Sharing the snapshots
Sabrina Brandenburg
Morehead Writing Project—Summer 2016
Professional Piece
Writing IEPs, progress monitoring, sending home progress reports, conducting ARCs, and attempting to be in three classes at one time is just a few of the daily required duties of a special education teacher. Special education teachers have a high level of responsibility with little understanding from colleagues, administrators, and parents. Sadly, I admit I used to be someone that criticized special education teachers because I did not fully understand the work-load of a special educator, well that was until I became one.
After teaching nine years of eighth grade Language Arts I obtained my master’s degree and also a job in special education; Learning Behavioral Disorders (LBD) to be specific. I had never written an IEP, collaborated in a classroom, or worked with any other content other than Language Arts; however, I had several special needs students in my classroom, I knew this was going to be a breeze. Excited and ready I received my schedule for my first trimester as a special educator. At first I couldn’t believe it, how is it possible for a teacher to be in two classes at the same time? I continued looking at my schedule. Not only was I supposed to be in two classes at the same time, there was one period I had to be in three. How was this fair to the students? Students that already struggled in one capacity or another.
I remained excited and with determination set out to be the special education teacher the students deserved and the one teachers didn’t complain about. During my first few weeks I learned many things, but the most important happened during an ARC. A young lady, junior in high school, sat in from of me with tears rolling down her cheeks. She explain to the committee that in a little over a year she would be graduating from high school and she could not read. She continued telling the ARC she was embarrassed. My heart broke for her. I was enraged because the education system had failed her. I was mad because she had passed through elementary, middle, and the majority of high school with no one addressing the fact that she couldn’t read. At that moment, I was committed to teaching her to read. I would not allow her to become another victim of a flawed system. A victim of a teacher that must split her time between three classes.
Operation learn to read began the next day. I was adamant I would not her to be another statistic. She would be able to read enough to get a job, pay her bills, and in the future read bedtime stories to her baby. To my surprise I wasn’t the only one with a plan, she had one too. That afternoon she came to my office with a book: A Penny’s Worth of Character, a notebook, and a freshly sharpened pencil. With her artillery she was holding me to my promise, she knew that I would not fail her.
Many months passed with our regular routine: read, write down words she didn’t know, and come back the next day ready to do it all over again. The process was slow, but after a few months she was able to read a few words beyond sight words. Her confidence was growing, she no longer felt stupid. These sessions went on for the remainder of her junior year of high school and continued until she graduated. By the end of her senior year she was able to read at a fifth grade level. She was no longer going to be a statistic, she was no longer going to be a failure. She had the tools to be successful.
This student and I spent several afternoons together. She learned to read enough to be able to pay her bills, obtain a job, and spend nights reading fairy tales to her children. I learned more. I learned that it isn’t possible to be in three places at the same time, no matter how hard a special education teacher tries he/she will be criticized by other teachers, and no one will understand the duties of a special education teacher unless they are one. All of these lessons are important, but the most important lesson learned was that being a special education teacher is rewarding. These students are the most vulnerable students in the school, yet the most neglected. A special education teacher’s time is thinly dispensed and it is hard to perform the job to make sure all students receive the services they deserve. Being a special education teacher was definitely not a breeze, but it was worth it.
Morehead Writing Project—Summer 2016
Professional Piece
Writing IEPs, progress monitoring, sending home progress reports, conducting ARCs, and attempting to be in three classes at one time is just a few of the daily required duties of a special education teacher. Special education teachers have a high level of responsibility with little understanding from colleagues, administrators, and parents. Sadly, I admit I used to be someone that criticized special education teachers because I did not fully understand the work-load of a special educator, well that was until I became one.
After teaching nine years of eighth grade Language Arts I obtained my master’s degree and also a job in special education; Learning Behavioral Disorders (LBD) to be specific. I had never written an IEP, collaborated in a classroom, or worked with any other content other than Language Arts; however, I had several special needs students in my classroom, I knew this was going to be a breeze. Excited and ready I received my schedule for my first trimester as a special educator. At first I couldn’t believe it, how is it possible for a teacher to be in two classes at the same time? I continued looking at my schedule. Not only was I supposed to be in two classes at the same time, there was one period I had to be in three. How was this fair to the students? Students that already struggled in one capacity or another.
I remained excited and with determination set out to be the special education teacher the students deserved and the one teachers didn’t complain about. During my first few weeks I learned many things, but the most important happened during an ARC. A young lady, junior in high school, sat in from of me with tears rolling down her cheeks. She explain to the committee that in a little over a year she would be graduating from high school and she could not read. She continued telling the ARC she was embarrassed. My heart broke for her. I was enraged because the education system had failed her. I was mad because she had passed through elementary, middle, and the majority of high school with no one addressing the fact that she couldn’t read. At that moment, I was committed to teaching her to read. I would not allow her to become another victim of a flawed system. A victim of a teacher that must split her time between three classes.
Operation learn to read began the next day. I was adamant I would not her to be another statistic. She would be able to read enough to get a job, pay her bills, and in the future read bedtime stories to her baby. To my surprise I wasn’t the only one with a plan, she had one too. That afternoon she came to my office with a book: A Penny’s Worth of Character, a notebook, and a freshly sharpened pencil. With her artillery she was holding me to my promise, she knew that I would not fail her.
Many months passed with our regular routine: read, write down words she didn’t know, and come back the next day ready to do it all over again. The process was slow, but after a few months she was able to read a few words beyond sight words. Her confidence was growing, she no longer felt stupid. These sessions went on for the remainder of her junior year of high school and continued until she graduated. By the end of her senior year she was able to read at a fifth grade level. She was no longer going to be a statistic, she was no longer going to be a failure. She had the tools to be successful.
This student and I spent several afternoons together. She learned to read enough to be able to pay her bills, obtain a job, and spend nights reading fairy tales to her children. I learned more. I learned that it isn’t possible to be in three places at the same time, no matter how hard a special education teacher tries he/she will be criticized by other teachers, and no one will understand the duties of a special education teacher unless they are one. All of these lessons are important, but the most important lesson learned was that being a special education teacher is rewarding. These students are the most vulnerable students in the school, yet the most neglected. A special education teacher’s time is thinly dispensed and it is hard to perform the job to make sure all students receive the services they deserve. Being a special education teacher was definitely not a breeze, but it was worth it.
Mary Francis
By: Sabrina Brandenburg
Two calloused tobacco velvet hands
Embrace two strands of taut
Baling twine wrapped around
Golden lockets of hay.
Veins of assertion
Protrude from skeleton arms
Worn body from years of obstinance
It must be done her way.
Carrying the family without
Knowledge of burden
Never a negative word
Never saw her cry.
Stoic figure that wiped
Tears from my face
With the harness of her
Childhood’s understanding.
Happily loved four children
Unquestionably raised two more
Healer’s intuition pulsed through
Her body to diagnose illness
Yet her memories were slowly
Turning off one by one.
Able to share long-term
Memories of the past
Years of neglect and pain
Her last memory abruptly faded away.
By: Sabrina Brandenburg
Two calloused tobacco velvet hands
Embrace two strands of taut
Baling twine wrapped around
Golden lockets of hay.
Veins of assertion
Protrude from skeleton arms
Worn body from years of obstinance
It must be done her way.
Carrying the family without
Knowledge of burden
Never a negative word
Never saw her cry.
Stoic figure that wiped
Tears from my face
With the harness of her
Childhood’s understanding.
Happily loved four children
Unquestionably raised two more
Healer’s intuition pulsed through
Her body to diagnose illness
Yet her memories were slowly
Turning off one by one.
Able to share long-term
Memories of the past
Years of neglect and pain
Her last memory abruptly faded away.
Making America Great Again
By: Sabrina Brandenburg
Morehead Writing Project—Summer 2016
This is going to be HUGE
It is not a movement, it is THE movement
We have created a true political revolution
I am a progressive progressive
I am not the presumptive democratic nominee, I am
The democratic nominee
FREE college
FREE health care
Companies over seats
I AM going to build a
WALL
What the hell is going on?
This three ring circus
Has left the people in
The country in complete chaos
From protest, to hacklers,
People dying in
Our streets
My innocent child fearing
The security of
Her life, her choices, her voice
My own values being
Questioned,
My own household and friendships
Becoming a part of this equation.
The way I see it is I have the
Devil in each hand.
One makes simplistic
Elementary promises,
While the other has
Blood on her hands.
You can ask me for whom
Am I voting?
I will pull out my strongest
Weapon and say,
“I am voting for no one
Because it is the only way I know how
To make America GREAT again.
By: Sabrina Brandenburg
Morehead Writing Project—Summer 2016
This is going to be HUGE
It is not a movement, it is THE movement
We have created a true political revolution
I am a progressive progressive
I am not the presumptive democratic nominee, I am
The democratic nominee
FREE college
FREE health care
Companies over seats
I AM going to build a
WALL
What the hell is going on?
This three ring circus
Has left the people in
The country in complete chaos
From protest, to hacklers,
People dying in
Our streets
My innocent child fearing
The security of
Her life, her choices, her voice
My own values being
Questioned,
My own household and friendships
Becoming a part of this equation.
The way I see it is I have the
Devil in each hand.
One makes simplistic
Elementary promises,
While the other has
Blood on her hands.
You can ask me for whom
Am I voting?
I will pull out my strongest
Weapon and say,
“I am voting for no one
Because it is the only way I know how
To make America GREAT again.