An experienced special education teacher, newly arrived in an urban school for students with emotional, social and behavioral difficulties, kept a journal spanning the first 95 days at work. Using qualitative content analysis, the field notes were organized by subject areas (work conditions, student behavior, teacher interventions, collaboration with colleagues, work with parents, inter-professional work and school-community relationships, as well as the teacher's reflections) and analyzed with reference to the patterns in them. The results not only provide insights into a challenging educational reality but also provide information for a deeper understanding of student behavior, for the further development of teaching and behavior-related intervention, for supporting the journal-keeping teacher, and for improvement of the overall pedagogical culture of subject school.
About the Author: Already integrated in his studies in the field of educating learners with emotional, social and behavioral difficulties, at University of Cologne, Germany, Dr. Broecher began his work as counselor in summer workshops, e.g., for the HighScope Educational Research Foundation in Michigan, and later as co-director and director of summer programs in Germany, in the fields of gifted education as well as special education or inclusive education. Dr. Broecher then worked in the German school system for 19 years, as teacher in specialized and inclusive school settings, and finally as school principal. During these years he did his habilitation studies and taught classes at the universities of Cologne, Munich, Hamburg, Halle and Gießen. Dr. Broecher was also active in the field of in-service teacher training and school consulting. Since 2008 he served as professor for childhood education at University of Applied Sciences Magdeburg-Stendal, Campus Stendal. Here he built partnerships with Lenoir-Rhyne University North Carolina, Hickory, University of South Carolina Upstate, Spartanburg and Wheelock College Boston. This included an active exchange of students and faculty members. Several transatlantic workshops and field trips, particularly with Lenoir-Rhyne University, have been operated either in North Carolina or in Germany. 2010 Dr. Broecher went to Wheelock College Boston, as International Presidential Visiting Scholar, to do research and discuss the current educational challenges in the field with the colleagues from the United States. Since 2012 Dr. Broecher is professor and head of department at University of Flensburg, Germany, with the focus on the education of learners with emotional, social and behavioral difficulties, in the school context.