Defining Moment: It was August 2016, and I walked into the inclusion classroom I was assigned to as an academic intern completing a Master of Arts in Teaching program at The University of Louisiana at Lafayette. I had no idea what I was supposed to do. I was afraid to ask because I felt like I was expected to know. I can vividly remember how incompetent, insecure, and useless I felt at that time in my career. Thankfully, I had my personal experience as a struggling student to draw from and was able to get through the experience but I knew my students needed and deserved more than what I was providing.

I went back to school and began doing research, and earned an Education Specialist degree. I began using the practices, strategies, and resources and collaborating with my co-teaching partner on different ways to deliver instruction to help all students in our shared classroom. My extensive research in Specially Designed Instruction and Co-teaching in the inclusion classroom setting became the foundation of my SLAY framework; created out of necessity because I had no idea what I was doing. Once I gained an understanding of teaching children with special learning needs, I fell in love with special education. I can now walk into any general education classroom, in any grade level or content area and own my half of the inclusion partnership which is adapting, designing, and delivering instruction to meet the individual learning needs of my students.

I overcame the obstacles that stood in my way. I SlayED special education like a boss and you can too!