I feel that I have a number of areas of strength and a few weaknesses from the list of competencies from chapter 27. As a Special Education teacher, effective communication is extremely important. If I were not an effective communicator I would not have lasted as long as I have in this field. I must be able to communicate with students, teachers, parents and administrators with a number of media. I must be able to communicate effectively through writing, and verbally as well. Another area I feel that I am strong in is developing and monitoring a strategic plan. This is special education. I develop goals and objectives for students with special needs. Then I have to plan how students can meet those goals and objectives. Next, I must develop strategies to aide in the students’ successful completion of these objectives.
I did feel almost embarrassed when reading about organizational skills. I do have a method to my madness but it is extremely inefficient. Because I am so unorganized, many projects take me longer to complete. I often spend large portions of time organizing my materials. If I could maintain this organization, I would increase my productivity and reduce my stress.
I wish that I were better at developing instructional material. As a special education teacher I am often asked to teach classes for which I do not have curricular mastery. I am often learning the course material (at times) the day before the students are learning the material. It is extremely difficult to develop instructional materials if you do not have great knowledge of the curriculum being taught.
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I know what you mean about the organizational problem. I have baeen teaching for ten years and have just finally found a way to organize myself that works best for my personality. (By the way, I am Type B, some would even say C--if their were a C). I visit a lot of teachers in my building and see what works best for them, and I may (or may not) adopt their ideas. One teacher actually bought a shoe display shelf from a place going out of business. It is really cool. She keeps her handout for the week all lined up in their place for each of the three preps she teaches. She knows where everything is, the kids know, and their easy to find. I would have done this if I could have found a shoe display. This is one area (Organization) that is key to success. I have found that the more organized I am, the more prepared I am. This has made life and work a lot easier for me.
Instructional material can be difficult to come up with and change for you students' needs. I received some excellent advice from a professional development speaker when I was student teaching. I live by it. Borrow, barrow, barrow! then make it your own. Dr. Harry Wong wrote The First Days of School. A must read for any teacher, no matter how experienced. It really helped a lot with all sorts of classroom issues. One piece of advice I might be able to pass on is testmaker.com. I write my tests on this free internet program. I can change things or keep them the same. All of the trests I have written for the past four years are there. They are always in the same place. I don't need a hard copy that can get lost. It will print out your test and an answer sheet. I really like it and it helps with both the instruction and the organization. Try it out.
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