Sloan Tackett

      As Pope John Paul II has stated, “The future starts today, not tomorrow.” As a teacher, it is important to remember this concept. While it is easy to get caught up in the day-to-day routines of our daily lives at school, the opportunity to change and adapt is always present. Despite the fact I am only now finishing my third year teaching, I nonetheless place value on thinking about the future and how I can better myself for the sake of my students. In order to develop these ideas, I attempt to surround myself with positive and talented veteran teachers who exemplify the type of teacher I would like to be as well as search out specific professional development opportunities that allow me to gain new and invaluable information.  As I reflected on what I have learned from these experiences and what I would like my future in the educational field to look like, I realized that there are many different types of goals I would like to set for myself. In the end I chose three to focus on that I believe will have the largest impact on the quality of teacher I am and the type of learning my students will receive. My three goals include: Leadership in Education, Collaboration with Non-Special Education Staff, and Global and Cultural Awareness.

           

     Some of the most influential people in my life have been strong leaders within the

school setting. These are the teachers who view their role in the school as much more

than just a teacher- they also mentor and serve in other leadership roles. This theme of

Leadership in Education is something I am passionate about pursuing. Within my first

three years of teaching, I have served in various leadership roles including the Literacy

Chair for the special education department and the Special Education representative on

the Multiple Tier System of Support team. While serving in these roles, I was able to catch

a small glimpse of the importance these leadership roles have in the school, especially for

the special education department. Often times the voices of my students get silenced or

forgotten and I have learned that it is my job to share their needs in a larger school

setting. A final motivator for me to pursue leadership within the school setting is the

research that has shown that teacher leadership has a direct impact on student learning.

Students need a strong role model in the classroom just as much as the school needs strong leaders.

           

      As I continued to see the importance of serving in various leadership roles for the sake of my special education students, I also saw the importance of working together with the general education teachers. Collaborating and working together with general education teachers is a task that is crucial for all special education teachers and one I                                                                             hope to improve upon in the future. The typical special education student                                                                              no longer receives all of their content learning in the special education                                                                                    setting. Communication across settings needs to be clear and constant so                                                                              that each and every need of the student is being met. Collaboration with                                                                                non special education staff also allows for quality differentiation to occur                                                                                within the classroom as the special education teacher can pull a small                                                                                    group to work on targeted skills. While I realize it is not always easy to                                                                                    collaborate effectively, I also see the importance of it and strive to better                                                                                how I collaborate with all non-special-education-staff in the future.

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      The final theme that I hope my future teaching includes is an increase of global awareness. Sasha Vashwanath, author of the article “Why You Should Teach Your Kids About Global Awareness” states, “being globally aware means building a value system that is flexible and open to other people’s cultures.”  For the past three years, I have worked at a Title I school that serves a wide variety of students. Within a given class there are students with varying races, socioeconomic backgrounds, cultures, disabilities, and religions.

During my time at this school, I have learned the importance of

incorporating information about these different types of students

into my teaching so that my students are able to see a reflection of

themselves in the content and are able to become open to new

cultures. Previously I have done this in isolated lessons around

specific holidays or units, yet I have struggled to incorporate a

developed global awareness on a daily basis in my classroom. In

the future, I would like this to be a focus each day in my teaching

so that my students feel welcomed and are able to learn about the

people around them. It is in these experiences that children learn

to love themselves and learn to understand and have compassion

for others.