Skip to main content
Teach: Make a Difference
Teach: Make a Difference
  • Become a Teacher
    • Get Your Teaching Credential
      • Finance Your Education
      • Masters Degree Program Accreditation
      • Taking Your Teaching Certification Tests
      • Teacher Certification Reciprocity
      • Requirements by State
    • Applying for Your Master's
      • Crafting Your Resume
      • How to Write a Personal Statement
      • How to Get the Right References
      • Preparing for Your Interview
    • What Can I Teach?
      • Art
      • English and Language Arts
      • Gifted Education
      • Music
      • Social Studies
      • Special Education
      • STEM
      • TESOL
    • Where Can I Teach?
      • Grade Levels
      • Types of Schools
      • Shortage Areas
      • Teaching in Major US Cities
      • Teach Abroad
      • Teaching Online
    • Your Teaching Career
      • Teacher Salary & Benefits
      • Summer Vacation for Teachers
      • Teaching Job Websites
    • Explore Other Careers in Education
      • How to Become a School Administrator
      • How to Become a Behavior Analyst
      • How to Become a School Counselor
      • How to Become a School Librarian
      • How to Become a School Social Worker
      • How to Become a Speech-Language Pathologist
      • How to Become an Occupational Therapist
  • Online Education
    • Education Degrees
      • Online Doctorate of Education (EdD) Programs
      • EdD vs. PhD
      • Online Master of Arts in Teaching (MAT) Programs
      • Online Master of Science in Teaching
      • Online Master of Education (ME) Programs
      • MAT vs. ME
    • Online Master of Business Administration (MBA)
    • Online Master’s in School Counseling
    • Online Master of Library and Information Science (MLIS)
    • Online Master of Public Administration (MPA)
    • Online Master of Science in Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA)
    • Online Masters in Speech Language Pathology (SLP)
    • Online Master of Social Work (MSW)
    • Online Doctorate in Occupational Therapy (OTD)
    • Online Master of Legal Studies (MLS)
  • What Do Teachers Do?
    • Teachers Know
      • Teaching Methods
      • Learning Styles
      • Testing Effect
      • School Media
      • Teach100
    • Teachers Change Lives
      • Motivating Students
      • Dropout Prevention
      • Teachers Care
      • Grants for Teachers
      • Teacher Appreciation
    • Teachers Are Role Models
      • Debra Rose Howell
      • Dr. David Lazerson
      • Dr. Penny Ferguson
      • Genein Letford
      • Lisa Wells
      • Lynne Kesselman
      • Susan Evans
      • Valerie Kibler
  • Blog
  • Teach.com
  • Blog

SPED Talks


How Special Education Teachers Can Advocate for Students

  • November 27, 2017
  • by Amanda Ronan

On October 20, 2017 the Education Department, led by Education Secretary Betsy DeVos, released a listed of 72 documents related to special education that were to be rescinded. The initial announcement framed the move as one that should relieve “unnecessary regulatory burdens.” Upon further inspection, though, most of those documents had expired, been replaced recently, or been overturned by new laws and policies. Unfortunately, that truth didn’t mend the growing rift between special education and disability advocates and the Education Department.

SPED Talks: Knowing When to Move on from Tim Villegas, Founder of Think Inclusive

  • September 22, 2015
  • by Cathy Vandewater
SPED Talks is an essay series dedicated to--like TED talks--sharing “ideas worth spreading” in the Special Education community. The topics, experiences, and points of view are all different, but the prompt for our writers--education professionals from all walks of life--is always the same: “What do you wish people understood about Special Education?”

Recently I took a job at another school down the road from the one that I taught at for the last seven years. It was a hard decision because the school faculty and administrators were my family and support system for a long time, but it wasn’t a decision I made lightly. Here is how I made that difficult decision and what factors impacted my journey in taking a leap of faith.

I recently invested in a new venture called …

SPED Talks: 5 Strategies to Make Your Classroom More Inclusive from Nicole Eredics of The Inclusive Class

  • September 15, 2015
  • by Cathy Vandewater
SPED Talks is an essay series dedicated to--like TED talks--sharing “ideas worth spreading” in the Special Education community. The topics, experiences, and points of view are all different, but the prompt for our writers--education professionals from all walks of life--is always the same: “What do you wish people understood about Special Education?”

Our classrooms are a tapestry of students with different cultures, socioeconomic circumstances, race and abilities. Whether intentional or not, there is social, emotional, physical and intellectual diversity even within the most seemingly cohesive group of students. There is social, emotional, physical and intellectual diversity even within the most seemingly cohesive group of students, which means there are also challenges to teaching diverse groups and ensuring all students feel involved and included.

…

SPED Talks: Chris Ulmer of “Special Books by Special Kids” Talks Acceptance vs. Awareness

  • September 09, 2015
  • by Cathy Vandewater
SPED Talks is an essay series dedicated to--like TED talks--sharing “ideas worth spreading” in the Special Education community. The topics, experiences, and points of view are all different, but the prompt for our writers--education professionals from all walks of life--is always the same: “What do you wish people understood about Special Education?”

Awareness "should not be our primary focus as advocates"

As many of us already know, acceptance and awareness are common themes in the classroom, but they are very different. Awareness is having the knowledge of a situation or fact, and acceptance typically means having an understanding and approval of a person, place or situation; recognizing conditions and flaws exist and embracing them anyway. While raising awareness is important and meaningful, it should not be our primary focus as advocates. Instead, we should focus on building acceptance in and out of the classroom. As a special educatio…

Tags

  • #edchat
  • 8 Questions
  • Apps
  • Awards
  • Building Parent-Teacher Relationships
  • Bullying
  • Comics in Education
  • Education Current Events
  • Education Policy
  • Education Technology
  • Featured Teacher
  • Great Educational Resources
  • Guest Post
  • Newsletter Highlights
  • Online Teaching Tuesdays
  • Outside the Classroom
  • Roles in Education
  • SPED Talks
  • STEM
  • SXSWedu
  • Social Media in Education
  • Special Education
  • TESOL
  • Teach100 Mentor
  • Teachers
  • The Writing Corner
  • Become a Teacher
  • Online Education
  • What Do Teachers Do?
  • Blog
  • Teach100
  • About
  • Privacy Policy
  • Sitemap

© 2U, Inc. 2018