I believe on the deepest level that every single child – where they live in New York City, another city, another state, or another country – has full rights to equal educational opportunities regardless of race, sex, social status and, most importantly, disability. As a person who has worked with some undergraduate students with disabilities while teaching accounting at New York’s ASA Institute of Business and Computer Technology, I am very familiar with this unique situation. I am also convinced that the determination to teach in special needs reinforces the integrity of the commitment itself, and also goes to achieving success. Put another way, my interest here could not be in place if I were not fully aware of the inherent challenges and eager to overcome them, just as this deep interest indicates the confidence in my ability to do so.
My past experience working with some young students with disabilities at a small private college in NYC – paying close attention to their needs, tutoring them, and helping them with class assignments – gave me a real understanding of “challenging” pupils in the classroom. My strategy, then and now, is simple: focus on the whole child, for no other course will give me the information I require to teach effectively and thoughtfully. For example, the student with a physical handicap is, apart from their own individuality, very different from the child dealing with emotional disorders. Teaching special needs, in fact, is then only an extension of all teaching because my belief is that the true teacher always makes the effort to know their students, and their individual strengths and weaknesses, as completely as possible.
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"Why Do You Want to Teach Specifically in a Special Education Classroom, in a NYC School?".
I ask myself then: what can I personally contribute to effectively teaching special education in NYC’s most needed public schools? Based on my solid personal, professional and educational experience, I am certain I can reach special needs children, as well as succeed in helping them with their educational issues. I know that their needs are only a part of who they are, and special needs may actually promote development when the teacher relates to the child in a more expansive way. My own character, also, is suited to the effort. I have an outgoing personality, and I am a warm, understanding, and optimistic person who easily relates to children and young pupils. I would add that, as a Russian-born person and immigrant, I see myself working well with Russian-speaking pupils in need of special education, particularly within the dense Russian populations of Brooklyn and Queens. A New Yorker since 1995, and with many years of working with city agencies behind me, I love and feel the city energy and dynamic, and I know in my heart and mind that I can successfully reach the special needs students who live in this urban environment.
