"Look well into thyself; there is a source of strength which will always spring up if thou wilt always look there."
- Marcus Aurelius
Most general education teachers can probably look back on
their years of teaching and pin point at least one student who was
difficult to work with because of his or her challenging behavior in the classroom. There may
not have been an official diagnosis for the student, and the teacher may have
exhausted every resource while trying to get through to the student. Although there has not always been a specific
diagnosis associated with certain challenging behaviors, it is important to
recognize that certain emotional or behavioral issues can be extremely
challenging for students as well as the teacher. While this may be the case, many teachers have the same goal for students
who have an emotional or behavioral disorder (EBD) which is for the student to
be respectful and learn how to deal with emotional build up and outbursts in a
positive way.
My research topic stems from the idea that self-reflection may be a useful strategy to implement when working with students who have behavioral issues, and more specifically students who have been diagnosed as having EBD. My position this year involves working primarily as a one-on-one aide to a student who has been diagnosed with EBD. While this topic was not one of my initial interests or ideas during the 680 summer course, I have become passionate about not only learning about EBD, but figuring out effective strategies to use in the classroom for my specific student. From all of the literature I read through and researched last semester, I have learned so much and have gathered a great deal of pertinent information from which I have based my capstone project. I have picked through and chosen strategies to utilize based on personal observations as well as trial and error during most of the fall semester.
As week three of my data collection begins, I am finding that the journey I have embarked on will be hard, it will be emotionally draining, it will be intense, but I must remind myself that it will be worth it.
"To the world you may be one person, but to one person you may be the world." - Heather Cortez
