Why Is This Important? 

To answer this question, I must reflect on my experience as a new special education teacher entering the field. Picture this (as Sophia from the Golden Girls would say), it's 2008, and I had one month left before graduating with a Master's Degree in Special Education. My mentor, excited about my pending graduation date, asked me if I was familiar with SESIS. I looked puzzled (confused by her questions) and asked, "What is that?" At this point, she looked both confused and concerned at my response. She then said, "SESIS is the foundation of your job. You don't know that?" I said, "No," and she responded, "That's scary." So, now I was plagued with two questions – What else don't I know, AND how can I be a special education teacher and not know what my job entails?

At that moment, I realized I was getting ready to enter the workforce and didn't know anything about Special Education and how to accommodate the diverse learning needs of my students. I didn't learn about the different classifications under IDEA and how to accommodate them based on each student's profile, the different types of evaluations (e.g., neuropsychological evaluation vs. an academic evaluation) and protocol for each, PLOP and goal writing, etc. 

Sure – my grad program did a fantastic job teaching me about the history of special education, but did I feel like I could walk out of that class and be a successful SPED teacher? The answer is no……well, not yet, at least. 

 I share this story with you because I have encountered many excellent teachers with the potential to be phenomenal Speducators but have yet to be exposed to all that SPED encompasses. Spducation's' goal is to provide exposure to the core elements of special education through real-life exposure and practice.

-Connie Eugene

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