Amber Gilbert Sped854 Personal Philosophy Statement Original Assignment
Amber Gilbert Sped854 Personal Philosophy Statement Original Assignment
Amber Gilbert Sped854 Personal Philosophy Statement Original Assignment
When thinking about collaboration in special education, the first thing that comes to
mind is team work. I am reminded how important it is to be able to collaborate with other
peoples opinions, expertises, and knowledge. While one person may see a situation one way,
someone else may see it completely different. Both being able to offer different perspectives
and advice. When dealing with the diverse set of needs that students in special education have,
it is important to be able to see things from all sides. It isnt just a coincidence that the most
successful programs have a team of professionals that can successfully collaborate together.
paraprofessional. Our students were mostly fifth graders struggling with math and reading, who
also seems to be exhibiting strong signs of behavior issues. Along with the resource teacher and
myself, there were three other fifth grade general education teachers. Since this was my first
experience working in this type of position, I felt I had little to offer the team, but was excited
to see them in action and gain some much needed experience. I had a lot of ideas as to how I
thought I could help and was open to input from the other teachers. Much to my
What started out so positive in my mind, turned into a prime example of what happens
when there is no cohesive collaboration amongst a team. Meeting times were set up, but then
cancelled with little or no notice. Even though each teacher had an hour for planning every day,
they all stated that they were too busy with other responsibilities that needed their prompt
attention, and were usually not available during the times they stated they would be. When
Amber Gilbert
Sped 854: Family and Interprofessional Collaboration in Special Education
Personal Philosophy Statement
someone would make the time to discuss a student, and what they felt needed to be addressed
with the student, it would inevitably turn into a finger pointing session about how some other
teacher was not doing their job, and therefore we would be unable to do ours. I literally felt like
I was back in High School dealing with a group of teenagers that didnt like each other.
The needs of the students that were already identified as needing assistance were
usually not addressed until weeks after the fact. Not only was this frustrating for me, the
students would also notice the disaccord amongst the teachers and started using it as an
excuse as to why they were struggling with a particular subject or classroom. For one student in
consistent seat in each classroom, (there were three classrooms he transitioned to) he was
constantly asked to move seats to accommodate other students which began a pattern of
acting out and being sent from the classroom almost daily.
Ultimately, nothing was ever discussed as a team. Paperwork would be turned in as one
teacher or another would make a decision on their own, and even the recommendations for
that student were usually only followed by the person making the recommendation. When I
think of the time and effort that was lost, and the needs of some of the students that were
To be successful at collaborating, you need to have an open mind and patience. You
need to know how to deal with situations that others have seemingly given up on. I was
reminded while reading: Cook and Friend (2010) The State of the Art of Collaboration on Behalf
and functions as a catalyst for accomplishing significant school reform. In other settings,
Amber Gilbert
Sped 854: Family and Interprofessional Collaboration in Special Education
Personal Philosophy Statement
however, collaboration exists as a series of informal relationships that are fragile and person-
dependent My experience was certainly an example of how quickly those fragile relationships
can crumble.