I have something to admit— I did not intend to go into special education when I started college and pictured my future career. For my entire life, I have dreamed of being an elementary school teacher, and special education was not in my plan. After I committed to the University of Minnesota, Duluth, I learned that they do not offer elementary education. They only offer “Integrated Elementary and Special Education”, a dual-licensure program. At first, this scared me. I did not have any experience or knowledge about special education. In hindsight, I recognize that was because special education students were so isolated from our classrooms growing up. I never met many of the special education students or saw what went on in their classrooms. This goes against pretty much everything I have learned in my sped courses in college. My professors emphasize the importance of integration in schools and urge us to keep all students together, despite their labels. UMD gave me no choice but to get my license in special education if I wanted to be a teacher, and I am so grateful that they did. I have spent an entire semester doing practicum field placement in elementary and middle school sped classrooms, and I learned so much about a field I was completely in the dark about. I learned that I have a passion for special education and can absolutely see myself teaching sped full time. To me, the statement by Professor Bloom highlights the most important thing I have learned about special education so far, which is that students are more than their labels. In our first sped classes, we spent time learning about the different disability areas, such as ASD (autism spectrum disorder), EBD (emotional behavioral disorder), SLD (specific learning disorder), and more. I have made presentations and written papers about what each disability looks like and how to teach based on each label. However, as I have gotten further into my program and am now almost finished with my last semester of methods courses, a few professors have offered a deeper and more meaningful perspective. Yes, these labels are important for paperwork, accommodations, and academic goals, but at the end of the day, each student is so much more than their label. Viewing my student as “a 3rd grader with ASD” instead of who they truly are and what interests them is doing a disservice to their educational career. Each student has so much to offer outside of their academic challenges, which is why I feel it is so important to get to know what makes each student excited about life. Every student, no matter how they view the world or what challenges they face, has sometime that makes their eyes light up. It might take some serious digging, but once I find their interests, I am unlocking a whole new way to be their teacher. Lessons, tests, activities, and just overall school interactions should all be shaped for a student based on what they love. If my loves Harry Potter, I have the power to take that interest and build a personal connection. Talking about how I also like Harry Potter (even though I secretly don’t), can help build such valuable trust. I have seen firsthand how much of a difference it makes in the classroom when a teacher and student have a strong relationship. Incorporating their interests into academic activities is more possible than it would seem, and can make a world of difference in how engaged and motivated a student is. Just like that, my “3rd grader with ASD” is now my student who loves to learn with me and the co-founder of my Harry Potter book club. This concept is especially important in special education. A lot of students who have been labeled with a disability face great challenges academically, socially, and emotionally. School may not be an easy place for them to be, and I know that my classroom will have the power to be their safe space to be truly seen. They won’t come into my room and be seen as the kid with ADHD, they will be seen and valued who who they are and what they love. Enforcing this mindset, that they are valuable and important despite what happens on their test or in math class, is directly what I believe Professor Bloom is referring to. Each student deserves to feel important and valued, and not be reduced to their diagnosis on their IEP. I would guide my students to experience their sense of presence by shining a light on the things that are most important in their lives. This will help build connections, improve their motivation, and ensure the light in their eyes doesn’t fade. Something to remember is that if you have ever stepped foot in a special education classroom, you know that things often are so much harder than you plan for. A tough concept for me to accept is that I cannot control how these students will treated when they leave my room. They might be coming in feeling emotions that most adults don’t even regularly feel. There are so many reasons why things in special education won’t be as easy as it sounds on paper. I will need to keep my philosophies in mind every day, but especially on those days when it seems too hard. Those are the days when my students will need me to show up with my best strategies more than anything. Reminding them of their sense of self, their value, and of the simple things that make them happy can be the key to de-escalating a potentially very harmful situation. Being a special educator will means putting my students and their growth first. Working with them on their academic growth will take up a lot of our time, but I hope to prioritize helping them grow personally as well. No matter what their disability category is, every student has the potential to meet academic, social-emotional, and personal goals. I hope that my full-time student teaching next year (which will be split between general education and special education) will teach me so many more strategies about how to help my students reach their goals. I hope I learn how to help them not need me and become self-sufficient, well-rounded people. Most importantly, I hope I can help them have a secure sense of their worth and value beyond their diagnosis, not just at school, but throughout their whole lives. Even though I am going into a different field than I planned when I was younger, I could not be more excited about where I am headed and the goals that I have. I can feel how important my hopes and dreams are to me, so I can only imagine how it would feel to be told that my uncontrollable diagnosis could hinder my goals. I want to ensure that no child feels they are incapable of doing what makes them feel fulfilled. I am lucky enough to know how it feels to be passionate about something and make it my future reality, and it will be my mission to help my students feel that same pride in their goals and hope for their future.