The Obligatory Introduction Post

Hi! My name is Angel, and I have just gotten my first actual teaching position as a special ed learning support teacher. 

Not that I am a spring chicken of any sort. I am actually in my thirties (although nobody would guess it from looking at me) and have had a lot of random experience with children already. I started out working in child care centers when I was just a teenager. I served in AmeriCorps as a fulltime volunteer working with very young children with severe behavioral and emotional disabilities... these were preschoolers who could not be around scissors because they'd try to stab you. After completing a year of AmeriCorps, I worked for a few years as a teacher's assistant in a special education school, before deciding to go to college to become a special education teacher myself. 

I had a lot of obstacles that got in my way of actually becoming a teacher, once I made up my mind to do it. First of all, I was already in my twenties by then, and living on my own, which made it a little harder than it would probably be for your typical nineteen-year-old college student. Second of all, my own ADHD and autism spectrum disorder made it harder for me to keep both oars in the water while going to school full time and working part time. I ended up going to school part time while working part time, which doubled the amount of time it took me to graduate. But I persevered, despite some people suggesting that I choose an easier career or look for a job that wouldn't require a college education. When I finished student teaching, graduated, and got a teaching degree, it was a huge accomplishment for me!

Unfortunately, I didn't find a teaching job right away. My convoluted transcript, which showed me making my way through school at the pace of a snail for over eight years, probably discouraged school districts from taking me seriously. I worked as a paraprofessional for a year, but was really frustrated and discouraged when the "old school" teachers and principal I worked with didn't allow me to use the techniques I'd learned in college. I'd learned about differentiating instruction, universal design for learning, and positive behavior management techniques for working with children with ADHD and sensory processing disorders. At the school I worked at, they thought all that was stuff and nonsense, and scolded me for being too "gentle" with the children. 

After that I worked as a substitute teacher for a while. My mother's cancer diagnosis caused me to postpone my search for a teaching job, because I wanted to be able to take time off at the drop of a hat if I had to. Substitute teaching is great for that. Eventually I met a little boy with serious behavioral challenges who needed a one-to-one assistant, and I gave up substitute teaching in order to take a full time job working with him. It was that job with that little boy, a job that was challenging, exhausting, fulfilling, heartbreaking and joyful all at once, that helped me to get my first "real" teaching position. I start at the end of August, and I can't wait! I started this blog as a way of reflecting on my experiences and also learning from other teachers all over the USA and even the world. 

For now, I am leading a summer recreational program for children with special needs. I thought I'd use this blog to share some of the activities I've been putting together for that program. Otherwise, this blog would be pretty boring for the next few weeks!

I hope you will come back and read more as I tackle this new adventure.