As a Special Education and English Learner teacher at my Washington DC school, I have spent a career working with students who find the act of reading to be an exercise in endurance rather than exploration. In my Digital Literacy Academy, I am the lead teacher for students with significant cognitive disabilities, many of whom … Read more
A literacy framework sitting in one classroom helps a handful of kids. The same framework, adapted and tested across different countries and contexts by a community of teachers, has the potential to shift outcomes for multilingual and neurodivergent learners at scale. That’s the vision behind building this out as a global community of practice, not a one-off resource.
As a Special Education and English Learner teacher, I used this lesson with students who struggle with reading comprehension and written expression at my Washington DC school. In my role as the Digital Literacy Academy lead, I often see students who are essentially “information-blind” when they look at a complex page of text. For a … Read more
Sharing resources on Teachers Pay Teachers (TpT) isn’t just a side hustle; it’s a powerful tool for professional advocacy and teacher retention. By putting your specialized SPED and ELL materials into the world, you amplify your impact far beyond your own four walls and help keep fellow educators in the profession. I remember sitting at … Read more
I remember the first time I sat across from a new teacher who was nearly in tears. She had a classroom full of students who were both English Language Learners (ELLs) and had significant cognitive disabilities. She looked at me and said, “I have 50 minutes for English, and I’m spending 40 of them just … Read more
As a Special Education and English Learner teacher, I used this lesson with students who struggle with reading comprehension and written expression at my Washington DC school. For my students—many of whom navigate the world through Individualized Education Programs (IEPs) for significant cognitive disabilities and the added layer of English language acquisition—abstract concepts like “inferencing” … Read more
National Board Certification for Exceptional Needs Specialists isn’t just a fancy title; it’s a grueling, beautiful process that forces you to analyze every single instructional move. By focusing on “clear, consistent, and compelling” evidence of student growth, this journey turns “good” teachers into reflective masters who meet the complex sensory and linguistic needs of every … Read more
I’ll never forget the “Spring Break of 2024.” I spent the entire week huddled in a coffee shop, surrounded by piles of data, trying to write 12 annual IEPs and plan a new vocational unit on office safety. By Wednesday, I was crying into my latte. I loved my students—especially my learners with significant cognitive … Read more
Welcome to the front lines of modern special education. If you’re reading this, you’re likely a few weeks or perhaps a few months into your first year, feeling that familiar mix of passion and “how-am-I-ever-going-to-finish-this-paperwork” dread. I’ve been where you are—standing in a classroom in Washington DC, balancing the needs of students with significant cognitive … Read more
I used this lesson with students who struggle with reading comprehension and written expression, and what I discovered was that for my students, a picture truly is worth a thousand words—especially when those words are embedded in a complex digital manual or a dense informational text. My name is Maria, and my classroom is a … Read more
