So. Here we are. I'm so glad you've found this little spot. We've got so much to talk about.
A couple of things to know about me. First of all, I'm a special educator. That really comes first of all for me. It's at the center of how I see the world, how I teach, how I learn about teaching, how I see problems, and how I seek to solve them. My whole teaching journey has been guided by students with special needs, starting with a transformative year of service with high school students with emotional and behavioral needs, then continuing with work as a paraprofessional for a student on the autism spectrum, and later graduate work at Teachers College in intellectual disabilities and autism. All of that landed me where I am now, which is starting my eleventh year as a classroom teacher, in my self-contained, multiple-disabilities, elementary class, the place most of my work and most of my learning has taken place. I love the small humans in my care, and I love the community we create together. They are at the heart of everything I do. Most of my students struggle with language, communication, and learning in a variety of ways, and they are working well below grade level. Also? Most of my students are avid readers and enthusiastic writers, and cultivating their love of literacy is such a joy for me.
Which brings me to second of all. Second of all, while as an elementary classroom teacher I teach (and have fun with) all content areas, literacy is my first and my greatest love. As a child, I always had my nose in a book. As an undergrad, I chose to major in English because then they let you read and write all the time. I've always journalled, and written for myself. Over the past several years, my district has transitioned to following the reading and writing workshop model along with guided reading, and the focus on this and the professional development I've had in the process has allowed me to immerse myself more deeply in teaching literacy. This is where the "library" in my title comes from, because the focus of my writing here is going to be on literacy instruction, writing processes and writing projects, and books, books, and more books. Libraries are among my favorite places in the world. So much magic happens there!
Magic seems like a good way to lead into third of all. Because third of all is where this work diverges from just special education, and from just literacy, and travels into the liberatory part of my title, and there's a lot of juice in there. Recently I was introduced to the work that Paulo Freire and bell hooks have done on the liberatory nature of education. Freire wrote Pedagogy of the Oppressed, and in it talks about teaching as a political, revolutionary act. Education is never neutral, he says. bell hooks wrote Teaching to Transgress: Education as the Practice of Freedom, and just the title alone completely blows my mind. Let me repeat it: Education as the Practice of Freedom. These ideas were new to me, and I couldn't believe that people are writing and talking about them, but at the same time, they resonated so deeply with where my teaching mind and heart have been. For a few years now I've been on a journey to discover, read, and share diverse books, and I've been committed to filling our class library with books in which my students can see themselves and each other. And while since my service year I've understood teaching to be a form of social justice work, something new switched on in me when I woke up on Wednesday, November 9th, 2016, and had to find a way to be what my kids needed in a world that felt, simply, impossible. What I found in my heart was a simple message: love more loudly. Every day since, that's what I've tried to do. I've been cultivating thoughts and practices as an educator that center around this idea, and more specifically, the idea of using literacy instruction in my special education classroom as a tool for liberation. Education as the practice of freedom. The Liberatory Library.
To be completely honest, I started on this path for myself, and for my kids. My friend tells me, to save the world, save yourself. I'm trying to find what I need, what my kids need. Because in the face of a huge world in need, in many ways the biggest difference I can make is in the lives of the small, beautiful humans in my classroom, and I need to give them absolutely all I have. I'm entrusted with teaching kids with disabilities. I'm entrusted to teach kids who are learning English. I'm entrusted to teach kids who are immigrants. I'm entrusted to teach kids of color. I want to engage deeply and intentionally in our learning community, and in all of these intersections of who we are. I can't do it alone, though, and I can't find too much about it already out in the world, so here I am. Let's dive in together.
A couple of things to know about me. First of all, I'm a special educator. That really comes first of all for me. It's at the center of how I see the world, how I teach, how I learn about teaching, how I see problems, and how I seek to solve them. My whole teaching journey has been guided by students with special needs, starting with a transformative year of service with high school students with emotional and behavioral needs, then continuing with work as a paraprofessional for a student on the autism spectrum, and later graduate work at Teachers College in intellectual disabilities and autism. All of that landed me where I am now, which is starting my eleventh year as a classroom teacher, in my self-contained, multiple-disabilities, elementary class, the place most of my work and most of my learning has taken place. I love the small humans in my care, and I love the community we create together. They are at the heart of everything I do. Most of my students struggle with language, communication, and learning in a variety of ways, and they are working well below grade level. Also? Most of my students are avid readers and enthusiastic writers, and cultivating their love of literacy is such a joy for me.
Which brings me to second of all. Second of all, while as an elementary classroom teacher I teach (and have fun with) all content areas, literacy is my first and my greatest love. As a child, I always had my nose in a book. As an undergrad, I chose to major in English because then they let you read and write all the time. I've always journalled, and written for myself. Over the past several years, my district has transitioned to following the reading and writing workshop model along with guided reading, and the focus on this and the professional development I've had in the process has allowed me to immerse myself more deeply in teaching literacy. This is where the "library" in my title comes from, because the focus of my writing here is going to be on literacy instruction, writing processes and writing projects, and books, books, and more books. Libraries are among my favorite places in the world. So much magic happens there!
Magic seems like a good way to lead into third of all. Because third of all is where this work diverges from just special education, and from just literacy, and travels into the liberatory part of my title, and there's a lot of juice in there. Recently I was introduced to the work that Paulo Freire and bell hooks have done on the liberatory nature of education. Freire wrote Pedagogy of the Oppressed, and in it talks about teaching as a political, revolutionary act. Education is never neutral, he says. bell hooks wrote Teaching to Transgress: Education as the Practice of Freedom, and just the title alone completely blows my mind. Let me repeat it: Education as the Practice of Freedom. These ideas were new to me, and I couldn't believe that people are writing and talking about them, but at the same time, they resonated so deeply with where my teaching mind and heart have been. For a few years now I've been on a journey to discover, read, and share diverse books, and I've been committed to filling our class library with books in which my students can see themselves and each other. And while since my service year I've understood teaching to be a form of social justice work, something new switched on in me when I woke up on Wednesday, November 9th, 2016, and had to find a way to be what my kids needed in a world that felt, simply, impossible. What I found in my heart was a simple message: love more loudly. Every day since, that's what I've tried to do. I've been cultivating thoughts and practices as an educator that center around this idea, and more specifically, the idea of using literacy instruction in my special education classroom as a tool for liberation. Education as the practice of freedom. The Liberatory Library.
To be completely honest, I started on this path for myself, and for my kids. My friend tells me, to save the world, save yourself. I'm trying to find what I need, what my kids need. Because in the face of a huge world in need, in many ways the biggest difference I can make is in the lives of the small, beautiful humans in my classroom, and I need to give them absolutely all I have. I'm entrusted with teaching kids with disabilities. I'm entrusted to teach kids who are learning English. I'm entrusted to teach kids who are immigrants. I'm entrusted to teach kids of color. I want to engage deeply and intentionally in our learning community, and in all of these intersections of who we are. I can't do it alone, though, and I can't find too much about it already out in the world, so here I am. Let's dive in together.