Post Philosophy Statement

Brittany Gesualdo

College of Southern Nevada

EDU. 203

Dr. Warby

March 13,2022
 From my Pre-Personal Philosophy, I stated how I thought that being a Special Education

teacher required patience. After my field observation, I realized I was wrong. Anyone can have

patience. A special education teacher requires strength. It is a strength that only certain people

can have. At some point in my observation, the teacher I was observing let me go into the class-

room for the autistic children. It ranged between high functioning and low functioning students.

There were three teachers in the room watching the children, and that didn’t seem like enough

teachers for as much as they were doing. Somehow, through all of the craziness, they were able

to work with them on fine motor skills. I spoke to the teachers about why they wanted to teach

Special Education. Two out of the three teachers told me that it is so hard, and they have actually

been sent to the hospital before from students. Yet, they still came back to continue teaching.

They are three of the strongest women I have ever met. It takes a whole different kind of strength

to teach Special Education. There were a lot of times that the students would come up to me, and

I didn’t know what to do, but these teachers knew exactly what they needed without them having

to say a word. It was very interesting to see.

The role of a Special Education teacher is to get the students where they need to be. One

of the teachers told me that it isn’t about the curriculum. She said that if they got to the curricu-

lum then they got to it. She said that her job is to make sure that they can sit in a chair. She said

that by the end of the year, if they are able to sit in a chair, then they did their job right. A Special

Education teacher’s job isn’t about teaching them to read or write. It is about teaching them how

to live. It is about teaching them right from wrong, and how to support and take care of them-

selves.
 From what I observed, Special Education students work best hands-on. They need to

physically be shown how to do things. You can’t just show them. One on one is the best type of

education they can receive. This is mostly for those with a delay, autism, down syndrome. I had

some students that had an IEP for aggression and defiance. They were able to hold a pencil and

scissors, and did not require any help. A hands on approach is a great way for anyone to learn,

but those in Special Education could really benefit from it.