My Supports

It was so funny and interesting to see the faces of my teammates as I asked them if I could take a picture of them, explaining why I needed to and if they were okay with it. They were all so very helpful, as always. I have worked in various settings, from licensed family child care, child care ministry, child care centers, home visitor and now public school. I really love the public school setting for the reasons that deal with supports. In the other settings mentioned, I nor my colleagues had access to the supports that could aid us in the identification of a student with special needs, one in need of a behavioral plan, language impairment or support for dual language learners. When I reflect back on some of the tougher times when a child and their families could have benefited from their services, it makes me sad. Sad not only because the children and their families could have been had an opportunity to have access to services that could have made a positive change for them and their child, but because of the greed that was seen from the administration and leadership to not hire supports for the facilities to better retain and encourage families in need of these types of services.

My daily interactions with this preschool in Warren Township began in July 2015. That first year, I had one student that I helped to identify had special needs, and another that was considered socially inept. I had three students that were ELL and two that received speech services. Though I had been in the field for 18 years at that time, I was a little overwhelmed with so many varying “needs” in my room, until I realized the supports I was going to have access to. I do remember from having my own family child care go through the national accreditation process through the NAFCC, that ensuring ALL children were successful was a top goal. I knew in my room that I needed to have the children’s work at their eye level, and that if I had children in my care with another language to encourage the use of their native language as much as I could. I also needed to use a visual schedule, make adaptations for lessons and have a clutter free environment. I had begun posting phrases in Spanish around the room so that I could easily know what to say and asked for assistance if I didn’t know how. I was sure that if I was retained for another year, I would want to make some changes.

This school year, I was told that a young lady who worked for the school before, who was from Mexico, fluent in English and Spanish, was going to be working for the school again. I begged and pleaded to have her as my Instructional Assistant because I wanted a diverse team for the students, especially once I found out that I had nine ELL students, six of which would need extra language supports. I was granted my request and it has been a Godsend! Karina helps me to reach out even more to my dual language families than I ever was able to last year. This year I also have three students with speech/language delays and one student with special needs, who I had last year. Below are the pictures of my daily supports, the people and the instruments used to help me and the children and families in my care.

I will go in order from left to right, then top to bottom. Cathy and Erika are our School Psychologist and our Speech and Language Pathologist. Cathy has the energy and the loving spirit of 300 children and Erika prides herself on the knowledge of her field. Dawn and Dulce are our Front Office Administrative Assistants. Dawn ensures our scholars are safe conducting our drills, managing the students that are on vouchers, and our wrap around child care services for before and after school care. Dulce manages the registration process for new students, translates for our Spanish speaking families, and steps into the classrooms for us whenever needed. She was a true resource for me my first year there. Melanie is our Occupational/Physical Therapist and not only assists with my student with special needs, but provides me social stories for any of the students I need and visuals to make individualized schedules for other children that may need the support. Nurse Roz and Erin have both been with our facility for a very long time and take care of me mentally and my scholars physically. Erin is the assigned Special Education Teacher for my student, but also the team lead for the other two Special Education Teachers, our resource program and our PBIS teams. The only male on our team is our Principal, Chris. He hired me as the only teacher without a teaching license and only an A.A.S. in Early Childhood Education. I am also the first Black teacher that the school had hired. Since, he has become my mentor through my B.S. in Child Development and now my M.S. in Early Childhood Studies, allowing me to mentor the new teachers and the Extended Learning Staff. He has pushed me to continue to be myself and learn to grow using previous trials and tribulations. The last four pictures are just some of the supports that I have put in place in my classroom to support ALL learners. Walden and its courses have allowed me to grow and share what I learn in so many ways, not just in my classroom, but with my colleagues as well. I am blessed to have all of them. 🙂