Member-only story
I’m Selling Out
After six years in education, I’m moving on to big law
I have been working as a special education teacher in an urban school district for the last six years. I have helped many students graduate who are on the edge of passing and failing and helped many students grow multiple grade levels in one year. I have not been as successful with every student. I have not been the best at managing every student’s behavior, and not every student in my classroom made significant gains.
In my first year of teaching, a student put me in a headlock, another student closed a door on my hand, and my phone was also stolen, but still I persisted in making a difference and just got tougher as a teacher so these events would never happen again if that’s any testament to my commitment as an educator.
Since then, the results have been much better for my students, but I still look back and see the students I taught that have dropped out, the students who, despite interventions, keep getting suspended and seem to make no behavioral progress. I have been widely recognized in meetings and staff meetings for my devotion and willingness to always go above and beyond, and although I did move to a more office role in holding IEP meetings and ensuring procedural requirements with special education were met in the last three years, my role still requires pulling…
