in Sped without learning how to do these things. It will be very hard to get a Sped job without at least a basic understanding of these things. It sounds like your degree program has really let you down in this area. You need to talk to someone at your university to find out why it is possible to get an Sped degree without this most basic part of it. They are doing a disservice to their students.

I can't imagine hiring someone for a Sped job who doesn't know how to write an IEP or do progress monitoring.

 

The first time most of my classmates saw an IEP was last fall when I brought in one of my HS IEPs to show the class during a presentation.

Most of them had no idea IEPs had so many pages.

We get told the sections of an IEP, but it's not like there's a class on special education law/IEPs, beyond the basics, at least. We learn the basic history of special education law, a bit about IDEA (Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act is barely touched on), and about the federal classification categories.

I could probably wing it after looking at an example or two of a PLAAFP. Goal writing is easy. I know how goals should be according to the law.

Everything I know about special education comes from personal experience or research.

 

I minored in Special Ed. I did not see an actual IEP until I got a job. Every school district/county (5 in total) that I have worked in write them differently, so a class at school would not have helped me out at all.

 

I also did not see an actual IEP until I got a job. I've worked in 3 districts. Each used a different format.

 

Same here. I learned how to write them by looking through all of the IEPs at my current job and asking the other sped people (school psych and slp in my case, since there wasn't another sped teacher) questions. Personally I think it was very easy to pick up. I'd never seen an IEP meeting either because our local school districts didn't allow "outsiders" into meetings. I asked the SLP if I could observe her first meeting so that I could get an idea of how they worked, and then modeled my first meeting after hers. I actually did the same thing when I moved to a new school this year, because every school has a different expectation for how the meetings are run.

 

I believe there should be a class because IDEA does contain specifics of what is required in an IEP. All IEPs require present levels of performance that are supposed to be based off of measurable information. All IEPs have goals that are supposed to be measurable. All IEPs have accommodations. SOME IEPs have accommodations. All IEPs have the amount of service and provider. All IEPs are supposed to consider academic, behavioral, and functional areas for goals. All IEPs have the ability to have related services included. All IEPs have parental input.

None of these things are school specific or state specific EXCEPT for document formatting (and of course, rules schools make up as how they want to do things such as only 1 goal for reading, 1 for math, and one for writing, etc.).

The idea that an IEP is formatted differently from district to district or state to state as the reason that the guts of an IEP are not taught directly in an education to receive a special education degree is insulting to the students getting the degree. Therefore, I disagree that the reason that specifics of IEP creation is not taught has ANYTHING to do with districts or states having different formats and suggest it has everything to do with allowing districts and states to determine how they want to implement IEPs at their school.

I've seen fantastic IEPs where the present levels of performance were very informative and saw others that have said "Johnny requires special education in reading because he cannot perform to grade level without support". Just think if the person that wrote that PLOP actually had a class that taught them how one should be written. Maybe the training from the existing staff members or the department head would send up really big red flags as to the situation they found themselves in instead of thinking they have now learned how to write a good PLOP.

 

Today my afternoon CT had me take over while she had a meeting with the principal. It mostly went well - I was helping a student and wasn't looking at the clock and started getting them ready for the end of the day a few minutes later than normal, but nobody was held up.

 

But still no mention of you running the show from start to finish before your ST experience ends? I forget...is that not required?

 

I can't run it from start of the day to the end of the day due to my switching classrooms. No mention of running it at least in the afternoon.

 

But, can't you run the show all morning (from pre-student arrival to the time you go to the other room?)

 

No, because the gen ed teacher has to run the morning class. She's not tenured.

I do keep the kids orderly in the hall before the school day begins, and I do the attendance on the Smart Board with them. Then the gen ed teacher does lunch while the para checks their folders for notes.

 

Have you asked them to write letters of reference?

 

Why does it matter if she is tenured?

 

Not yet.

 

Why not?

 

You should not wait with the letters of references. I was told you should allow for 3 weeks for them to write it, but probably even more. It's a favor they're doing, so you need to give them enough time to write it. Otherwise, you just won't have it, and that's not good.

 

Shouldn't matter. If anything, it shows her school has confidence in her to allow her to take on a ST.

 

I'll probably email this weekend.

The untenured morning gen ed teacher isn't my CT.

The tenured part time special ed teacher is my CT in the morning.

 

I've always taught my student teachers that they should ask for a reference in person. Emailing just isn't professional enough for such a request. That's my opinion, of course.

 

Agreed. Ask in person on Monday.

 

Don't email Thanksgiving weekend. If I were the teacher I would wonder why on Earth you wouldn't ask me in person. Ask Monday.

 

Doesn't matter...you are in the morning teacher's classroom. You should be more than a hallway monitor. I fear that you haven't engendered enough trust for your CTs (and the morning non tenured teacher) to completely hand over the reins.

 

That's pretty much what my CT does in the morning class. We'll chime in on occasion, but the model of co-teaching they use is pretty much a Teach-Assist model.

 

So if the sped teacher is your CT, you should be taking over her part.It's not enough to 'assist'...crimies...I've had parents assist with some activities. You are seeking licensure. Step up, speak up.

 

I think he has taken over her part, and it's just that his CT is the "Teacher's Aide with a Teacher's Salary" type.

 

He should be doing the sped teachers part in the AM...he's getting certified I sped as well as elementary

 

Bros, what kinds of things do you expect your CT will write in the letter should she agree to write one?

 

I think he IS doing her part. It's that she hasn't been "doing her part," if you know what I mean.

 

My special education practicum was in a regular ed. first grade classroom with 4, 5 year old students reading below grade level. I worked under the regular ed. teacher and did not see the special ed. teacher (I'm not sure if there was one).

 

I do think student teaching under a special ed teacher can lead to less than great ST experiences, especially if the regular classroom teacher isn't thrilled about having a ST in the room. There are now four adults in the room, right? Regular, SpEd, Assistant, and ST. A lot.

Still don't think the best was made of the circumstances, though.