Amanda HoffmanSpecial Education
1994
I loved the friendships I made. I enjoyed my Teacher’s College professors. I had a lot of fun on football weekends. I enjoyed the sisterhood of my sorority.
I’ve been teaching in the area of special education ever since graduated. I’ve switched between grades and abilities throughout the years. I’ve been in my current, and definitely my most fulfilling and enjoyable position for the past ten years. I teach at a high school in Florida teaching students with intellectual disabilities and ASD.
I had wonderful student teaching opportunities through UNL. I feel the professors really cared about my future and making sure I was prepared for teaching.
Teaching involves a lot more than actual teaching. You will be a mother, a counselor, a shoulder to cry on. You will come to love students like your own and will experience heartbreak when situations arise that you have no control over. You’ll need to be able to roll with the tide when educational policies change throughout the years. You’ll experience the political side of education and you’ll need to advocate for what is important to you as a teacher, employee, and student advocate. You have to love what you’re doing because you certainly won’t get paid much and you often won’t feel respected. However, I can’t imagine doing anything else. I feel I’ve made an impact on my students, particularly this population who enters the workforce straight out of high school.
