My Journey into Special Education and How I’m About to Apply Pressure

It’s funny how life works out. I never intended to be a teacher, even though I would play school every weekend at my grandmother’s house. I named all 15 stuffed animals in my class: Big Bear, Little Bear, Medium Bear, Lady Bop, and the list goes on. I would teach them daily lessons from the workbooks my mother bought for me, assigned them classroom jobs, transitioned them to lunch and recess, and even issued consequences when they were talking during instruction! Ironically, I come from a family of educators, but it was not something I ever truly considered.

Nearing the end of the first semester of my junior year at American University, I realized that I was able to graduate a semester early. While exciting, I instantly started to feel the pressure of finding a job. Randomly, I attended an informational session for Teach for America and learned about a program I could apply to as a junior and possibly secure a full-time role before I finished school. So naturally, this became my plan. Within the next few months, I applied, interviewed, was accepted, interviewed, and received a full-time offer for the following year as an elementary school teacher.

As a first-grade teacher, I started my teaching career at a charter school in Camden, NJ. I was lucky to be paired with a veteran teacher that modeled best teaching practices and worked to develop my teaching style and presence. After completing my Teach for America commitment, I transitioned to another school in Camden, NJ as a second-grade inclusion teacher. Both experiences taught me a lot and truly shaped the educator that I am today. While my first school taught me how to be a great teacher, my second school taught me the value of relationship building and teaching to the whole child. When I decided to relocate to Brooklyn, NY, I sought an opportunity that would allow me to advance my career while also utilizing my learned experience, degrees, and skillset.

I genuinely believe that all teachers are special education teachers … but we will get to that later. However, my move to New York and transition into leadership truly began my journey into understanding special education and how it plays out in charter spaces, specifically for Black and Brown kids. I wouldn’t say I was completely miserable in that position, but one of my closest friends sat in bars with me for the first month of school as I cried hysterically about how stressed, confused, and overworked I was. Regardless, I appreciate the opportunity as it showed me how special education should not be in schools.

Then in 2019, I was afforded the opportunity of a lifetime! I was hired to develop a Special Education Department from scratch at a newly founded charter school in East Flatbush, Brooklyn, NY. Since opening its doors, I have worked to create a Special Education Department at Ivy Hill Prep that responds to the needs of students without concern about its effect on bonuses or bottom lines. Every year, even with COVID, our Special Education Department has improved, increasing the quality and quantity of support provided to students, teachers, and families. Now, in our fourth year of founding, I am excited to start from scratch. We have made the easy decision of reimagining Special Education, in a way that is almost unimaginable, to best support the needs of all our students.

Beginning in SY 2022-2023, Ivy Hill Prep will be transitioning to Specially Designed Instruction (SDI) with Multi-Tiered Support Systems (MTSS) to remove academic, behavioral, and social-emotional barriers for all students. This shift acknowledges the systematic racism that exists within the structures of the American school systems and works to dismantle these systems for the benefit of students. It is important to note that MTSS benefits all students, not just those who qualify for special education, as it is instruction catered to all students’ unique needs to promote growth and achievement.

The shift to SDI and MTSS requires all stakeholders to challenge how we think about, approach, and execute education, especially since school models that have adopted this approach are far and few in between. Over the year, I will blog my journey and transformation of approach to education, modeling vulnerability by sharing previously held notions, setbacks, and successes throughout our implementation and adoption. This will be a transformative journey that will undoubtedly be hard but will significantly impact the students I serve.

Thanks for starting this journey with me. Stay tuned for the official first post that will dive into what Specially Designed Instruction (SDI) and Multi-Tiered Support Systems (MTSS) are.