Beware: this post so looonnnng! Hope you get to read it, you will learn a lot about me as a special ed teacher.

Annamanila sent me the “Interview Me” questions that I requested. I have been interviewed by Rachel last week. And because I enjoyed answering, I thought one or two more won’t hurt. So here goes:

1.  There is so much demand for SPED teachers abroad.  Don’t you want to earn $$$?

I would be a hypocrite if I say I don’t want to earn $$$. At first, for my own selfish reasons, I really wanted to go earn $$$ to help my family and my family in the province. Life is quite hard here in our country, educating the children is expensive. Now, even if we are still not financially secure, one of my two main reasons (the first being the other reason) to earn $$$ is to save for a special ed center that would service a specific clientele. Here in the Philippines, of course.

I applied to several agencies. And these are:

• One was an agency whose owners were jailed because of trafficking I think. Two of my friends got there but managed to find jobs whereas others traveled to different states to get work.

• One was an agency whose president shouted at me over the phone about the reason why the recruiters didn’t get me. “I was appalled you had the nerve to ask Mr. G about the issue*.” To which I retorted “Of course I had to ask that question because it would cost me an arm and a leg to pay you to be able to go there. I just want to be certain.” To which she replied, “The only certain things in life are death and taxes!” Which I replied back with, “Oh no! You can cheat death and taxes and get away with it. Bakit ka ba galit sa akin, kasi wala ka makukuhang pera?” She slammed down the phone. I’m still a little rattled at that incident as I am typing this. In fact, I’m shaking. That has happened 2004. *(ISSUE: the school district’s CEO was being investigated and I think as of last year, he was indicted of the case of which I got info through my Washington Post subscription. I asked the recruiter if the recruitment they are doing right now with us won’t be affected if ever, the CEO would be given to another person.)

• I have an inactive case with another agency. Inactive means I haven’t been called to an interview again because I don’t have any documents with them yet. But they have given me an interview schedule last February. The special ed director said she likes me but unfortunately they don’t have a position for preschool special ed, of which I am most qualified to teach. They got my documents so the agency has none.

2.  Is it a lesser God who created the autistic and other special children?

I don’t think it is a lesser God who created these special children. Depending upon the acceptance of their special needs, I think their parents are being challenged to be stronger in their faith, to believe that God doesn’t give them “problems” that they can’t solve. God is not an unfair God, we just have to learn to trust Him with what we have and do everything that we could and everything will happen according to His will. Of course, no amount of prayer would do wonders if these children would not be able to get the proper therapy services in proper educational settings that would help them cope with their developmental disorders.

3.  Doesn’t working with specially challenged children get you down sometimes?  What do you do to cope?

It does get me down sometimes. But the successes are more than the down times, if I may say so. There are times when I ponder and look at these children and think “What would become of them in the future? How would they be able to cope if their parents are not there for them?” I am just “lucky” enough to handle children whose developmental disorders are not that “low-level”. Most of my kids are mainstreamed and loving and sweet. (Matter of fact, I have several who started with me when they were in preschool and they are now in High School!)

How do I cope? I just work harder! I try to understand them. Put myself in their shoes and think how they would think. I read a lot. I talk to other people whose expertise can help me.

One thing though, most of the time, when I am teaching my own children, I get disappointed fast because I expect them to do better than my students. Not that my children are any better but that issue is what I want to cope with now.
 

4.  What do you say to those who say — “Teacher Julie looks like a high school student with (a bit of) remaining baby fat”? 

Ay, Annamanila, I have been called worse! One of my students used to hold my tummy bulges and ask if I am pregnant! How’s that for a lowdown? Hahaha! Good thing he stopped because the tummy isn’t getting any bigger. Or so I thought.

5.  I know someone who is afraid problogging might spoil the “trying hard sublimity” of his blogposts.  Please disabuse him because he really wants to earn a few $$$.

No problem with wanting to earn a few $$$. Who wouldn’t? I was at first skeptical when I did the problogging posts. When they gave me 10 links and when I was looking at the keywords I was thinking, “I’m gonna be ruined! These are so out-of-topic.” But then again, I just told myself, I just have to be honest with my posts, as what I am doing. Sincerity and/or honesty is the key. It does well too if there is a lot of creativity.

Thanks for the questions Annamanila. Isn’t it obvious I loved answering? My post is very long! Again, thank you! 

This entry was posted on Sunday, June 10th, 2007 at 3:00 pm and is filed under Being a (Special Ed) Teacher, Bits and Pieces, Challenge Yourself, Interesting tidbits, Lessons in Life, My Thoughts. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.