Kei Lucas, Elementary Special Day Class
(Generally students with moderate to severe disabilites)

I decided to become a special ed. teacher because I had done some volunteer work when I was in college working on my credentials, in a facility for preschool-aged, emotionally disturbed students. It was so fascinating, it was so different, and it was so challenging that it was fun. You can exercise a lot of creativity on your own part. You can collaborate with other people who are working in the room with you, so you don’t really feel isolated. You are connected with other folks that have the same goals that you do, so it isn’t like facing the challenges by yourself. There is always somebody to laugh it off with or somebody to cry about it with. It’s all about the kids, what their needs are, what their challenges are and how do we meet them and how do we try and meet those challenges. The kids are just, they are just amazing. When you get the little “a-ha” from them, when you get the little smile out of them, you know that you have connected. It just kind of makes the whole day worthwhile, no matter what’s happened.I decided to become a special ed. teacher because I had done some volunteer work when I was in college working on my credentials, in a facility for preschool-aged, emotionally disturbed students. It was so fascinating, it was so different, and it was so challenging that it was fun. You can exercise a lot of creativity on your own part. You can collaborate with other people who are working in the room with you, so you don’t really feel isolated. You are connected with other folks that have the same goals that you do, so it isn’t like facing the challenges by yourself. There is always somebody to laugh it off with or somebody to cry about it with. It’s all about the kids, what their needs are, what their challenges are and how do we meet them and how do we try and meet those challenges. The kids are just, they are just amazing. When you get the little “a-ha” from them, when you get the little smile out of them, you know that you have connected. It just kind of makes the whole day worthwhile, no matter what’s happened.