All Rileyed Up

Guess what – I have a job!
It doesn’t start for another month and a half, but hey, I’ve got it.
And guess what else – I’m going back to school!
It, too, doesn’t start for another month and a half, but hey, I’m going.
Want to know what I’m going to do, huh, huh, do ya?

Drumroll, please…

I’m going back to school for an MS in Special Education and a Special Education teaching credential.

Fanfare please…

I’ve spent a few years now navigating the world of IEPs and I have learned a lot about Special Education from the parent’s viewpoint. I’m ready to see the other side. An all too important side, no doubt. I often wondered – how do you come up with the IEP goals and how do you teach the children to reach the goals? How do you deal with slow math learners or Struggling Readers? Do you teach children with special needs the same way you teach in general education? For that matter, are there any specific teaching methods to general education?

In my current school district, there are a variety of options for education. Children can enroll in a language immersion program, which is a K-5 program that the students graduate from speaking two languages. Pretty cool that the kids are bilingual, but if you happen to move when your child is in third grade, you’ll be disappointed to see how behind they are at a different school. There’s also a charter school in my district, which follows the Waldorf educational model. In addition to being much more hands on in their teaching methods, they also don’t teach reading until second grade. My current school district also offers a homeschooling curriculum and works with the parents who choose to do this. And the school where my kids will be going for the 09-10 school year follows a comprehensive school model, where some grades are grouped together (eg, The Boy and Little No Limit will be in the same grade, K-1). All in all, I’m very excited to learn about these different approaches to education.

While I know a lot of people are sour on No Child Left Behind and think education is not so hot these days, there are an amazing number of resources for teachers right now, and I intend to utilize them. I’m sure the road ahead will be difficult, but for the moment, bask in my excitement with me, won’t you?