Unit 7 Assignment
Nicole Cisco
Kaplan University

CS204: Professional Presence
Dr. McCoy
July 2, 2014
Introduction
Special Educators are greatly needed in our school systems all over the United States. It takes a special person to be a Special Educator. In most jobs you are in need of patience, but with this career a requirement is patience. Some people are cut out for this career and some are not. Emotionally and physically this job can take a toll on someone. In this paper I will discuss what exactly is a Special Educator, what education is needed to become one, salary, job outlook, and work environment. I have also interviewed a Special Educator and I will discuss how she feels about being
She did not need her Masters but felt it would help her grow more as a professional. She also has her teaching certification in the State of Vermont. Gina and her husband live in Williston, VT with her 2 toddler sons. The diversity of her high school is predominately Caucasian, but her entire school district has about 27 different languages. Gina stated that diversity is definitely taught in their school. I was completely surprised that there are about 27 different languages in their school district. In her school district there are more female teachers that are Special Educators than male. She stated that she thinks that being a female in this position helps her because most of the special needs children see her as a mother figure and warm up to her easily. Her work hours are 7am -4pm Monday thru Friday, but she typically may stay late or bring work home such as grading papers, lesson plans and may attend professional development classes. She usually works about 10hrs a week outside of the classroom. This can be challenging with 2 toddlers at home. I asked Gina what is the best part of her career? She described when she is “working with a student and they have been working hard on something and all of a sudden she sees that light bulb go on inside of them. Absolute Success. It makes the difficult times not seem so difficult.” With that I asked her what is the worst part of her career. She said when she is