BestEssayHelp | Best Careers 2011: Special-Education Teacher

The rundown:

Whether teaching a class of special-education students or working with individual students in a general-education classroom, as a special-education teacher, it's your job to ensure that these students learn despite their disabilities. You may spend your day using sign language to teach deaf students, or working with students who were born with mental retardation. Or maybe you'll work with students who have learning disabilities, ensuring that they receive the necessary test-taking accommodations, such as removal of time limits. Your responsibilities may also include helping general-education teachers adapt their lesson plans for students with learning disabilities, working with parents on ways they can help their children at home, or learning about assistive technologies that could improve the classroom experience for your students.

The outlook:

There's more need for special-education teachers than most other types of teachers, says Segun Eubanks, director of teacher quality at the National Education Association. That means a slew of opportunities for those who work in the field. Employment of special-education teachers is expected to jump by 17 percent, an increase of nearly 82,000 jobs, between 2008 and 2018, according to the Labor Department. Special-ed teachers at the elementary and pre-school level have the best outlook, with projected growth of 20 percent. Middle school special-ed teachers aren't far behind, at 18 percent. The outlook for secondary-school special-ed teachers is not quite as impressive, 13 percent growth, yet still above the average for all occupations. Many openings will likely derive from turnover and retirements, as well as growth of the school-age population.

Money:

Median annual pay for special-ed teachers in preschool, kindergarten, and elementary school was about $51,000 in 2009. Special-ed teachers at the middle-school level brought home about $52,000, while secondary school special-ed teachers made slightly more, about $53,000.

Upward mobility:

With experience, you could move into a supervisory role. You could also get an advanced degree and become a college professor.

Activity level:

High. These are dynamic classrooms, and you'll be on your feet much of the day. For some people, the work can be physically draining. For others, this level of activity, coupled with the rewarding nature of the work, can be energizing.

Stress level:

High. Stress alone can push some teachers out of this occupation, but the level of pressure can vary according to city and school district.

Education and preparation:

All states require special-ed teachers to be licensed. Licensing requirements vary among states: Some ask for a bachelor's degree as well as training in a prep program that includes supervised teaching, but many states require a master's degree in special ed. Many states offer training options for those who did not get a bachelor's degree in special ed. These generally call for supervised instruction and an exam for a provisional license, then one to two years of local college courses while teaching under licensed teachers for a regular license.

Real advice from real people about landing a job as a special-education teacher:

Look for opportunities to work specifically with special-education students, Eubanks says. Too many teachers assume that they'll enjoy teaching special-ed students simply because they like teaching, but special ed is a different world. "It's not the kind of thing you can have a theoretical understanding of," he says. "You have to experience [it] first-hand, both to see and understand the challenges and the joys." This occupation requires patience, firmness—for disciplining students—and organization skills. "Very often, you're talking about working remarkably hard to get what might seem on the surface to be relatively small learning gains," he says. Also be prepared to put your diagnostic skills to use to figure out what's causing behavioral and learning problems.

Source: US News Business

BestEssayHelp | Where good ideas come from

People often credit their ideas to individual "Eureka!" moments. But Steven Johnson shows how history tells a different story. His fascinating tour takes us from the "liquid networks" of London's coffee houses to Charles Darwin's long, slow hunch to today's high-velocity web.

BestEssayHelp.com | Famous Failures

Inspiring video on persevering no matter how many times you have failed in life.

www.BestEssayHelp.com | Obama Promises to Work With Governors on Education, Economy

President Obama hosted a luncheon on Thursday for newly elected governors across the street from the White House at Blair House, where he promised to work closely with them to fix the economy and improve education over the next two years.

But while Ohio’s incoming Republican governor, John Kasich, was among the nearly two dozen state chief executives at the lunch, the Democrat he beat in November, Gov. Ted Strickland, was not left out in the cold. In fact, he got a personal visit with the president hours earlier in the Oval Office, the only governor singled out for such special attention.

Mr. Strickland has been an energetic ally for Mr. Obama in an important battleground state and the president campaigned for him repeatedly this fall, albeit in vain. An Oval Office visit may not be much of a consolation prize, but it was a public way for the president to show his appreciation and respect for a political friend who helped him out so much.

At the Blair House lunch, Mr. Obama and Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. vowed to put aside partisanship and work with the governors through the many issues now confronting them. Many in the audience were, like Mr. Kasich, Republicans who unseated Democrats by running against Mr. Obama and his initiatives, and some have vowed to resist his expansion of federal programs like the new health care law.

“We have just had a very vigorously contested election, but the election is over,” Mr. Obama told them. “And now I think it’s time for all of us to make sure that we’re working together. I am a very proud Democrat, as some of you in the room are – although not as many as I had expected. Some of you are very proud Republicans. But we’re all prouder to be Americans.”

Mr. Obama encouraged them to make their states “laboratories for democracy” but said there still must be “basic national standards” that everyone will have to meet. He encouraged them to tell him what works and what does not. “Contrary to the mythology, believe it or not, it turns out that I would love to eliminate programs that don’t work,” he said. “And you guys are the ones oftentimes who are implementing them.”

Four new governors later told White House reporters that they welcomed his promises of cooperation and acknowledged that they do not expect much financial help from Washington in meeting their own budget problems. “None of the 50 governors are living under the illusion that there’s going to be hundreds of millions more dollars coming our way,” said Governor-elect Peter Shumlin, Democrat of Vermont.

But despite the heated rhetoric during the campaign, the governors said none of them challenged Mr. Obama directly during the closed-door portion of the meeting.

Governor-elect Dan Malloy, Democrat of Connecticut, who criticized the White House after his election last month for doing a “particularly weak job telling its side of the story,” told reporters Thursday that the Blair House session was cordial. “I don’t think anyone engaged the president,” he said. “None of us are members of the press.”

source: The Caucus

BestEssayHelp.com | Drive: The surprising truth about what motivates us

This lively RSA Animate, adapted from Dan Pink's talk at the RSA, illustrates the hidden truths behind what really motivates us at home and in the workplace.

Protesting Italian students use book titles to protect them from riot police

Students marched through Italian cities on Tuesday in protest against education reforms, blocking roads and railway lines in some of the biggest demonstrations seen in decades.

The students, who last week occupied tourist sites around the country including the Leaning Tower of Pisa and the Colosseum, have vowed to block proposed changes by Education Minister Mariastella Gelmini.

The reforms -- which include spending cuts and set time limits on research -- were approved by the lower house of parliament on Tuesday and now move to the Senate for approval.

Thousands of students streamed through central Rome, chanting and waving banners bearing slogans such as "education is on its knees" and threw eggs, vegetables, bottles and fireworks toward parliament.

They later blocked streets and stormed railway stations and lay down on the tracks, disrupting train services.

Scuffles with police broke out when protesters tried to approach parliament. Similar protests in other cities also led to tension with police.

"We want to see a grass-roots reform, not a reform that stems from the corridors of power," said 24-year-old Tommaso Ricci, a mathematics student at the University of Florence.

The reforms also introduce changes the government says will usher in a more merit-based system, such as capping the term of rectors to six years instead of life-long terms.

Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi hailed the passage through the lower house as a "fatal blow to nepotism" and blamed the protests as the work of left-wing extremists. "The real students are at home studying," he told Ansa news agency.

ACROSS EUROPE

The protests were the latest in a wave of demonstrations against austerity measures throughout Europe.

In Britain on Tuesday, thousands of students and school pupils protested against planned rises in university tuition fees, causing disruption in central London and other cities.

Gelmini says the reforms, aimed at saving several billion euros by the end of 2012, will create a more merit-based system.

Opponents say universities already have a funding shortfall of 1.35 billion euros next year and the planned cuts will further weaken Italy's higher education system.

"This reform has been drawn up without any dialogue with students and teachers," said Barbara Marchetti, 27, studying for a PhD in physics at Rome University.

The unrest is a further blow for Berlusconi's troubled government, already undermined by a weak economy and a series of scandals and facing two confidence votes in parliament on December 14 that could lead to early elections.

Gelmini had warned legislators, who have made some minor amendments to the package to satisfy students and teachers, that she would withdraw the reforms if too many changes are made.

source: Reuters

BestEssayHelp | Board of Education Reviews New Discipline Referral Policy

Teachers could soon practice a new discipline referral policy in accordance with legislation passed by the General Assembly earlier this year.

The policy, drafted by a nine-member committee, aims to create consistency when filing discipline referrals.

"It was truly a collaborative process," said Anne Arundel County Board of Education President Patricia Nalley, who served on the committee. "We had a charge from the legislature to develop a discipline referral policy that was consistent and we received input from all the stakeholders."

The policy created a four-part form that is completed by an administrator, teacher or other staff member and cites the specific reason for the referral. Previously a three-part form, the fourth copy is to be retained by the person who completes the form.

"The concern brought to the legislature was that the form would not be returned to the originator," said George Arlotto, the assistant superintendent who sat on the committee. This way the person who wrote the referral could have a copy for his or her records if follow-up was necessary, he said.

Administrators are then asked to review and process the referral within 48 hours, discuss the appropriateness of the referral and ask any questions necessary, speak with the student about his or her actions and determine if any disciplinary measure will be taken and, if the referral is to be process, ensure the information is entered into the students record.

"Just because a discipline referral form is completed, it doesn't necessarily mean it was warranted," Arlotto said.

School board member Eugene Peterson, representing Dist. 21, said he hoped reviewing the discipline referral policy would create an opportunity to narrow the gap between the student-teacher relationship. He said the bulk of discipline referrals are for insubordination.

"We're suspending kids, we're kicking them out, for insubordination—which is described in one of my favorite movies, Cool Hand Luke, as a 'failure to communicate,'" he said. "I hope that we [are able] to foster communication."

But school board member Solon Webb, Dist. 30, said he reviewed about 30 discipline referral forms Tuesday and saw a different trend.

"The vast majority of referrals were for skipping class … there was a very low number of [referrals for] insubordination," he said. "So I'd be interested to see some more research on that."

The proposed policy will be discussed by board at least one more time before it comes up for a vote, said schools spokesman Bob Mosier. It is available online for public comment through Dec. 31. The policy will then go through a revision period.

"Pertinent comments will be integrated and then it will come back for a second reading," he said.

The dates for the second and third reading of the policy have not been set.

The Office Discipline Referral Policy and Guidelines Committee was comprised of the Nalley, representing the Board; Arlotto as the designee of the Superintendent; a representative from the Anne Arundel Citizen Advisory Committee; and two representatives each from the Anne Arundel County Council of PTAs, the Teachers Association of Anne Arundel County and the Association of Educational Leaders, according to the Board's website.

source: Severn Patch