About Me
Let's Get Acquainted
Hello, and thank you for visiting this page! I’m hopeful that these blogs and information serve to be a resource for you, just as it is for me. I am a mother of two teenagers and originally from the city of Chicago. I have been in education for over twenty years, and like most educators, consider myself as the quintessential lifelong learner. In case you are wondering where my formal training occurred, I received my Bachelor of Arts in Special Education from Benedictine University, my master’s in Educational Administration, Educational Specialist degree in Educational Administration, and Doctor of Education in Educational Administration from Northern Illinois University.
This blog came out of from my experiences. My passion of students, and especially students with disabilities, has only strengthened throughout my career and education. I consider myself to be a proud advocate for people with disabilities and am hopeful that the information that I share can extend to drive a similar passion within all who engage. Researching and sharing information (especially since changes to school regulations and special education procedures happen often), is something that is important for educators and parents alike. These constant changes are topics for discussion, not only for the professionals working to write and implement legally defensible IEPs, but also the families trying to navigate the understanding of their child’s disability (let alone the meaning behind all the acronyms and paperwork). I am hopeful this community provides a positive reprieve. Thanks for being here!
As a visitor here, you are part of a fantastic community. Your questions and interactions influence other's stories, provide encouragement, and help to enrich others' lives with learning.
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But, Why Partly Cloudy?
Being a midwestern girl, there are many idiosyncrasies that I'm aware of possessing; certain colloquialisms around food and beverages and a love for the change in seasons, just to name a few. I'm also distinctly aware that whenever I fly home to Chicago, from any travel out of State, the weather forecast that is broadcasted by the pilot includes something to the effect of.... 'the weather in Chicago is partly cloudy and (fill in the blank depending on the season) degrees right now. Partly cloudy. The description of the atmosphere at home always seems to be ‘partly cloudy (or partially cloudy depending on the pilot's preference in formality of context) and will often include, ‘with a chance of rain, or showers, or snow….’; never a chance of the overcast subsiding, and full sun.
This description became acutely more evident as I began visiting my parents who moved across the country to Texas. Flying home from a lovely visit to sunny Austin, possessed with, (as my mother fondly refers to them) "bluebird skies", I am reminded on each descent that my home is vastly different from the much more consistent bright blue and sunny Texas city. Home is partly cloudy. But, with any partial description, our perception will ultimately drive the experience. Is it really always just partly cloudy, or is it partly sunny?
Reflecting on this, while working on my dissertation, I found this description to be applicable to my career in education. In a field filled with constant new initiatives to increase student learning and testing scores, it was clear in my research that the perception of the inevitable changes educators face, especially in special education, is going to build or tear down our special educators' sense of self-efficacy and potentially lead them on the path of burnout. We can easily look at the new changes we are faced with (as well as the overall challenges that working with students with disabilities can bring), as partly cloudy; this is not unrealistic. However, there needs to be that sense of realism coupled with some sense of ambition.
In an effort to support and sustain the important work that we do, there needs to be a little glimmer of something that will encourage the preservation of the passion that brought my fellow special educators into this field in the first place- hope. Hope that what we are doing is working. Hope that what we are asked to do differently will make sense and be effective for our students. Hope that we can lean on each other as an educational community to provide support and self-efficacy. It is my hope that this online platform will assist with all of that, and our special educators (and regular educators alike) will come together as a community to support these efforts. Recognize, our field can certainly be partly cloudy but the forecast (and ultimately our perception), can be changed to, 'partly cloudy with a chance of hope'.
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