My College Experience

Training to be a teacher is the best thing ever. It is educative to interact with young minds as they are nurtured into greatness. The program designed to train teachers to train the students here is therefore very helpful because it instills in the teacher the need to understand learners for their betterment and self-own good. The programs I have undertaken will help me train the learners to expand their knowledge, experience skills, and learning and development. It has also enabled me to develop my professional philosophy that guides me through providing the educative needs to learners.

My Philosophy

It has always been my philosophy to train young minds to develop and grow in knowledge and fun. As a teacher, my desire is to help young learners become creative and enjoy the learning programs as they invent and implement knowledge in correspondence to their environment. In doing so, every child must be given equal opportunity to learn and explore. Both the handicapped learners and the regular learners are supposed to be treated equally (Vinogradov et al., 2015). They should be able to express themselves freely without fear, regardless of their gender, race, nationality, or religion.

Again, I have always aimed to understand each learner-all their weaknesses and strengths so that I help them to build on that as a teacher. The learners should be exposed to educators who have learner interests at heart. The educators who view the learner problem as their own are indeed the best educators. Teaching young minds is not an easy task. It comes with great challenges. However, I believe educators should be flexible so as to turn such challenges into positive life experiences and uplift the growth of their learners.

Finally, teachers should endeavor to make the learners independent in their learning so that they grow up with a sense of belonging. It is this spirit that will encourage the learners to use the acquired knowledge and skills to tackle real-life challenges. The learning process should also be learner-centered. The teaching pedagogy is, therefore, supposed to be designed to fulfill the learner's learning interests.

Childhood Education and Special Education

Childhood education, as well as special education, are very important programs that contain fine details of learning that help to nurture young learners into full development. The programs equip educators with the skills to understand the needs of their learners so as to help in their development (Vinogradov et al., 2015). I took particular interest in two units: introduction to teaching learners with disabilities and basic reading and writing instructions. My interest was influenced by the fact that these two units tackle the basic foundations of learner education. They carry the needed skills for a teacher to be an educator of young special minds. Actually, they are important for an educator who targets to work in an integrated education system.

Introduction to Teaching Learners with Disabilities

I paid a special interest to this program for its special reasons. The program introduces educators to learners with special needs. These learners have equal opportunity to learn like others. They have the brain and the intelligence to acquire knowledge and skills. It is very important for educators because they are exposed to the problems of these learners. Besides, they are trained to accept them and assist them learn and overcome their handicap. Some of the most common learner handicaps includes language disabilities, hearing impairments, low vision, and speech disorders (Vinogradov et al, 2015).

During the training, the program assists educators in attending to learners with language disabilities with care and concern (Vinogradov et al., 2015). Language disabilities vary from reading, writing, listening, and speaking. Young learners naturally experience these language problems when acquiring the language. Attending to them may be difficult, but the program provides knowledge to identify such learners and how to remedy their challenges.

Again, the program gives foundations that nurture educators to advocate and provide a special environment for learners with handicaps. The special environment is fundamental because it can assist the learners to acquire knowledge without discrimination and mockery. For instance, special schools for those with low vision are recommended so that they can, to some extent, use drills to write and read. Learners with low vision tend to strain in reading and may often give wrong answers in class. The educators are provided with the knowledge to recognize the disabilities in them and to correct them accordingly.

The program also emphasizes the psychological effects the disabilities impose on the learners. These effects vary from stress to low self-esteem and lack of confidence (Davis & Sumara, 2014). The educators have to play the role of parents and instill in the learners a sense of belonging. They have to encourage them through support programs, games, and classroom activities, all of which are supposed to make the learners feel normal, just like other learners without disabilities.

Basic Reading and Writing Instruction

Language acquisition is a very integral part of any young learner. As a result, teachers are supposed to design instructions that help learners acquire the basic skills of language (Davis & Sumara, 2014). For example, reading and writing. All young learners come from home having acquired speaking skills. However, writing and reading skills remain unfulfilled in them. The unit here is therefore very important in nurturing teachers to have skills to educate all the learners (handicapped and able learners). It advocates for integrated learning.

In this course, we learned that children acquire language skills through meaningful exposure to that language. The instructions, therefore, achieved, are aimed at providing language exposure to learners so that they develop their writing and reading skills. For instance, educators are trained to use familiar comprehension passages to help learners acquire reading skills. The teacher is not supposed to come up with strange comprehension passages. The learners are supposed to be allowed to come up with their own reading list which the teacher is supposed to use to assist them acquire the reading skills. Linguists have discovered that learners learn reading by imitating and mastering the skills. It is, therefore, important that the teachers use instructions that inspire learners to imitate and master the reading skills.

On the other hand, the program recognizes writing as a basic skill that all learners need to acquire. For handicapped learners, especially those with muted limbs, the program agitates that they are trained on how to write so that they are not isolated for their disability (Harry & Klingner, 2014).

Learners are also supposed to learn spelling using games like puzzles and dictation. The unit confirms that educators are supposed to understand their learners and believe in their ability to acquire these language skills. The instructions used in learning should be learner-centered (Harry & Klingner, 2014). For example, group discussions are supposed to be given priority in training learners to read and write. Moreover, learner individual differences should be considered by the teacher. In so doing, the teacher is trained to attend to the learners individually and give them tasks that suit their different abilities.

Conclusion

My graduate program in childhood education and special education has been a great success. All the course units done in this course have contributed greatly to my professional development. I have been nurtured to be an educator who understands the needs of the learners and helps them to develop their learning skills. It is true that all learners have the ability to excel academically regardless of their physical handicaps. The teacher in this program has been trained to incorporate all the learners without discrimination in order to attend to their individual differences. The course has also enabled me to develop my educational philosophy which shall remain a guiding principle as I endeavor to train and educate young learners.

References

Davis, B., & Sumara, D. (2014). Complexity and education: Inquiries into learning, teaching, and research. Routledge.

Harry, B., & Klingner, J. (2014). Why are so many minority students in special education?. Teachers College Press.

Vinogradov, V. L., Panfilov, A. N., Panfilova, V. M., & Rakhmanova, A. R. (2015). Integrated Educational Environment of the University and the School as a Basis for Practice Oriented Teachers Training. Psychological Science and Education, 20(5), 142-152.