Teacher Extraordinaire

Teacher extraordinaire!  This is why I fought (and won) for Phoenix to stay in school for at least another year.  Phoenix developmentally is at about an eighteen month level but with almost nineteen years experience.  She is loads of fun to be with and definitely everyone at school loves her.

This teacher seems to get what I have been saying for years about teaching severely cognitively delayed students and that is you can make the curriculum or in some cases have a curriculum that offers a higher degree of language but keeps the tasks developmentally appropriate.  An example would be say talking about the heart.  You could talk about where it is in the body, that it is the colour red, has four chambers etc etc.  You could then have puzzles and crafts that correlate but are achievable by the student i.e. four piece puzzle referencing the four chambers.  A creative teacher (of which I am definitely not!) could come up with any number of ways to engage the students if only taking the time.

The teacher Phoenix has had for the last two years and will be blessed with again this year is new to special education I heard.  You would never know it.  She has a lovely demeanour yet high expectations of her students.  It used to make me laugh and sort of still does when I would get notes home saying that due to Phoenix pulling hair or other infractions she had to have a conversation with her about essentially knocking it off.  I would think to myself "good luck lady!" but Phoenix really has risen to the occasion and whether it be due to these conversations or the teacher's persistence I don't know.  Two years though of a great teacher and support staff have made a big difference to Phoenix's school day.

This was the second year that the classroom hosted an art show.  The staff set out all the kids best work, framed meaningful photos and served refreshments.  The kids were to come in dressed up and families were invited to come.  The other staff and students of the school also visited the class.  I have enjoyed it both times and look forward to next year.

Journey is hands down Phoenix's favourite person in the world (can I say...hurtful!)

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she will run me over to get to Journey, which by the way she did here

Does enjoy pictures of herself and the friends are ok too

Teacher Extraordinaire