Why Do I Have a Special Ed. Kid in My Class?

Teachers collaborating.

I've always been surprised at some reactions general education teachers have at mainstreaming. Here in California, all of us take classes to receive teaching credentials that prepare us for the mutual responsibility of Special Education students in one class; that is why general ed. teachers are necessary at IEP meetings. It is probably because I chose to specialize in Special Education (forgive the redundancy) after teaching general education that the blend of the two doesn't bother me. 

Participating in the IEP process for students will require extra time for a Gen Ed teacher. Of course, I personally find it very rewarding and interesting. I wish I had time to tell you all the excellent success stories just from last school year that involved Gen Ed and SpEd collaborating. So very rewarding. I appreciated my Gen Ed teachers from last year immensely. Yes, it did take up time meeting with parents. But what a reward.

So here are some links and some thinks (thoughts) on mainstreaming hopefully will help.

1. Collaboration Between General and Special Education Teachers
http://www.teachervision.fen.com/teaching-methods/resource/2941.html

2. Special Education in Collaborative Classrooms
http://learningdisabilities.about.com/od/publicschoolprograms/p/collaboration.htm 

This is a PDF with some very good points about transparency between professionals.
 
3. Now is a critical time for principals and special educators to work together to serve the needs
of all children.
http://www.naesp.org/resources/1/Principal/2008/N-Dp12.pdf

4. IEP Collaboration Techniques

http://www.understandingspecialeducation.com/iep-collaboration.html 

Always, communication is prime. Don't have to be best buddies, teachers, but you do have to communicate.