Professional Development

Adrien: Favorites from the CEC 2014 Convention & Expo

May 5, 2014 By CEC

Even though some has passed since the 2014 Convention & Expo in Philadelphia, I wanted to share some of what I learned with you. My three favorite sessions were:

Planning for Employment After High School – It Takes a Vision for Inclusion – a Village – and a Toolbox! Nancy Molfenter works with Let’s Get to Work in Wisconsin. She spoke about the importance of inclusion in terms of preparation and expectation for the workplace later in life. She also emphasized the importance and the role of vocational rehabilitation (VR) agencies. I approached Nancy after the session with a couple of specific questions related to my experiences and the development of my program and we ended up chatting for almost an hour after the session! I came away with the conversation with so many ideas of strategies and approaches to try and good quality questions to ask of my administrators and community figures. Thanks Nancy! Check out their website: http://www.letsgettoworkwi.

College of New Jersey’s Career & Community Studies Program. This one really got my gears turning! The presenter made a really strong argument for the appropriateness of college programming and environments for young adults with intellectual development disabilities (IDD). Their program website is http://ccs.pages.tcnj.edu/. There’s also a website that lists college programs for students with IDD around the country – http://www.thinkcollege.net/.

Triangulated Goals: Developing Relevant and Genuine Transition IEPs. My campus has been working lately to link IEP goals to post-secondary goals. This session gave a solid way to write goals in such a way that it is abundantly clear how state standards link to industry job standards which supports the post-secondary goals. This website lists specific standards for various types of jobs that link directly to academic skills – http://www.onetonline.org/

Overall, what a fabulous experience! I came away with so many ideas and connections that I cannot wait to try on my own! Thank you to all of the great presenters who took the time to share their experience and wisdom!

John: Being the Early Bird

May 8, 2013 By CEC

I am not a morning person by any stretch. I have been a night owl for
as long as I can remember. In college I could do all-nighters regularly, but
waking up for an 8 a.m. class was impossible. My morning routine often
consisted of staying in bed until the absolute last possible minute, rushing
through the shower, throwing on the first outfit I came across and running out
the door to get to work on time. I’m never late, but it certainly wasn’t a
foundation built for a successful day.

I recently read an e-book by Laura Vanderkam called What the Most
Successful People Do Before Breakfast: A Short Guide to Making Over Your
Mornings—and Life. The book was extremely helpful for me, and I highly
recommend it if you are unsatisfied with your hectic morning routine. In the
book she suggests three things that should be done before the rest of the world
is awake: nurturing your career, nurturing your relationships and nurturing
yourself. I have applied these three categories to my morning routine and have
found them to be very beneficial.

John: Where’d All the Good People Go?

April 19, 2013 By CEC

I think the Jack Johnson lyrics in the title for this post describe the
state of teacher retention today. Twenty-five percent of beginning teachers leave
after three years and 50 percent have left the field after five years. Think
about that—25 percent of special education teachers spend less time in their
“career” than they spent in college preparing for their career.

Even among the Reality 101 readers and writers, you can hear thoughts
of changing professions. Reality 101 blogger Ellen wrote about it two years ago
in her blog
post. More recently, Charmelle
posted about her struggles with burnout just four months ago. It is easy to
list the problems: low pay, lack of administrator support, principals who don’t
understand what we do, fellow teachers who don’t understand what we do, lack of
resources, overcrowded classrooms, IEP caseloads that never end and dealing
with parents—difficult parents, absent parents or students who are already
parents. But, what can be done despite these issues to keep teachers in the
field longer?

John: 2013 Convention Recap

April 9, 2013 By CEC

Journeying to Mecca is an integral part of the Muslim
religion. “Hajj” as it is called is one of the religion’s five pillars. Every
year millions of people make this journey. Many Muslims consider this trip
mandatory once in the lifetime of every believer. Likewise, Christians often
consider traveling to the “Holy Land” to be a spiritually enriching experience
that makes their faith become more alive.

Both of these trips are powerful for
the participants. They are a time of spiritual renewal, connecting with other
like-minded people and a chance to grow towards a goal.

At the risk of sounding hyperbolous, I guess what I am
trying to say is that for special educators attending CEC’s Convention and Expo
has a lot of similarities to these religious pilgrimages. The Convention gives
participants a chance to be mentally renewed, connect with like-minded
professionals and grow in our pursuit of educating students with disabilities and/or gifts and talents.

John: The Benefits of Professional Development

February 13, 2013 By CEC

What a weekend it was for me! I attended the South Carolina Council for
Exceptional Children (SCCEC) Professional Development Conference in Myrtle
Beach, S.C. After school on Thursday, I drove four hours through a deluge that
would have impressed Noah. Not the beach weather I was hoping for.

Friday, started early with the President’s Award Breakfast, and then,
the rest of the day was spent in breakout sessions. After attending several
sessions, I closed out the day by presenting two separate technology sessions, “Apps
for the Classroom” and “Social Media for Teachers.” I enjoyed the whole process
from developing the presentations to following up with the participants after
the presentations.

Kaylie: Special Educator Seeking an Education on the General Ed World

January 15, 2013 By CEC

Holiday break is
officially over and as the new semester starts, I’m not only planning for my
classroom, I’m also preparing to teach a new college course. Last fall was my
first endeavor in teaching higher education, and it turned out to be a blast. I
taught an introduction to special education course to students preparing to be
general education teachers. The course covered the disability categories of
IDEA, each disability’s characteristics and basic information about IEPs and
the referral process. It was so fun talk about my passion with a group of
interested individuals! I definitely had to do some outside study and research
to prepare for class but, overall, I felt comfortable with the topics covered
in the intro course.

Danielle: The Nature of Professional Development

November 16, 2012 By CEC

How much of a teacher’s professional life should be spent
in professional development? How about a coordinator? An administrator? What
constitutes professional development? Taking a class, going to a conference,
watching a webinar or attending a committee are certainly all activities that
everyone in the education field will agree are professional development
related, so long as the class, conference, webinar and/or committee are
education related.

What about less organized activities? Collaborative
planning, data analysis of student work, book groups about education-related
material and peer observations have all come to be recognized as professional
development too. Over many decades, the
nature of professional development has evolved to include much more than
organized conferences and seminars, and rightly so.

Jerry: (Para) Professional, Part Three

November 12, 2012 By CEC

I know a paraprofessional
who was responsible for getting children off the bus in the morning. Among the
children who were helped off the bus was a student with multiple disabilities
who was amazingly adept at taking off her shoes and did so frequently. One
morning, the student arrived on the bus and had, predictably, in the course of
her ride, taken off her shoes. The paraprofessional collected the child and
promptly allowed her to walk into the school building without shoes, in nothing
but socks. In November. This was, in my view, an individual who was not trained
properly to work with students with disabilities.

In this final part of my
three part series, I will note three ideas that I have come across in literature
and in my personal experience that I believe might pave the way forward if we
are serious about providing paraprofessionals with the respect their
work deserves.

Kaylie: A Conference, a Coworker, and a Contingency

October 24, 2012 By CEC

Although I am a middle
school special education teacher, I’m also a Board Certified Behavior Analyst
(BCBA). When I first began grad school, it was actually my plan to work
primarily in this field, not as a teacher. Now, of course, I cannot imagine
life without my students and classroom. However, I do want to keep my BCBA
license and, in order to do so, must keep up a certain number of continuing
education units (CEUs). This pursuit led me to the Tennessee Association of
Behavior Analysis (TABA) Conference last Thursday and Friday. Held in
conjunction with the TABA conference this year was the Tennessee CEC
Conference. As usual, I was looking forward to two days of listening to
professionals and experts talk about my greatest passions and interests:
special education, behavior analysis, and people with disabilities.

Charmelle: Reading—The Places You’ll Go

October 10, 2012 By CEC

Dr. Seuss once said, “The more that you read, the more
things you will know. The more that you learn, the more places you'll go.” This
quote truly resonates with me as I think about the needs of my students and
their struggles in the area of reading.

Last year in my first year of teaching, I found it
challenging to teach my students how to read. All my previous graduate
coursework had prepared me to provide students with all of the strategies and
tools to use when they were reading, but not so much on how to provide reading
instruction. Like many special educators, I am committed to ensuring the growth
and progress of my students. And just like Dr. Seuss’s quote I want to allow my
students to read more and learn more so that the places they will go in life
are limitless.