Don't Want to Miss An Episode?

Sign up to get all new episodes sent straight to your inbox.

Listen to the show

Episode #60 The 5 Things I Wish I'd Been Taught in College

Imagine for a second that your doctor had not completed his clinical rotations. If he/she had just learned about all the things from a textbook.

And now imagine if your electrician had learned how to wire a house by simply listening to someone explain how to wire a house.

Would you feel very confident in their abilities??

I hear it all the time..."I wasn't taught that in college."

As a teacher leader, and someone who provides support to other special educators both online and throughout my district as a department head, and through providing professional development to teachers...I hear this all. the. time..

I wasn’t taught that in college.

And the sad truth is that they are right. They weren’t taught a lot of things in college that they are having to deal with today and it’s very aggravating.

It’s frustrating to me because we need to know! We need to be told about all aspects of the job so that we can better prepare ourselves for what we will actually experience instead of having to figure it out on the fly and then spend 5 years or more struggling.

• We need to experience a meltdown and see how an experienced teacher handles it.
• We need to see someone put together a schedule and plan instruction groups.
• We need to see how to progress monitor and organize data.

But nooo…. We have a couple of months of student teaching, usually in a general education setting, we obtain a Master's degree, handed our own programs and are left to figure it out all on our own. t’s no surprise that the burnout rate for special educators is so high at 5 years in...they literally were not adequately prepared for this job.

So I thought I would begin to try to let you in on the biggest holes your college preparation classes left.

So I thought I would begin to try to let you in on the biggest holes your college preparation classes left.

This episode discusses:
1) Dealing with behavior
2) Managing paperwork
2) How to work with a variety of students at one time
3) Supervising paraprofessionals
4) Scheduling

 I truly believe our college preparation classes drop the ball in so many areas when it comes to  preparing special educators for the real world. Hopefully this episode will help teachers who are struggling with these aspects of being a special educator.

Mentioned in the Show...

Episode 43 with Sasha from the Autism Helper
Episode 56 with Nicole from Adaptation Station

Paraprofessional Handbook

How to Write an Effective IEP Digital Notebook

GET ACCESS TO THE SPED PREP ACADEMY RESOURCE LIBRARY BY BECOMING AN ASSOCIATE MEMBER  HERE!

JOIN THE COMMUNITY:

The Sped Prep Academy Facebook Group

Connect with Jennifer on Instagram

ENJOYING THE PODCAST?

Tag me @spedprepacademy on Instagram and tell me what you are listening to!

SUBSCRIBE AND REVIEW

I don’t want you to miss a thing! Be the first to know when a new episode is available by subscribing in iTunes HERE!

If you would like to support The Sped Prep Academy® podcast, a review would mean so much. By leaving a review, you are helping fellow special educators find this podcast to receive the help and support they need. To leave a review in iTunes, click HERE and scroll down to Ratings and Reviews. Click “Write a Review” and share with me how this podcast is helping you grow as an educator!