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My name is Julie Davalla.
I am a intervention specialist.
My name is Nicole Ward.
I'm an intervention specialist
at Milford
Junior High School.
The title
of intervention specialist
can be a very broad title.
I do everything
from helping plan lessons
with general education teachers
to meeting the day-to-day
needs of students
on individualized education
programs or IEPs.
Can someone give me an idiom
that we've talked about
this week?
Which number is bigger,
ten or one?
Ten.
Ten, yeah, good job.
(Davalla)
My classroom handles
multiple disabilities.
What colors
can apples be?
Red.
Or...
Yellow.
I have four students
and four classroom aides,
so throughout the day,
I have students in my classroom
for English,
language arts, and math,
and some for social studies
and science.
As a junior high MD teacher,
I start getting them ready
for a job in the real world.
It's a mixture
of the academic
and transitioning
to a job eventually.
Perfect.
Students I work with are in
the general education classroom.
They're not pulled out.
We saw some good ones.
Who wants to share one?
(Ward)
My students have specific
learning disabilities
in reading, writing, or math,
and so I am in
a co-teaching position
with several teachers.
My role
is to take the lessons
and the curriculum
on the plan
and provide
differentiated instruction
to meet the needs
of each student.
Sometimes we do that
through special grouping
or taking a worksheet
and turning it into
a game or activity,
providing assessments
for students to make sure
they are learning what they're
supposed to be learning.
From a very early age,
I've been exposed
to teaching and working
with kids.
I've always enjoyed that.
We need to color
how many?
I received my undergraduate in
special education from Xavier
and got my master's degree
in special education as well.
Advice that I give to someone
looking to get into education,
and especially
special education,
would be to immerse yourself
in your community.
All throughout high school
and throughout college,
I did lots of different types
of service projects,
working from anything from
the Boys and Girls Club
to Habitat for Humanity,
Stepping Stones,
and things like that.
I just think
that surrounding yourself
with as much experience
working with people
that are different than you
really helps build
that understanding
and tolerance for other people
and accepting other people.
Also, within your school,
depending on the grade level,
seek out opportunities,
if you have a free period.
"Can I be a mentor
or tutor?
What extracurricular groups
can I help with?"
Maybe some sort of leadership
roles within the school,
working with
maybe some administrators,
some teachers and peers.
There are many hats
you juggle as an educator,
so look at
that side of it.
Four, five.
Sometimes there is a gap
between where the students
that don't have special needs,
or they're not on an IEP,
a gap from
where they're achieving
and a gap from where students
with special needs achieve.
The beauty of co-teaching
is that I can take
the curriculum and lesson plan
and tweak it in a way that
I can meet all their needs.
Students all have been assigned
a one-on-one classroom aide.
I rely on them heavily
to make sure
the students are getting
the services they need
and having the best day
they can.
That's a huge part,
collaborating with them.
We have conversations
throughout the day.
"This is what's going on.
This is what we'll do."
They do a fantastic job
of helping out.
Seeing students grow
academically is wonderful,
from the beginning
of the year until now.
We're wrapping up
the year,
and you hear from
parents and students,
"I didn't think
I could do this,"
or "I'm excited my student
has come so far."
Those are the things I like
about coming to my job.
There's no day
that's the same as before.
I'm an educator
with the philosophy
that the content
is the content.
You can teach it
as much as you can,
but a true educator
is an educator of a child.
There's more than
what's in the books.
Ready, go!
(Ward)
I always tell my kids,
"I'm here to teach you,
but you're also here
to teach me."
The day I stop wanting to learn
is the day I should retire.
I believe that there's still
so much to learn as an educator,
and it's exciting
to learn new things
and implement them
in the classroom
and then see students
respond to them.
It really encourages me,
and it keeps my job fresh.
No two days are ever the same,
and that's what I love about it.
It really makes me look forward
to coming to work every day.
Funding to purchase and make
this educational production
accessible was provided by the
U.S. Department of Education:
PH: 1-800-USA-LEARN (V)
or WEB: www.ed.gov.
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