Welcome to my site, Embrace Your Exceptionality, and my blog! I am very excited to share and collaborate with you to help exceptional children learn and succeed!
My name is Molly and I have been a special education teacher for the past 9 years. My experience has ranged from inclusion, resource, and separate settings to a specialty school (for students with learning disabilities) and I have taught in public, private, and charter schools. Each school has offered me an opportunity to deepen my understanding of teaching and special education.
My first teaching experience was in a middle school resource classroom on the south side of Chicago. My first year taught me about managing a classroom with high expectations and compassion. When I taught at a specialty school, I became much more knowledgeable about student’s learning profiles and how to read and use neuropsychologist reports to tailor my instruction. It was also at this school that I learned more deeply about dyslexia and earned my Wilson Level 1 Certification. A few years later, I began offering my expertise through tutoring in addition to teaching in a classroom.
In 2019, my husband and I made our way down to Asheville, North Carolina. Today, we live with our dogs – Dolly and Gallagher – and our cats – Borris and Simba – in the Blue Ridge mountains. I am teaching 8th-grade inclusion (math and reading) as well as structured literacy and resource for executive functioning, math, and reading.
Throughout each of these experiences, I discovered in myself a genuine and growing passion for working with exceptional children (or diverse learners). I love making sure they have every opportunity to succeed. Each student is unique in their own way and presents new opportunities for me to grow as an educator. It is never a boring job! I have spent countless hours researching interventions and strategies that fit student’s particular needs. And sometimes I’ve even created the materials they need to learn. Check out my store on Teachers Pay Teachers for these instructional materials! There are so many areas of teaching, learning, and special education, generally, that impact the success of students. The purpose of my site and blog is to help you better understand and navigate those areas.
Each student that I work with is a one-of-a-kind. That means tutoring services are tailored to meet each child’s specific needs. These needs can range from academic skills – like reading, writing, and math – to organizational and “functional” skills. All of these skills help them to become more successful and independent at school. Using diagnostic assessments and input from parents and teachers, I develop an educational plan with tutoring goals and strategies that guide my work with each student. I provide support for each student through parent and teacher consultation and training, when necessary, to ensure student success.
Teachers and parents are both vital players in a child’s education and it is my hope that this blog and website will provide support to you both.
