Bronco Spotlight: Jamie Daily

Bachelor of Science, special education, 2017

Special Education Teacher at Battle Creek Public Schools

I am a lower elementary special education teacher. I work with student’s kindergarten- 3rd grade. I work in a resource room with students with a variety of disabilities such as ADHD, specific learning disabilities, and autism. With my students, we work on reading, writing, and mathematics. In my school, we do both push in and pull out which means I either go into my student's classroom and work with them or I pull them in small groups.

What is the most rewarding and the most challenging part of your job?

The most rewarding part of my job is seeing the students grow over the course of the year and how excited they get when they met their goal. The most challenging part of my job is the amount of paperwork that I have to do which ends up getting done on my own time outside of school hours.

If you had a campus job or internship, how did they impact your career development?

Doing an internship within your field is the best way to get real-life experience. There is only so much you can learn in a college classroom from a book. By doing an internship, you see firsthand what the job truly looks like and you get to practice your skills before you get the real job. Doing an internship really showed me that I was on the right path for my career.

What advice do you have for others pursuing a career similar to yours?

Get into the classroom as soon as possible. Job shadow, talk to teachers, or volunteer in a classroom. Anything you can do to get real-life experience. Consider becoming a substitute teacher in a district near you. The sooner you get into the classroom, the better prepared you will be for the future. 

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