Meet Melissa: Special education

The most underrated source of graduate student life is the resources that we have, specifically funding. And being a part of the Graduate Student Association (GSA), that has a lot of alignment with that. So the GSA has monthly meetings to where we can bring forward certain issues and where we want to change those policies and receive certain funding. If you go to the GSA website you can learn more about funding. So you can get support financially throughout your dissertation writing or if you need certification. So there's a variety of resources within there that I was unaware of early in my graduate life that I wish I would have applied for early on.

I'm currently teaching SPED 2270: Foundations of Inclusive EL ED. It is geared towards general education teachers and special education teachers pursuing their teaching certification through the State of Michigan. So a lot of that aligns with the Michigan Department of Education's standards and laws put in place and how we can include students with disabilities into the classroom and various strategies that we use.

The reason why I'm pursuing a doctorate in special education is to become a full time professor at the university level. Also for supervision purposes and certain endorsements throughout state standards.

The reason for teaching special education at the university level, specifically at Western, is based upon their teacher education programs. So there's a longstanding history with that, and I want to be part of that community to grow and develop that field as well. A lot of special education strategies can be applied within the general education classroom, and the goal is for more students with disabilities to be spending more time within the general education classroom.

So helping prospective teachers learn certain strategies so that students can be most successful in the classroom is one of my ultimate goals.

In addition to being a part time instructor, I am a graduate ambassador for the Graduate College. Some of those responsibilities within that role is student outreach throughout various departments. So I'll work with prospective and current graduate students on how they are doing academically, socially, and what we can do to advocate for them for certain resources that they're interested. And then getting back to the Graduate Student Association Board and moving forward with policies, procedures to support graduate student overall life.

My favorite part about being a graduate student ambassador is helping new students navigate campus life and the resources.. So when I first came to Western, I was very eerie and didn't know much about the resources that we have and how I can be supported as a graduate student. And it wasn't until my third or fourth year of graduate study that I learned about these resources and I wish I would have known sooner so I could have been supported early on and had more success throughout my program.

People should choose Western Michigan University for special education because we have amazing professors that are here to support the students various needs throughout the program. We have amazing professors within the program who are also behavior analysis too. So incorporating those two departments to blend into one another is very effective for teaching strategies, not only within the special education classroom, but within the general education classroom.