What Graduate Attributes or Competencies Are Necessary for Contemporary Special Educators - Essay Example

The curriculum undoubtedly lays the foundation of teaching. In order to deliver the right amount of the right knowledge at the right time, it is imperative that a teacher constructs the curriculum with utmost care. Particularly in special education, the importance of curriculum increases manifolds. I remain very prudent in designing the curriculum and consult other teachers to make it the best.

            A teacher has to simultaneously address the needs of students coming from different backgrounds, cultures, religions, regions, and ethnicities. Taking this into consideration, a special educator needs to be very flexible in his/her approach as his/her intended way may not suit all of the students at the same time. I know quite a lot of languages and tend to teach a student in his/her mother tongue (if I know that) when he/she is finding difficulty grabbing the concept otherwise. In order to be popular among the students, a teacher should promote diversity in every possible way.

            Interpersonal and communication skills which happen to be the fourth attribute as identified by (Hughes and George-Walter) are true, the most important competencies in the context of special education. When I appreciate the good work of students, they feel honored which raises their morale and self-esteem so that they remain consistent in their hard work. Likewise, I remain very prudent while being strict with a student because if the strictness goes beyond the limit, it can have an adverse impact on the child.

            Creativity and innovation in pedagogy are essential for making the lectures interesting and improving the ambiance of the educational environment. I keep looking into journals, newspapers, magazines, and other sources of information to learn new ideas and techniques to make the lecture interesting. For example, when I feel the students are fed up with the blackboard teaching, I tend to shift towards a moving image for teaching them. Innovation in pedagogy can be achieved with adequate use of technology (Sharples).

…[IT] (ie technology) basically opens up a whole world of learning for everybody, you know. You can find, up, read up, on anything you want, like in a university context, you can have all your notes and everything all on one machine… (Conole et al).

            Resilience, to me, is compulsory for special education teachers. One of the best ways to maintain high self-esteem is to share everyday experiences with colleagues. The teacher should see what went right and what did not so that he/she may perform better in similar circumstances in the future.