I have been lucky enough to get a high school Special Education position at a great school in the state of NY. I have been teaching for a little over two weeks. I am certified Social Studies 7-12 and Special Ed 7-12 and I am teaching both Global History and English classes. While English is not my forte, I am picking up the content well and am embracing the opportunity to do different things in my classes. The other day, a regular ed Social Studies teacher resigned and they are looking to replace him. When I heard of this opportunity, I immediately thought that I would love to do it. Positives: I would be teaching all Social Studies classes to general education students, if I ever wanted to be a gen ed teacher at my school, this may be the only opportunity to do so in the near future. Drawbacks: All new classes to start from scratch with, and a colleague mentioned to me that she does not see it working out because the P would rather just fill the vacancy and not have two sets of classes getting new teachers. If you were me, would you stay put in Special Ed or express sincere interest in the Social Studies. I do like my classes alot and the position, but would really like to be teaching 5 sections of a subject I'm really passionate about.
Well, if your goal in life is to teach gen ed, you should switch now, so you are on the gen ed senority/tenure list. On the other hand- i dont know what part of NY you are in, but all the schools around me that excessed teachers 95% were gen ed. So you may be 'safer' with a spec. ed position.
It doesn't hurt to ask. In my present situation, a SPED position opened, but the P wanted to leave me where I was because my class has several behaviorally challenged children that she felt would be better left in my care than trying to find a teacher to replace me.
