Emotionally impaired teacher skills for your resume and career

In any teaching position, whether special education or otherwise, it is perhaps the soft skills that are the greatest indicators of professional aptitude and success. In my years as a principal, we used to call this "teacher mojo," and it was an aura that is easier to glean in an interview than on a resume but centers around those personal traits that the person brings with them to the table beyond their content and pedagogical knowledge and expertise. A hiring administrator wants to know that the candidate is collaborative; special education teachers are expected to partner with their general education colleagues and related service providers and serve as case managers of interdisciplinary teams. They need to have excellent listening and facilitation skills, demonstrated through approachability, patience, flexibility, cultural competence, and the ability to lead sometimes difficult conversations. Special educators need to have impeccable time management skills and be reliable when meeting deadlines, as timelines are set by federal legislation and state regulation, not simply the whim of a school administrator. Additionally, they need to model inclusivity and kindness; they are often the voices in their buildings for the excluded students. They should be confident enough to say, for example, "have we thought about accessibility concerns for the upcoming field trip?" and be willing to kindly remind their colleagues of equal access and inclusivity when someone suggests "leaving those kids behind just this one time."

Understanding that disability is a natural part of the human experience, and that we all fall on some part of the continuum or spectrum of learning.
Being able to self-reflect on our own ableist views and change our mindset to believe that children are more alike than different.
Understanding a medical diagnosis doesn’t drive educational practices.
The need for initiative, persistence, creativity and problem solving in both ourselves and our students.

New faculty will have to demonstrate an increased ability to differentiate instruction and work with the general education faculty to meet students where they are and implement techniques to accelerate the learning of all students who may have experienced COVID-related gaps in knowledge. Specifically, these skills would be related to explicit instruction and Direct Instruction, as well as other evidence-based techniques. Applications of instructional technologies mediated through computers and tablets, peers, and teachers will need to be used. An example would be related to questioning, having students respond to teacher questions in various ways. The most basic of these responses would be a binary response, such as right false questions next to a provided set of choices for students to select. Then, the most difficult of reactions - a production response, would show students' in-depth understanding. All of the above would be driven by the new faculty's experience with assessment and assessment practices. The outcomes of assessment, both formal and informal, will drive instruction.

Another skill or activity to be undertaken will be an intimate knowledge of the standards students must meet and resource materials available in their respective schools to help meet those standards. The textbook is not the curriculum or the standards but a vehicle to achieve those standards. By familiarizing the curriculum, educators will better handle those prerequisite skills needed to perform at the highest levels.