I have dreamed of becoming a teacher since childhood. My mother was a teacher for over 30 years and I spent many afternoons afterschool helping her with various projects. I cut out laminating, put up bulletin boards, and organized centers in her classroom. In high school I worked at a daycare afterschool program and spent my summers as a camp counselor at a camp in the North Georgia Mountains. When my children started preschool, I started a job as a teacher’s aide. It was that job that led me to go back to college and pursue my degree in Early Childhood Education. In 2008 I graduated from Georgia Military College with my Associates of Science Degree. After receiving my degree, I had my own classroom teaching two and three-year-old preschool …show more content…
In 2009, my husband accepted a job in Northwest Iowa and we moved from Georgia to Iowa. It was difficult to leave my family and I had to put off pursing my Bachelor’s Degree, but I secured a job at Armstrong-Ringsted Elementary school as a Special Education paraprofessional in a preschool classroom. At first, I very nervous about working with Special Education students. I did not know what to expect and I was in a new job, new town, and new culture. The second year I worked at Armstrong-Ringsted Elementary, my principal asked me to work one on one with a severe and profound second grader. He was the only Level III Special Education student in the school and needed to be in a self-contained classroom for most of the day. I had never considered being a Special Education teacher before and working with him helped me develop an appreciation for Special …show more content…
They helped me discover a love and passion for Special Education. They also allowed me to see the world from a unique perspective. Students with special needs rely so much on others to help them manage the day to day aspects of life. I really enjoyed helping each one of these students reach their full potential and grow every day. I feel as though they taught me more about life then I could have ever taught them. Students with special needs love with their whole heart, are accepting of everyone, kind, compassionate, and