As a teacher in a low-income/high poverty middle school, my students are faced with several challenges both in and out of the classroom. My students are enrolled in Special Education and their disabilities range from Learning Disabled, Autism, Dyslexia, Emotional Disturbance, Intellectually Disabled, ADD/ADHD, and others. Our school is a Title I school with over half of the population receiving free or reduced-price lunches. My students are forced to live with vast hardships, such as homelessness, disabilities, neglect, and more. Most times the only meals they get are the ones at school, and the only friendly adults they have in their life are their teachers. 95% of my students were affected by Hurricane Harvey, and are still dealing with the aftermath of that devastating storm. I strive each and every day to give my students some stability, trust, and warmth in their life. My wish for them is to have a chance at becoming whatever they want to or dream of.
I am a firm believer in keeping the focus on what's really important: the students, because they are creative, spontaneous, and love lots of genuine attention, therefore, they deserve a positive learning experience.
My Project
My Special Education students will use Storybooks such as "Hidden Figures", "I Am Enough" and more to engage them in stories with creative characters who are all striving to achieve dreams while dealing with real-life issues like human rights, bullying, and other obstacles that kids and adults deal with every single day. While reading these stories, students will follow up comprehension by completing STEAM challenges. STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, Math) is a Reading/Language Arts program leveraging the benefits associated with STEM with the accessibility of visual arts, poetry, music, and drama. This interdisciplinary, comprehensive program utilizes picture books and novels as read alouds, guided reading materials, or as shared reading instruction. The program merges the topics of each book with STEAM challenges, additional Makerspace opportunities, and also provides a matching digital component to coordinate with my flipped classroom. By implementing "Stories--Full STEAM Ahead!" into my classroom, my goal is to foster a lifelong love of learning, providing students the opportunity to progress academically through an engaging, hands-on approach.
More than a third of students from low‑income households
Data about students' economic need comes from the National Center for Education Statistics, via our partners at MDR Education. Learn more
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