I’ve known for a long time that I wanted to be a special education teacher – in high school and undergrad I spent my summers and weekends working in special recreation programs with both children and adults. I taught in special education classrooms in both Lima, Peru and Arusha, Tanzania.
I now work in an elementary school that has 4 classrooms of children with autism. I teach the upper level (grades 5-8) and I am lucky enough to work along side one of my best friends who teaches the primary/intermediate classroom. We co-teach part of our school day and are on constant collaboration mode. Being able to bounce ideas off of someone, get a different perspective on behaviors and students, and make materials together is one of the amazing parts of my job.
I currently have 3 great paraprofessionals in my classroom and 13 awesome students (yes… I said 13!). I have a wide range of skill sets, difficulties, and types of learners included in my group of kids. My classroom is extremely organized (almost OCD like!) and what starts off as organized chaos eventually turns into running like a well-oil machine. At any given moment in my class, each child is working on something different since every student essentially has their own curriculum – so there is always a lot going on!
I have my Masters Degree in Applied Behavior Analysis from the Chicago School of Professional Psychology. I am also a Board Certified Behavior Analyst (BCBA). Every decision in my classroom comes from an ABA perspective and it’s what makes my students successful!
with my little cousins at the pumpkin patch 🙂