High School Special Ed: Elissa

Today on the blog I have a high school Sped teacher, Elissa! I found her on Instagram under Charleysclassroom. I particularly love her charts and data resources she uses and shares with everyone. Elissa offers a vast majority of mini charts that I think could help any student regardless of placement in school so I knew I had to interview her.

Here is Elissa’s interview:

1. What did you want to be when you were growing up?

Growing up I wanted to be a teacher like my mom, but then all through high school I had plans on becoming an interior designer. My parents had even bought me programs for the computer that let me design rooms, and I quickly became obsessed with HGTV - haha. I'm not 100% sure what made me change my mind, but here I am. 

2. Is there a moment that sticks out to you that you remember from school with a teacher you had growing up (can be good, bad, or both)?

There's a few. I went to a small Catholic school for grades K - 8, so each year I only had one classroom teacher. My fourth grade teacher really made his students feel cared about. He made me love going to school. I can remember at the end of the school year he gave me an old teacher's manual to take home and play "school" with. My eighth grade teacher really made learning fun. I can remember every little project we ever did that year. It made me realize how much of a hands on learner I was. I spent my high school years in a public high school. I had A LOT of great teachers there, too. However, I can remember one bad experience. My tenth grade year I had a teacher that I felt like just didn't like me. Students CAN tell when they aren't liked. More than once she reported me to the office for random things I didn't do. It was such a weird experience.  I remember my mom and the principals not understanding what was going on. Looking back I still don't understand it at all, but I know I never want to make a student feel like I felt. 

3. How long have you been teaching, what state do you teach in, what do you teach, and what did it take for you to get there (I'm learning every state,country, and teaching position can be different so I'm adding this question in lately for others to see how different places and positions have different requirements that can vary)?

This year will be my 14th year as a classroom teacher. I currently teach high school special education in Pennsylvania. Prior to teaching high school, I also taught elementary and middle school special education. I graduated from college in 2007 with degrees in both Elementary Education K-6 and Education of Exceptional Persons N-12. In 2009 I became certified in middle school math and ELA (I began co-teaching and it was required). I'm almost positive PA has changed their requirements since I've graduated though.

 4. What is your go-to tool you use in the classroom and why?

This is a hard one - haha. I think the tools I've been using the most on a daily basis would be - mini anchor charts, a timer/stopwatch, and Google Classroom. 

5. What is something you wish a general ed. teacher knew about special ed?

That we do A LOT of "behind the scenes" work. Our class sizes might be smaller than yours, but the amount of paperwork we do for each student is sometimes hours long. I luckily work with general ed. teachers who are understanding of all that we do. 

6. I love your instagram and saw all of the awesome links you have. How do you balance work and teachergram stuff?

Thanks! I didn't start a teachergram (or TPT) to be my job, or take the place of my job. I did it for fun and to share my experiences, ideas, and resources with other teachers. My teaching job always comes first and when I have time I work on the teachergram part. It's not something I stress about.

 7. Any advice for a new teacher?

My mother taught special education for 36 years before retiring. I always share her advice that she gave me...As a new teacher (and as a veteran teacher) you will have really great days and really bad days. Teaching is hard, mistakes will happen. Don't be afraid to ask another teacher for help. Your lessons don't have to be perfect to make a difference. Remember, you are only one person. It's okay to leave work at work. 

8. What is your district's plan for going back to school in the fall?

A hybrid model - we will have one group of students on Mondays and Tuesdays, they will clean the building Wednesdays, and then another group of students on Thursdays and Fridays. When students aren't in school they will be doing online learning. 

9. A lot of people have been saying they hope things start to change in education since this Pandemic, do you think anything will change from it?

I'm not sure. Like most, I hope state testing goes out the window. I think we have proven that we can survive without it. 

10. Last but not least, where do you see yourself in ten years?

Oh yikes! I honestly have no idea - haha. Probably still teaching in some form? I always thought it might be fun to teach students at the college level how to teach. 

Thanks for the interview Elissa!

Happy Teaching :)