I'm hired, baby!

I was just officially hired by the NYC Department of Education as a District 75 Special Education teacher! I had an interview at 11:00 yesterday and was pulled from training around 1:30 from the Principal who extended her offer to me in the middle of an empty hallway. I couldn't believe what I was hearing. I accepted on the spot and instantly became excited.

The population that I will be working with is very different from the one I am with now. I am currently working in a 12:1:4 class with students who have severe disabilities and one student who is medically fragile. All of my students now are nonverbal and communicate only through gestures and eye gazing. I have been so lucky to have this opportunity but I am excited to start a new journey as an 8:1:1 teacher. This means that I'll have 8 students and 1 paraprofessional in the classroom.

Disabilities in this population range from ADHD to Autism. All of the students will be verbal. They are higher functioning than the students that I am with now. It will be so interesting to experience both of these classrooms as an educator. I hope to pursue a double certification with my Master's degree as an Autism Spectrum Disorder specialist. I emailed the director at my university who handles scheduling to ask about it but she thinks I need to focus on training now and think about certification in a few months. She's right. 

I've been meaning to post for a few days. I'm looking at 6 different orange sticky notes that are painted with "BPIs" (blog post ideas). I believe I've written on my blog before about equity sessions but if not, I'll repeat myself. Equity sessions during the training sessions at school consist of conversations surrounding education equity for all students. They quickly become emotional as myself and fellow fellows add to the discussion with personal experiences about inequality. I always surprise myself when I raise my hand to add to the conversation. It's usually very difficult for me to speak in large groups, so my participation is not consistent.

Of course this means that the lead facilitator will pick on me every time my hand goes up. I've learned that's just a teacher technique. 

After the two hour session, I spent the rest of the night reflecting. What books will be on the bookshelf in my room? Will my students be represented by the books being read in class? I do not want to girls in the books we read to be gossipers, how teenage girls are represented. I want books in my classroom to have a strong female heroine who is intelligent and fights for what she wants. I want books that build tolerance towards every skin color and tone, gender, hair color, you name it. (Check out this Ted Talk we watched about representation of Asian Americans in books...and it was filmed in Massachusetts! Click HERE.) 

We are shaping New York City's youthful brains. The materials that we give them are so important to building tolerance and acceptance and self confidence. 

These equity sessions are so important. They remind me that we are all human. We are coming from all walks of life. Every single person has a story and a past. I was so inspired during our session to encourage every ounce of difference in my classroom. In a special education school, students are automatically labeled as "different." I want to encourage difference. I want to make students feel value in themselves. I never want them to feel doubt. They are intelligent and understood and I am so excited for these students to become part of my life.

I think that's enough for now. I'm at the library now, I skipped university class (oops!) so that I could finish a paper and work on lessons that are due on Friday. A good friend from college is coming to visit me for the weekend on Friday so I want to have everything done before then. 

I'm heading home to put an Amy's no-cheese veggie vegan pizza in the oven.

Signing off,
(Officially) Ms. Dana