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I work best on my academic assignments at night. My daily routine is work, dinner, nap, then work on my assignments. The environment that helps me study best is in a space where no one will talk to me. I am able to work with music and the television on and people around. If I need help, I usually ask my husband but sometimes my 18 year old son and 15 year old daughter are able to help me. It is rare if I ask for assistance from my colleagues. School work doesn't cause my family stress. It causes me stress but I don't let it affect my family. I can use my experiences as a parent and a student to better assist my families with disabilities by providing examples. I tend to connect better with people when I have a similar experience and we talk about it. Also, I am more understanding of the situations that families may have.

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Social and Emotional Support: When I am seeking support I turn to my husband and my therapist. I know my therapist understand my experiences because she has other clients that are teachers and they are trained. My husband doesn't always understand my experiences but he is supportive of me anyway. I had a student that was being bullied and I was able to support her emotionally because  I also was bullied over the same thing. I told her to ignore them because I managed to overcome the odds and so can she.
Information: When I was a young mother of two I needed assistance with taking care of them. I was able to get the support I need by talking to other parents and then looking information up on the internet. No I don't consider myself familiar with resources that parents of children with disabilities may need. I can strengthen my knowledge by talking to other professions, searching the internet, and talking to families who already receive support.
Economic Support: I don't for see myself having any trouble talking about families entitlements. These families have entitlements because they are needed and should receive them. Once I learn the system and loop holes I will gladly assist the families to ensure they have what they need to function happily.
Violence Prevention: I feel that the student has been mistreated at home would cause me emotional pain. I would feel terrible for the child. If my feelings detract me from supporting the family. I would ask for assistance from another professional to step in and guide me.

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One professional I did not trust was my assistant principal from a prior school. This person lost my trust because she kept contradicting what the principal would tell me. She would expect more from me than a 1st year teacher could accomplish on her own. This lady would correct me in front of my students and would even give me mixed directions. No matter what I did I could't do the right thing. One professional who I trusted and would follow her directions to the tee is someone who is my current dean. She is a previous math teacher so she is a wealth of knowledge. She has never given me bad advice. A couple of times I wasn't sure what she was describing so she modeled for me.
The factors that I learned was to always model what is expected. To always be honest and if I don't know something to admit it and get back to them in a reasonable time. Always be friendly even when delivering bad news.

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Communication: I listen better with students that are interesting and talk clear. I have trouble listening to students who ramble on without a point and those so mumble. My reflections tell me that in-order to improve my listening skills I need to help guide the story teller.
Professional Competence: Amputees cause me a great sense of pity for those people. The source of the pity is thinking how awful it would be to not have a leg or arm. I could transform this sense of pity to set high expectations for their future by letting them know that their disability doesn't define them and to learn other ways to get the job down.
Respect: A person that doesn't have many strengths is this boy who doesn't have any friends, but hovers over others in the hopes that he can be included. He is not great at his work but he believes that he is excelling in his assignments. No matter how many challenges this person faces his strength is that he never gives up. He puts himself out there and keeps trying to be included with his peers and he is always trying his best on his assignments.
Commitment: If I needed to get together with a family and their only available time conflicts with my time with family/friends then I would create a win--win situation. I will inform my friends/family that I will be running late and I will meet with the family on their time.
Equality: I was having trouble with two of my students who were very low and I asked my assistant principle how to better handle them. She provided me with a complex set of advice and made me feel dumb that I didn't understand what she wanted me to do. I lost trust in that persons advice because I couldn't relate with that person. The implication this situation caused me in developing my professional skills is that I became wary of asking for help.
Advocacy: For the most part I am a loner but if I am really struggling, then I will seek assistance from others. My own comfort as a team member affects my tendency to broaden alliances because I am very shy and I don't want to be judge as incompetent. After I get to know my team members then I open up and become a contributing member of the group.

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Communication: I like to talk on the phone to my students parents for both positive and negative news. I also email parents a copy of what is being added to the students behavior list.
Competence: I am certified to teach in Michigan. I am currently going to college to become more educated. I also have a subscription to ASCD and read their educational books.
Commitment: I want all of my students to achieve and I have stayed after school to tutor my students without pay. I also talk with the students to let them know that I care and that I believe in them. Advocacy: I plan on protecting my students if I notice that they are not getting the proper education or being treated fairly.
Equality: I try my best to treat all my students equally. I know that my students are different and fair isn't equal, I do not separate my students by achievement, gender, or behavior.
Respect: I treat all my students with respect. I will not talk down to them and I always use facts not opinions. I listen to my students to what they have to say. I make eye contact while talking. I always welcome each student while they enter my classroom.

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The ways that I enter the partnerships with parents is that I am a state certified teacher, that makes me highly qualified to teach. The parents are always given the most recent IEP and we make sure that the parents fully understand what is expected of the child at school and at home. I haven't had any problems with a parent but I do know that if there is a disagreement then the parent or the school can mitigate to try to solve the problem. If an agreement cannot be made, then it will be taken to court.

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Affection: As a family we had a love had relationship. We loved each other and would protect each other but at the same time we hated to be around each other for long periods of time. As we became adults we learned to love each other again. Now when we do spend time together it is memorable.
Spirituality: My whole family was raised Catholic. My siblings and I went to a catholic school called Holy Innocence during our elementary years. We each had our communion but we never finished our Catholic training. Now none of us goes to church and practice any sort of religion. When my children were in elementary school I had them in catechism every Monday evening. They to received their communion but never finished their training.
Daily care: As far back as I can remember, I have always taken care of my daily care. My mom never enforced personal hygiene. As I became older I learned about personal hygiene and ensured that I was clean and my clothes were washed.
Education: Mom had many degrees in secondary education. She kept being pressured by her boss to continue her education so she did. My father never went to secondary education but he was in the services and became a cop so I suppose that he had learned a trade. My brother dropped out of high school, my sister has some college education, and I have a bachelors. Both of my children are currently in high school and they have the same dream to first get their associates and then join the Air Force.

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I am 35 years old. I have grown up camping and now I camp with my family. I have loved my mother and called her at least once a day until she died six years ago. I am now the oldest person in my bloodline. I currently have two wonderful children, Daniel 18 years old and Amariyah 15 years old. This June I will be married for 18 years. This is my third year teaching middle school mathematics.

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I am the youngest of thee children. I should have been an only child but my parents adopted my older brother and sister. My sister and I are only nine months apart. For the longest time we were like best friends. Once my siblings learned about their adoption they became very close and left me out. I learned many things from watching my siblings. I learned to play with fire, climb and jump off of roofs, jump off of a bridge, and to bully. The good things I learned was to love astronomy, cook, wash my clothes, and to be careful choosing my sex partner. By my own personal experience I had a learning disability. When we were younger I didn't verbally talk. I used body language and pointing to get my needs and wants. My siblings were too helpful to the point that they hindered my development of speaking until they were told to stop. When I was in elementary school my siblings rarely helped me with my homework. In fact they used my disability against me. I was bullied by them and their friends through all of my school life. They even treated me like a second class citizen as an adult until I earned my Bachelor's degree. Now they treat me with respect and they are finally proud of my accomplishments.

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I think the only two stressful situations is when my father died and when I became a teenage parent. I was too young to remember how my family adapted when my father died. When I became a teenage mother, my whole world changed. I was able to take my baby to school with me in a program called continuing education for young mothers (CEYM). Each Monday I would receive a packet of work to be completed by Friday. While I worked on my school work I was still responsible for my son. I would feed him, change his diaper, and comfort him when needed. Many times I would take my school work home with me to ensure I finished it in time. What helped my new family become successful was that all the grandparents helped us out. They would babysit for us when needed. They even helped purchase food and clothing for us. My own experience with struggling with financial problems helps me relate with my student's families because I personally have experienced being part of the working poor society. I know that there are programs available for the working poor. Unfortunately, there are more programs to help single mothers than there are for married couples.

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When I was very young, my family was extremely close up until my father died in the line of duty. I was only five and by brother thought that he was now the man of the house even though he was only nine years old. This thought process caused use to become distant. My mother had to work a full time job and to keep her job she had to continue her education. We rarely saw her and we scattered. Meaning that we drifted apart. Each one of us became friends with different families and we would always be with the other family, like a surrogate family since my mom was only home long enough to sleep. As we grew older we spent more time at home but as my mom used to say "We are more like roommates than a family". Even though we were staying home more we didn't interact with each other. This continued as we grew up into adulthood and created our own families. We would only see each other during the holidays because that was what mom wanted. After mom died we started to see each other during every other holiday. Now after several years we might text each other once in a blue moon. During this scattering of our family bonds we let the streets raise us and we became to take care of ourselves at a very young age. we cooked for our selves, washed our own laundry, and kept the dishes clean. By the time I was 16 I had a job of my own and I moved into an apartment with my soon to be husband. My mother never tired to prevent me from moving out. One night I walked into her room and told her I am moving out. I gathered my belongings and left. She didn't even see me off. Later I learned that she didn't do anything because she believed that if she tried to prevent me from leaving then I would still leave and never see her again. I am pretty stubborn and she could have been correct.

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One special challenge that comes to mind is when my son, Daniel was a toddler he started getting night terrors. We went to the pediatrician and the doctor said that there was nothing wrong with him. Usually I would never doubt a doctor but I knew something was wrong. Thankfully we had the internet. After a couple of days during research we discovered what it was. We learned that the only way to get rid of night terrors was to create a routine before going to bed. This nightly routine worked. It not only stopped my son from having anymore night terrors but it helped the whole family. Our routine was to have a small snack, take a bath and then watch television for about a half hour to an hour. After the television show was over we both tucked in Daniel. We continued this routine even when we had our second child, Amariyah. https://www.webmd.com/sleep-disorders/night-terrors#1

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The most life management skills that I use is reframing, and social support. I use these two skills the most because no one wants to be around someone who is always negative.Using reframing keeps me in a positive mood. I thrive on positive comments and support, that is why social skills is important to me.
The life management skill that I use the least is spiritual and/or religious support. I am not a religious person. I do believe in a higher power but not in a specific religion.

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My Father was whole Belgium, my mother was half French. That means that I am European American. Both of my parents were the only child. I was raised as a catholic. We celebrated the three main holidays (Easter, Thanksgiving, and Christmas). My food was not limited or expected to eat certain foods. I had a regular American diet of fast food and junk food. It was rare when my mom made dinner. My mom raised me and my two siblings alone and refused to seek any type of assistance. The advice that I was repeatedly told was about manners. As a middle class family I was brought up to be polite and well groomed.