IEP's (From the perspective of a first year special education teacher)
Stage 1: Excitement It's been almost a year since I got my TFA teaching placement, man, what a year it has been. My last semester at BYU was spent working as an after-school teacher at an elementary school. It was a low-income school, and some of my students had special learning needs. I loved my special needs students, and while the work was challenging it was also fulfilling. My placement was 7-12 dual certification general and special education. I was so excited. I felt like my experience teaching in the elementary school had prepared me for this placement. I was so naive... Stage 2: Confusion The special education course at my graduate school only has two classes a semester. Neither class was helpful in the least. My school had an IEP meeting during a professional development day in the first month of school. I was already overwhelmed by teaching full-time, graduate school, and learning classroom management. The meeting was a brief overview of the expectations the school has