Special Education Director Reflective Essay

In doing my coursework and internship I heard over and over again that one of the most important jobs of an administrator is to hire the right people. I understand no administrator can be everywhere doing everything, so having the ability to hire quality teachers (other staff) and to keep them becomes crucial. Teachers (special education service providers) individually and collectively contribute to the achievement of the goals of a school so employing them, developing their capacities, utilizing, maintaining and compensating their services in tune with the job and organizational requirement becomes one of the most important roles of a special education director.

My first artifact is an email about a assistance plan for one of our staff. I was assigned the support person role in this plan. I connected with the staff person immediately and set up regular meeting times. We made a plan for how she'd address the areas of competence that needed improvement. We set timelines and I shared resources. We were able to establish a good relationship at the very beginning as I always started our meeting with a checked in about the stressors

I was part of the group where special education and general education leadership worked together on developing this plan. The special education staff had voiced that they have no understanding of what the general education instructional practices are. They requested training in the same practices as general education staff so their teaching could effectively support what students were already working on with their peers. The special education leadership had wanted that for special education staff for a long time. This time we all were able to sit down with district teaching and learning department and make a plan for staff development that would enhance special education staff's skill set and help align instructional practices with general