The personal philosophy paper gives students an opportunity to critically evaluate their professional and personal views of serving children with disabilities, examine the course of their professional training to date, and demonstrate their ability to choose research-based strategies specific to certain disabilities. 

Write a 3-page paper Reference page is an additional page, not included in aforementioned requirements. Please adhere to page limits–points are deducted for exceeding page limits. The paper must be double-spaced, typed in a 12 point Times New Roman font with 1” margins all around. References must be cited in the body of your paper, as well as included in a reference page at the end of your paper. Citations & the reference page must be in APA (6th ed.) style (no abstract, title page or running head is necessary). 

At least two references must be included to document your sources in this paper. One reference must be one of our textbooks and the others must be from a peer-refereed professional journal (not a book, web page, magazine, newspaper, etc.) published no earlier than 2013. You must use original sources, rather than secondary sources, i.e., you cannot use information from an article referenced in another publication, but must access the original publication yourself. You must paraphrase. Do not use direct quotes. The source for paraphrased material must be cited in the body of the paper using APA parenthetical citation. Failure to do so constitutes plagiarism.

USE THESE REFERENCES:

Heward, W., Alber-Morgan, S., & Konrad, M. (2017). Exceptional children: An introduction special education (11th ed.). Boston, MA: Pearson.

The personal philosophy paper must include the following sections, and the following subheadings are preferred:

Students I Desire to Serve

Provide a description of the type of students you believe you would like to work with or teach at this point in your training (age/level, disability) and provide a rationale for your choice. You must choose a specific IDEA disability category rather than all students with disabilities. This will help focus your search for instructional strategies.

Instructional Strategies 

Provide complete descriptions of two research-based instructional strategies you plan to use when you work with these students, and why, with documentation: (a) fully describe the strategies and give an example of classroom use; (b) cover how they address specific weaknesses and/or utilize the strengths of your chosen population; (c) provide scientific evidence (numerical data on the results of the study) of the strategies’ effectiveness; and (d) Provide proper APA citation for each strategy. 

Extended Professional Skills Desired and Plan for Acquisition 

Extended professional skills are those that reach beyond the skills and competencies required for licensure. Include a description of two extended professional teaching skills you hope to acquire to best serve your students and a concrete plan of action describing when, where and how you will acquire the professional teaching skills that you have described. 

Personal Philosophy of Education 

Include a statement of your personal philosophy of general or special education, including a reflection on serving diverse populations. Please see the prologue (p. 2) & postscript (p. 559) of the Heward textbook for suggestions on developing a personal philosophy of special education.