Why I Want to be a Special Education Teacher

Deanna Zito

Professor Kenneally

EDUC - 178

March 2, 2014

Why I Want to be a Special Education Teacher

I have wanted to be a teacher for as long as I can remember. I would set up my living room as a classroom and play for school for hours and hours. My mother was wonderful enough to let me leave my classroom set up for days. I adore children and could not think of a better way of working with children than to teach. To be a teacher means to touch lives. As a teacher, you have the ability to educate and mold children into capable and intelligent members of society. As a teacher, I am able to provide students with the essential building blocks they need to begin their lives. To me, there is no more rewarding career than that.

I have always loved children. I also strongly care about those who less fortunate than I am and those who struggle with daily hardships. Because of this, it seems only logically that I would want to teach students with disabilities. In today's society, those who are mentally or physically different are frowned upon and deemed inferior. However, students with disabilities are not something to be ashamed of or taken lightly. Students with disabilities should not have to face this hardship alone. Disabilities can easily be overcome with the proper love, care and instruction that only a special education teacher can provide. By becoming a special education teacher, I will have the humbling opportunity to teach these students to the best of my ability. I will give them the support, patience and care they deserve. By encouraging these students and believing in them, I will give them the chance to believe in themselves. I will encourage them the face their disabilities and hardships they will face and tackle them head on.

My mother was a special education teacher for many years. She is a great influence and a large reason why I also want to teach students with disabilities. My mother would come home from a long day at school, sit on her bed, make lesson plans, create worksheets and even design new techniques for her students. This is an expectation for any teacher, but the amount of work, dedication and love she put into her career was extremely inspiring for me to witness. Her loving, caring and sincere personality captured the hearts and minds of her students. My mom fell in love with each of her students and figured out a way to teach each one in their own way. Not only did she love her job, but her students loved her. To this day, she is still in contact with several of her students and their families.

The most rewarding career in the world is to be an educator. But to be a special education teacher is even more rewarding. Every student has a right to an education and has a right to thrive in their educational career. Every student has the potential to make their dreams come true. No disability should ever prohibit a student from the very best education possible. I would like to be a special education teacher because I want to make a difference. I want every student to feel that they are worth they are with it and that somebody will always believe in them be his or her number one fan!