Key points:
- Being a successful teacher is about more than academics--you must understand students' unique struggles
- Students thrive when they see educators who look like them, especially when that educator radiates positivity, perseverance, and respect
- See related article: ISTELive, Abbott Elementary, and a push for Black educator representation
As a teacher at High Road School of Delaware, an individualized special education program aimed at strengthening each student’s academic, social and emotional abilities, job skills, and self-esteem, I serve a community of young people who share a rich spectrum of experiences. Becoming a special ed teacher was not the career I had pictured for myself – but now I can’t imagine doing anything else.
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