Exercise Professional Discretion And Increase Your Autonomy as a Special Ed Teacher

In bureaucracies, authority is "commonly expressed in rules, job descriptions, and work schedules" (Pines & Aronson, 1988, p. 109). Often the environment seems inflexible at first glance, but in reality the rules are frequently general and open to interpretation. Thus, evaluate each aspect of your job and determine changes to improve your environment that you can reasonably make. Focus your energy on those changes, and leave behind changes that are not within your control. Focusing on "the possible" increases your sense of power and control.