Creative Resources

I have been a Special Education teacher for nine years in middle and high school. I am currently teaching high school Life Skills, and I love it. The students I've worked with for so long are getting jobs and going to work, which is amazing for me to watch! All my students have a variety of talents and strengths, which means they do best when material is customized to meet their needs. While I love my students and my time with them, I also realize that teaching Special Education is one of the most challenging areas in the education system. Burn-out is high. Resources are low. My hope is that my resources will help make this job easier so that people don't burn out, get frustrated, and leave. ♥ We are stronger together. ♥

I am a visual learner, and find that many of my students are as well. I try to use concrete examples to explain our abstract world. Through my curriculum, I try to present my students with lessons that are at their level, yet looks like a higher level material. There is nothing worse than giving an 10th grader a passage to read with cute little fuzzy bears on it! I believe in protecting the dignity of my students, and that starts with the material I ask them to do. I also believe that when our hands are moving, our brain is learning! Textbooks are a great wealth of knowledge, but not every student can open a page and take that knowledge in. For those students, my unique and "Creative" resources give them an alternative form of learning.

Shining teaching moment? When a student of mine with an IEP in writing won 3rd place in a local writing contest...that was a good day :)

Central Washington University

As well as being a teacher, I am a compulsive creator. I paint, metalsmith, sculpt, etc. Everyone in my family is either an artist or an engineer, so I take a lot of inspiration from them! I love the outdoors, and any type of geology or ornithology. Before becoming a teacher, I traveled to Alaska, worked outdoors for the Forest Service, and owned my own sailboat. I enjoy sharing my own unique perspective with my older students who are about to join the workforce. I myself would love to be an animator for Disney Studios when I grow up. ;)