The True Measure Collaborative is grateful to partner with so many dedicated, passionate, and talented special education teachers across our state. We are also excited to spotlight their stories and work as they aim to create supportive, effective learning environments for their students!
Meet Jennifer Drake, a second grade teacher at Gess Elementary School in the Chewelah School District!
Jennifer’s inspiring insights and impactful practices exemplify the transformative power of inclusive and emotionally supportive education. Read on to learn more about her journey and commitment to creating impact in her classroom.
TEACHING GOES BEYOND THE BOOKS
Second grade teacher, Jennifer, teaches in a General Education setting at Gess Elementary. She shares a deep, almost unexplainable love for teaching, supporting students, and growing with them.
Chewelah, being a small town in a rural environment, fosters a close-knit community amongst students as well as trusting relationships with teachers at school. Jennifer admires that Gess Elementary students are willing to share their feelings and engage in open conversations to build understanding among themselves.
“Teaching is not just teaching, it’s being responsible for my classroom, for all of my kids – and not just my kids, but the way kids in my class affect the rest of the school culture. So, it’s being part of that community and being willing to be flexible with the other teachers. Being a teacher has many hats for sure!”
Her goal is to help students feel good about themselves and leave the classroom, feeling like they know that there’s an adult who is there for them.
GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT HAPPENS IN COMMUNITY
Jennifer believes in nurturing a growth mindset and helping her students feel ready to take on challenges. She intentionally incorporates the reality that growth requires asking for help sometimes. With care, Jennifer reminds her students that it’s good and okay to ask questions; she says ‘it’s about (them) understanding that everyone’s heads and hearts are different, and that’s okay.’
It’s fascinating to hear about ideas to generalize and normalize inclusive education strategies for the benefit of all students; Jennifer achieves this by involving her students in the process. She keeps it inclusive with a strong focus on social emotional learning (SEL) and encourages students to embrace their strengths and differences.
“It’s not a bad thing for them (students) to realize that everyone’s different. We balance each other out. We’re in this together. It’s good for them to be open.”
Everyone learns differently. But learning is collaborative!
A student who doesn’t need as much additional support might find another student’s strategy working well for them. Jennifer notes that it’s essential to show students that there are different learning strategies, and different ways to find the answer.
“I talked about it literally, and generally. In rotations, I have my intervention time with kids who need extra support, but I do my best to communicate different strategies while I’m teaching generally, without singling anyone out.”
She also centers her practices in student autonomy during individual learning blocks, providing options for students to self select assignments and manage their time.
EDUCATORS ARE EMPOWERED BY COACHING
During the past school year, Cassie Watkins (True Measure Collaborative Program Manager) partnered with Jennifer in the classroom. Through observations and feedback, they worked together on ways to continue improving inclusivity. To Jennifer personally, it was affirming to feel validated by the coaching.
Adopting new norms:
Cassie also recommended strategies to try when teaching the whole class, in addition to specific support for students who required more time and energy because of social and emotional needs. In fact, supporting one particular student t0 build positive relationships and interaction skills, in turn helping Jennifer’s whole class.
“When I’ve got 19 other kids that I’m working with and everything else as a teacher, it really helped having somebody to help me hone in on that and articulate it and like, focus on how to do that for them.”
A number of new norms and ideas were integrated in Jennifer’s classroom this past school year – from a class phone list for cultivating friendships to rotating seating arrangements and activities for practicing interpersonal skills (to name just a few). Existing programming was also boosted with creative additions and specifications catering to an inclusive learning environment.
Although many of these practical initiatives were designed to support one student, the whole class benefitted. Jennifer appreciated having Cassie as a partner to collaborate with throughout the year, leading to improved classroom management and increased confidence.
“It was great to have her [Cassie] to talk to because she let me know if I should reach out to a counselor or administration to help with some outside resources. So, it was good to have her there for that kind of help for me. It’s totally gonna help me going back to school this year. I feel more confident this year. I feel like I have a plan, a better plan.”
SOCIAL EMOTIONAL LEARNING (SEL) IS KEY
We’re inspired by Jennifer’s focus on social emotional learning and strong belief that social and emotional well-being is foundational for academic success.
She recognizes that SEL can be difficult to prioritize when teaching. From administration and outside perspectives, it’s often all about the academics and students are typically assessed on their progress and achievements. However, Jennifer reminds us that it’s crucial that education follows a whole child approach:
“Can they read or not? Can they count to 100 or not?
Of course, that’s important, but kids aren’t going to be able to do that, or at least show me they can do that if they’re fighting with each other or because of something that happened at home that day.
So social emotional [learning], definitely just has to come first.”