The document is an autobiographical essay about the author's experience and calling to become a special education teacher. It discusses how she was drawn to special education from a young age after being impressed by a special education teacher in elementary school. It details her educational background and some of her early career experiences working with students with disabilities. The essay emphasizes that teaching, especially in special education, comes naturally to her and that her goal is to make a positive difference in the lives of her students and help give a voice to those without one.

1. ABE 1
Autobiographical Essay
Kristi Young
Tracey Meyerhoeffer
EDUC 201 Foundations of Education
Online, Spring 2011

2. ABE 2
Autobiographical Essay
Have you ever had that smile? You know, the smile that a kid gives you when they have
finally “gotten it” after working so hard for so long? I love that smile. I love that challenge that
goes along with getting to the smile. This world doesn’t often stop long enough to recognize
small achievements that might be huge for someone else. I have been fortunate in this world to
have always had the calling to teach special education. I have seen and strived for that smile
since I was seven years old and have by the grace of God never lost the appreciation for those
small victories.
Unlike many who choose this field of education, I did not receive any special education
services and I don’t have any family members affected by disabilities. I have just been drawn to
it and it seems that the students are drawn to me. I attended school in East Boise which means
that had I access to schools and opportunities that come as a benefit of living in a community
with a higher tax bracket. I went to three different elementary schools; the first two were only for
a year each and are inconsequential to my overall experience. The third school was Riverside
Elementary which I attended 2nd through 6th grade. At the time it was a newly built school and
had the very best to offer in every program. This is important to note because my overall views
of a special educator were shaped by a wonderful special education teacher who inadvertently
impressed upon me some concepts which were considered new at the time. One of these
impressions included mainstreaming which in the early 90s was still pretty new. After
elementary school, I attended East Jr. High for a year and then Les Bois Jr. High and then went
on to graduate with the class of 2003 from Timberline High School.
I honestly was not a great student. I am smart enough to have graduated with honors and I
know this because I used my intelligence to scrape by after neglecting almost every assignment

3. ABE 3
ever given and skipping a few classes. In hindsight, I think it would have been far less work to
have been on the honor roll. I spent all of my spare time in the special education room, at the
time the term was severe/profound but these days the politically correct term would be “self
contained”… whatever that means. For the record I have yet to meet a “self contained” student
who is truly contained within his or her self. It seems that people affected by the profoundest of
disabilities tend to make the biggest splash impacting others.
Professionally I have been serving this population for about 12 years. By professionally, I
mean being on a pay roll and having a supervisor and drawing on my knowledge while accruing
more. This is also known as a job. Aside from working in developmental therapy and as a para-
educator school district, I have worked as a waitress, childcare provider, and in home care
provider; I’m good at these things but they aren’t what I’m best at. Education just comes
naturally to me. It seems like a lot of work (especially paper work) when I think about it, but
when I get in and do it, it comes very naturally.
I always come back to working with children affected by disabilities; even my volunteer
work usually ties into these skills as soon as people find out what I do. I do quite a bit with my
church in children’s ministry and I have volunteered advocating for disability rights as well.
These experiences benefit me personally as well as professionally, in everything that I do I
encounter new people from different points of view and that allows me to expand my views and
keep questioning what I think I know.
In the future,my daily short term goal will be to make a difference in the lives of my
students and help where I can. In the long term, I hope I can make this world a better place for
people with disabilities by helping to teach them to help themselves and to help be a voice for
those who don’t have one.

4. ABE 4
I can’t honestly say what I want to get out of being a teacher or why I want to do it. This
is just what I do, it’s what I have always done, and it’s what I’m always going to do. I have
always been certain and I can’t really back it up with concrete facts or reasons. I don’t need facts
and reasons when my drive is more of a feeling and something for which I seemed to be gifted
with. Seriously; I have tried other things and considered nursing, teaching general education,
going into politics, and even being a business owner, but my fire and the talents are in the special
education arena. This is who I am, and I hope I can keep learning and be an asset in the field.