Is The Glass Half Full Or Half Empty?
             Challenges encountered by First-year
             As found in The Journal Of Special Education Vol. 35/NO. 2/2001/pp. 66-74
             This article is from the Journal Of Special Education, 2001, and is about a teacher and her first year teaching special education. Mrs. Mastropieri brings many valid concerns about the first year teaching a special education classroom that can be relevant in a "mainstream" classroom.
             Her first challenge came two weeks prior to the start of school when she received a call from the director of special education to tell her she would be teaching at a high school level and not in an elementary school. Thus, she felt unprepared for the class although her license says she can teach k-12. She must of felt like all teachers before they start a new subject at a new school.
             Along with being a teacher whether it is a special education or regular mainstream a secondary teacher has the added responsibility of assuming advising roles for different organizations in the high school. Sometimes it is over clubs or sports that you have not even participated in.
             Major challenge encounter were the behavior management issues surrounding working with high school students with serious emotional and behavioral difficulties. At the level in high school, unlike elementary, these students were completely articulate or versed when it came to confronting the teachers with verbal aggression. Also, the aggression or attention seeking is more dramatic. An example she used was a student brought a buck knife to school and started waiving it around in front of other students. Or working with a boys parents when he got sent to jail for buying and selling guns.
             Scheduling and time management issues are also a major challenge. It takes time from the lesson plan to show and adapt to one or more students with learning disabilities. Al
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