Many communities in the United States lack major factors for development of it’s youth: opportunities and options. I am from Saginaw, Michigan, a small city that the FBI said was the most dangerous city of over 50,000 residents in America when I was between the ages of 6 and 13. Everyone seems to know these negative statistics by heart but nobody seems to leave or take action. I grew up in the center of the chaos and I frequently had to deal with grieving for loved ones and classmates dying due to gang violence or deciding to join gangs. When I wasn’t holding onto the hardships that my city loaded onto my back, I was trying to comfort my teary eyed brothers who hadn’t adapted to our lifestyle of constant yelling, police sirens, and bruised …show more content…
I’ve worked with a student with a learning disabilities, people with mental illnesses, and people from all sorts of cultures and countries. I was once a Teaching Assistant for a Math class and I was privileged to work with a special needs child. It took him longer to understand concepts and other children discouraged him, causing him to shut down and not progress in his work. I spent extra time with him making sure he understood the concepts by using different techniques while trying to teach and display grit and a growth mindset, the belief that your intelligence is not fixed and can expand through practice, to him. I often see him around town on the bus going home and he lights up and tells me how his life and family are and how that summer really helped him conquer some issues he had been dealing with at that time in his …show more content…
My goals are more macro level than interpersonal practice and I believe Community Organization will prepare me to go into communities and provide the type of opportunities to the community, directing festivals/events, and developing and implementing programs to enhance the community. In addition to Community Organization, Children and Youth in Family and Society will allow me to work in areas of work where there are youth that need assistants like the juvenile justice system, recreational programs and schools. I will also be able to work with children dealing with neglect, abuse, lack of family support, and unemployment. Being a product of experiencing community violence, I see and value the importance of having role models and social workers that not only understand the problems that youth go through and have the ability to make their childhood more fruitful, but also have first hand experience of what it is like to be in those traumatic situations. I believe it is important to detach yourself from your work, but I also believe it is important to be authentic and true with your intentions and desires for youth to excel. Social Workers in these areas need to not treat the children with pity and misfortune, but use empathy to help children see their own value and assist them in finding their way out their negative
Unfortunately, it is not uncommon for children with disabilities in a Least Restrictive Environment to not have their needs met adequately. Some parents think that teachers do not have the proper skills to help their child with disabilities flourish in the classroom. Two concerns/challenges are that typical developing students will imitate inappropriate behaviors made by students with disabilities and students with disabilities could potentially get teased about their disabilities and inappropriate behaviors. As said by Virginia Buysse and Donal B. Baily, Jr. (1993) “… the opportunities for young children with disabilities to interact with peers in integrated settings must be carefully
One obstacle that I believe many special needs students and families will face is understanding and dealing with the disability itself. Speaking from experience, this process can take time to understand and accept. This is where a special education teacher plays a significant role, assisting the student and family with information and support for understanding the student’s disability, facilitating education programs, and most importantly hope and progress for a bright future. Another obstacles that students with disabilities may face, is social interaction and acceptance. It is vital that all special education teachers and programs, try to incorporate strong social connections with their regular education peers and other community members and
There are many reasons why I decided that I wanted to work in the social work profession. When I first enrolled in college, I was a nursing major with the mindset of becoming a neonatal nurse. When that did not go as planned, I decided to become a social work major because I knew I would receive the same reward of helping someone out and providing an individual with a better opportunity by lending him or her a hand. This was my first reason for choosing this career because I saw so many benefits from this profession. My second reason for was due to the fact that I want to help people during their time of need. There were times in my life where I needed guidance and it felt great to have someone there being compassionate and caring towards me.
Volunteering made me find my career plan in sociology / Social Worker. With a college degree in one of these areas, I hope to impact my community in ways. First, with the knowledge from college, I hope to counsel with young people& adults. In today's society, there are so many negative things that influence adults & young people. I want to help them understand the importance of setting goals and striving to become great citizens. I also want to give them a sense of hope that with perseverance, they can become great role models for other adults &young people by
In my classroom I will make sure that the children with special needs are benefiting from instruction. I will pair this student up with someone who is capable of helping. The student will be getting my instruction as well as help from one of their peers. I will be aware that this student is a learner with special needs and I will teach this student at a level in which he/she is comfortable. I will make sure I am aware of everything that I can about this student?s special needs. I will be in a tight contact with the student and his/her parent/guardian so I can be aware that they are working with him/her at home. If this isn?t the case then I will pair this student up with another student after school, with myself, or with someone else that would be willing to give this student extra time.
I obtained my Masters in Social Work (MSW) degree from India in the year 2006. As with most countries around the world, the emergence of social work in India was from charity aiming to eliminate poverty. Gradually it shifted from philanthropy to rights based approach and then to organized social work. Community organization surfaced as the most central method of social work practice along with practice of casework. Although social work is much more structured in nature now, it still operates along the conventional perspective of social work. Social work is not even recognized as a profession in India. An indicator of an occupation being publicly recognized as a profession is exhibited by
My current job as a Behavioral Intervention Specialist for Bakersfield City School District has motivated me to pursue my masters in social work. Working with troubled students on a daily basis has allowed me to see the great need for social workers at schools. Many students are not successful in school due to their emotional and social issues in their daily lives. I want to be a professional social worker so I can better understand behavior, trauma, and learn of more ways to assist the students at my school. I truly feel The Master of Social Work (MSW) program will prepare me to help create that change in the schools that is desperately needed.
All my life I have always been the type of person to help people. I have always been a social worker in my head but not legally. I have been doing things social workers do everyday, but I am not certified to take actions that an authorized social worker can take. I do it all out the kindness of my heart. I do it also to make those individuals who think that no one loves them feel loved. I have always been kind, nice, and giving
I have worked with many teachers in this line of work and have watched how they interact with the kids. I have worked with all kinds of kids with special needs, ranging from reading disabilities to severe mental retardation. Some of the teachers that I have worked with, I have not approved of their tactics on how they handled the kids, but you learn and you adapt. Eventually you will know what is right and what is wrong.
My interest in social work stems from a love of volunteering that I possessed ever since I was a young child expressing great enthusiasm for church and school service events. As I grew older, I began volunteering for many other community events, such as serving over 200 hours at a local hospital, helping with free cancer screenings, and fitting children with free bike helmets. I even created my own donation drive for a local women’s and children’s shelter. I feel the best when I am striving to create positive changes in my community and for struggling, marginalized individuals. Social services have been a part of my life for a very long time, and I want it to continue to be on a professional level.
Currently, I work at the Foster Knox Day Care here at UCM. Being a Social Work major has enhanced my love of helping children. After taking Human Behavior, I can cue in what is going on in the developmental stage of the child life. Now I understand that a two-year may not say No to be defiant. Being able to interact with children has made me more aware that I want to work with children as a social worker.
The main reason I chose the social work profession, manifested early within my stages of childhood. The importance of giving to and caring for those in need, were deeply embedded in my very soul. Being reared by my grandmother, a nurse and by my teenage mother, a psychology student, I was exposed constantly to acts of kindness and generosity. As a result to my empathetic personality, I was welcomed into many social and ethnic groups, not commonly open to a young gay black male. In these younger years with the assistance of my parents, my love for others allowed me to help other teenagers in crisis, often providing shelter, advice, monetary assistance and a listening
I was working at a camp and got into a conversation with a friend who has Asperger Syndrome about his experience with special education. He told me how long it took him to get into a program and how much those teachers had helped him to become the person that he was. The teachers were able to help him understand what he was learning as well as life lessons. He and other children with special needs at the camp I have worked at for the past few summers have instilled in me a stronger need to reach out to those in both special and general education classes. This was again enforced in the class “Intro to Special Education.” I was taught even more that school is not just about learning the information, but learning about yourself and how to grow in yourself. Each student is different and therefore each student must be seen as
Education is a profession which requires a teacher to be able to communicate with a multitude of students on a variety of levels. There is not a class, or student for that matter, that is identical. Therefore, teachers must be able to identify and help educate students from all different types of backgrounds and at different levels. Teaching a singular subject presents difficulties, but teaching students with disabilities should not be one. There are three main teaching areas that need to be focused on when teaching a student with a learning disability. Teachers need to focus on the strategies that will assist students with reading comprehension skills, writing skills, and maintaining appropriate behaviors in a classroom setting.
There are numerous careers related to special needs, all of which require different schooling, training, mentorships, and other types of preparation. Any type of job working with children with mental and physical disabilities can be challenging but also very rewarding when one sees the child improve (Tyrer, 2007). Different types of careers affect special needs children in different ways. For example a teacher will help them thrive in school, while other careers may help the kids improve at home or in a public setting. Special needs workers should be creative, flexible, and personable to be able to meet the needs of the child and also provide useful information for the child’s parents. It is important for one to at least complete minimal required training so one will be fully prepared to work with a child with any type of delay. Often children in schools do not improve at a higher rate because their teacher may not have the necessary training to assist them (Marković, 2014). No matter what special needs career someone chooses, everyone should have one common goal: to help special needs children thrive. Marković from the article “Work with Kids with Special Needs” puts it perfectly when she states, “the main aim is that children with disabilities get the chance to grow, learn, and socialize with children with normal development, and that these children can adapt and learn together with children with special needs. In this way, they develop understanding, tolerance, and humanity” (Marković,