It's Not Easy Teaching Special Ed
It's getting harder and harder to find quality special education teachers, which is why 49 out of 50 states report shortages.
Why? It's a tough sell.
Even if you're up for the low pay and noisy classrooms, special education adds another challenge: crushing paperwork.
This is something I understand first hand. You see, I was a special education teacher and I just couldn't hack it. Though I'm somewhat ashamed to admit it, I only lasted a year in the classroom.
I chose special education for what felt like the right reason. I wanted to help the students who struggle to learn. But I soon realized that was only a part of the job.
The paperwork, the meetings, the accountability. Eventually it got to me. I couldn't do it all and I got tired of showing up to a job I knew I couldn't do. It's that simple.
So, as I've been looking into the teacher shortage it hasn't felt like a revelation that people are leaving the profession. I get it.
But I have been curious about my friends and colleagues who have stayed. Especially one colleague in particular: Stephanie Johnson.
I know Stephanie from my college days. We were in the same special education program at Brigham Young University three years ago. But as a mother of three returning to school in her 40s, Stephanie wasn't your typical student.
She's now going on her third year teaching eighth grade math and ninth grade English to students with a wide range of disabilities at Oak Canyon Junior High School in Lindon, Utah, which is about 40 miles south of Salt Lake City.
'My Joy Is In The Classroom'
I visited Stephanie's classroom during a math lesson. She was reviewing how to find the slope of a line, through word problems. You know, x-axis y-axis type stuff. The students copied some problems from the board and got to work.It's Not Easy Teaching Special Ed : NPR Ed : NPR: