Katherine Breen

I holder master degrees in both elementary and special education and have worked in classes from K-5 over the past few years. Most recently, I have taught 4th grade in an inclusion classroom as the special education teacher for 3 years. Every year is different and while I have the district curriculum to guide my lessons, I often create supplemental materials to better my instruction and make sure to reach each child. I have worked as a behavior therapist with students on the autism spectrum, and have a bachelors degree in psychology.

For my students, I make sure to hold ALL students to high expectations. While students academic knowledge and the level may vary, I make sure every student in the classroom is able to access the material and curriculum. Sometimes this looks like small group work, sometimes it means stations, sometimes it means providing support or organizers for students to use. My biggest philosophy is that students should love school and it should be a happy and comfortable place for them to be. This starts with creating the classroom community. I believe students should be confident taking risks, knowing its okay to fail, and that ALL students should be held to high expectations. Sometimes this means "less is more". Often times we try providing students with so many supports to help them, and it ends up making them dependent on the extra support. I align my products to common core standards (of Massachusetts).

I hold a BA in psychology, a Masters of Moderate Disabilities K-8, and a Masters of Elementary Education 1-6 from Lesley University in Cambridge.