New Special Ed. Class Q & A #4

My 2016-2017 school year officially came to a close last week when I finished everything up on my list of 5th grade teacher responsibilities. At that point, I was able to finally fully (100%) focus on my new Special Education class. The first step was setting up my classroom. Since I was starting with a blank canvas, so to speak, I could really be creative. I've been working a lot these last few weeks, arranging and rearranging furniture, buying storage and organizational supplies, and making this place a classroom.



Now as I sit here, looking around at all the fun stuff in my classroom, I can't help but smile. God has helped so many little details fall into place in order to turn the dream He placed on my heart into an incredibly amazing reality.



It's not completely finished, but it's close. All that's left is the stuff I'm bringing back with me from the States. That's why the picture above only shows a glimpse of the room. I will do a Classroom Tour type blog post full of pictures some time in August.

Anywho - Since I have received quite a few new questions, I thought now would be a good time for a new Q & A post. 

And if you're interested in looking back at the other Q & A posts, click the links below.

Original "Dream" Post
Q & A #1
Q & A #2
Q & A #3

And now, on to the new questions...

What preparations are left to be done?

I still have a few things left to bring back from the States. Then all that's left after that is lesson planning/activity prepping. Oh, and saying more than a few prayers too.

What's been your biggest surprise through the planning for this class?

I know it shouldn't have. But it has surprised me so much to see how encouraging people have been about this class. When I first started dreaming and planning for this class, I received a lot of negative comments. But oh my word y'all... God has totally softened people's hearts so much with this class. And I've loved getting to see that happening!

How will you plan lessons for a class with multiple grade levels?

I'll be individualizing a lot! We'll do some activities whole group. But I'd say the majority is going to be small group/individual assignments. And honestly... We may all be learning about the same topic, like addition. But one might be adding 1+1 and another might be learning 357 + 298 and another might be adding 3x+5. That's a bit of an odd example to use, but you get the idea... The point is that while the entire group might be covering the same general topic, each individual student will be working at his or her own individual level to achieve mastery of whatever that topic is. Does that make sense?

Are you nervous?

I am confident in my abilities as a teacher. More specifically, I am confident in my abilities as a Special Education teacher. But I'd be lying if I said I wasn't at least a little bit nervous. No matter how confident I am, every single year I still have those nerves. As a teacher, parents have shared with you one of their most important gifts in life. You're preparing these gifts for their future. I want to do my absolute best with these precious gifts. Teaching is a big responsibility. So yes, there is always some nervousness :)

What types of Special Education services do you offer at your school?


What we offer is similar to the services offered at schools in the States. We have Inclusion services, a Resource Room for "pull out" services, various forms of monitoring, and now with this new class, we'll have a Self Contained unit as well.

Can we come on a short term trip and volunteer with your class or just somewhere at your school?

We do sometimes have volunteers come with various mission groups, etc., and they end up doing odd jobs around our campus. If you think that might interest you, let me know, and I'll see how we could make that work...

What supplies are left to be purchased?

A few software programs, a communication picture maker subscription, educational apps for the iPads, some testing materials, and a few more technology related items (a couple iPads, charging cords, noise cancelling headphones, batteries, etc.). I also finally settled on a decor "theme" for the room. So I'd like to be able to pick up a few fun things to help with that. Classroom decor, rules posters, labels, etc. Oh and I still need to get another piece of storage. I have a couple bookshelves. But I need some sort of closable storage cabinet. Then once I have all of that, we'll be set in there. 

If you would like to donate to help me purchase any of this, send me an email at enichols85@gmail.com and I'll tell you how.

When will you be in the States this summer?


I will land in Alabama on June 26. And then I'll fly out on July 31.

Do you have any openings left when you can come and speak?

I have a few - not many. If you'd like me to come and speak, or to just meet up for a meal or coffee, or just to get together and chat and hang out, just send me an email at enichols85@gmail.com and we'll set something up.

How can we pray for your class (and you)?


Help me pray that I use my time wisely this summer. Help me pray that I'm able to bring more awareness to this class. Help me pray that God will work out every single little (and big) detail that still needs to fall into place before school starts back in August.

And then there was one more question I wanted to answer. It's not really a question about this class. But I thought it was still a good one that really made me think. 

Pretend that you've just heard someone is planning to get a degree in Special Education. What would you say are the biggest rewards and the biggest challenges?


In the U.S., the biggest challenge is the crazy amount of paperwork. Anywhere (including here), the biggest challenge is the extra work that's involved in having to go above and beyond the typical/traditional textbook style of learning. This is especially true when teaching a class like the one I'm going to be teaching, where you have multiple students in different grades, working at different ability levels, all at the exact same time.

But I will always say that the rewards most definitely outweigh the challenges. You get to work with amazing kids. It's more often that you get to see those incredible "lightbulb" moments, where students finally "get" what you've been working on for so long. You get to serve a population of students who are often misunderstood by society. And speaking of that... You get to quite often prove society wrong. It's a great feeling :)

And you know... The biggest reward is I'm doing what God called me to do. I know it may sound cliche, but it's true. I wouldn't be doing this if it weren't for God telling me to. I feel so incredibly blessed that God is giving me this privilege of an opportunity.