If you'd rather place an order by talking to one of our cheerful order desk clerks, please call 1-888-232-4444 (USA and Canada only) or 250-383-6864. From Europe, ring our UK order desk clerk at local rate number 0845 230 9601 (UK only) or 44 (0)1865 722 113.

Confessions of a Special Ed Teacher

by Susan Cramer

178 pages; quality trade paperback (softcover); catalogue #04-1061; ISBN 1-4120-3234-2; US$20.00, C$23.00, EUR16.50, £11.50

Confessions of a Special Ed. Teacher is a close, personal account of a special education teacher's humorous yet heart breaking stories about educating students with emotional disabilities.

Read more!

About the Book      About the Author      Excerpts      Catalogue Information

About the Book

In her debut work, Confessions of a Special Ed. Teacher, Susan Cramer tells of her feelings and experiences in her journey to teach these special children. Using a humorous style, Susan has created a book that will evoke in others a newfound hope, inspiration, and understanding of special needs children. Chapters in the book take the reader through the educational process of identifying children with emotional disabilities, creating an IEP, capturing and holding the attention of special needs children, making modifications and adaptations, and implementing behavioral strategies used in her classroom to attain academic and emotional success in the lives of her students. She sprinkles throughout the book controversial issues all too common in her profession: teacher burnout, overcrowded classrooms, budget shortfalls, ineffective administrators, pushy politicians, and absentee parents. She allows the reader to glimpse into her inner sanctum of the teacher's lounge and the antics that keep her of sane mind and body before and after school hours. Then she presents the reader with heart-wrenching stories about those special students who have touched her very soul. Through a combination of tough love, old-school tactics, compassion and humor the author is able to get the students to trust and open up to her in their quest to be successful for school. A "must read" for parents, educators, administrators and prospective collegiate education majors.

---

About the Author

Born in Fairbanks, Alaska, Susan has grown up and lived in Northwest Indiana for the past 47 years. She now resides in Schererville, Indiana with her husband and her two sons. She is in her 27th year of teaching. In her spare time, Susan enjoys reading, working on computers, web page design, and maintaining her water gardens.

---

Excerpts

On administrators:
Principals are portrayed as managers, agents of change, peacemakers, and disciplinarians just to name a few. They have to be strong in leadership, understanding of societal issues and a risk-taker. In a world where parents are becoming less interested about their children's education, it is the principal who must bridge that gap to bring the parents and community together. They oversee budgets, hire staff, improve staff performance, and work hand in hand more so now than ever before with social service agencies. Administrators have to achieve a balance. They have to motivate. They need to attract quality people or get the most out of an aging staff that already might have inherited.

On neglectful parents:
A person needs a license to drive a car, to get married, to teach, to fish, and to practice law and medicine. Why can't we issue licenses to parents so that they can raise healthy, productive children? Our children are such precious commodities. And my God, there are some parents out there with absolutely no parenting skills. Why can't we teach parenting skills to high school students? The sad part about this is that the only time parents are forced to take parenting classes is when they are ordered to by a judge after already doing irreparable harm to their children.

My little buddy Jason one day asked me if he could sit in my lap while I read to him. I very delicately told him, "No, but you could sit next to me and I will put my arm around you. Would that be good?" He nodded his head. I proceeded to read to him from a first grade reader. After I finished it, he remarked, "I wish you could be my mom. She never reads to me." Jason was a boy just starving for affection.

I occasionally run across parents who want their child tested for more disabilities. That way, they can get more money from Social Security. One mother applied for Social Security Income (SSI) for three of her four children. She went so far as to demand her son to be tested again to find more disabilities. She was not happy when her son did not qualify for more disabilities. The special education cooperative I worked for offered her the opportunity to seek an outside opinion at her own expense. Of course at that point she dropped the whole thing.

On raging teenagers:
In restraining one young man, I made the fatal mistake of holding his wrists from above him. As he was restrained with his back on the floor, I was on my knees above his head looking down on him. I leaned in and my loose knit sweater was right over his mouth. I knew at a moment's notice that I was in real deep trouble. Yes, the young man decided to take a bite out of me.

---

Catalogue Information

---