Ep. 59 The Letter I Wish I'd Had as a 1st Year Special Education Teacher

As a veteran special educator, I can look back on my career and think, “Holy crap...I have come a long, long way since that first year.”

In fact those first 5 years were pretty cringy if I say so myself. I think I was still trying to fit into some kind of mold of what a special education teacher should look like based on the perception of special educators as a society.

Those first few years were so hard and so overwhelming for a certified special education teacher who had taken all the required classes that I cannot even begin to imagine how hard it is for teachers these days for the teachers who are not highly qualified, OR not qualified at all really. 

Many of the teachers working within the field of special education don’t have ANY background in education, much less special education and the number of these interim instructors is increasing drastically due to high attrition, Covid and burn-out.

So if there’s one thing I can do on my end having a platform like this podcast, it’s to educate. I wrote a letter to my 22 year old self telling me what I wish I would have been told waaayyy back then. Hopefully this letter will help you see that it’s okay to struggle. It’s okay to go through tough times. And I want you to know that you are not alone. There are so many people out there who have gone before you who can support you with whatever you need.

I know that writing this letter helped me put into words all the frustration I have felt throughout the years with this profession.  The ups and downs...the wins and losses...the tears and the laughter. All of it...the good the bad and the ugly are what have made me who I am today and I wouldn’t trade any of it. I just wish I could have been given some heads up about the way things really were instead of coming into with rose colored glasses. And that’s why I wanted to share it with you...so that you could feel my struggle and know that you aren’t alone in yours. Together, we can push through and become the amazing teachers we were intended to be.

Listen to this episode to hear the letter that is receiving great feedback and lots of love from special educators all over the country.


Mentioned in the Show...

Sped Prep Academy. com/quiz

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