Truth for Education Blog

My name is Donna Goodman.  I am a licensed teacher in the areas of Middle School/Junior High (Social Studies and Language Arts); Elementary Education K-6; and Special Education (including 3 separate endorsements:  Severe Needs Affective, Severe Needs Cognitive, and Mild to Moderate Needs).  After receiving a Bachelor of Arts degree in education, I continued with postgraduate studies in the areas of Cognitive and Affective Disabilities completing a Master of Arts degree in Special Education. I have received specialized training in the area of Autism and Pervasive Developmental Disorders from the University of Colorado Medical Center and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, North Carolina’s statewide program for the Treatment and Education of Autistic and Communication handicapped Children (Division TEACCH).  I have received training as a reading intervention specialist through a number of linguistically based programs including The Wilson Reading System, and The Lindamood Program.  As an educator, professional development continues as an ongoing process just as learning and growing is an ongoing process throughout each of our lives.

For nearly two decades now, I have enjoyed a diverse teaching experience in a variety of environments and with a variety of student populations.  Throughout my 15 years as a Special Education Teacher, I supported students spanning a wide continuum of needs.  For a number of years, my focus was working with students with autism and designing programs to meet their special needs in inclusive environments.  Those were probably my most challenging years as an educator, and in many ways some of the most rewarding.  During the last 5 years before transitioning to the regular classroom, my focus was supporting the reading and literacy needs of students with learning disabilities, ADHD, and Down Syndrome.  Many of my students were second language learners which presented unique challenges to their learning and my teaching.

This very diverse background prepared me well for my eventual transition to the regular classroom.  As a classroom teacher I have a unique perspective on the individual needs of each of my students.  I like to think that I also have a few tricks in my bag that I would otherwise not have acquired.  I teach first grade and I am having the time of my life!  I have been blessed with the awesome privilege of witnessing the most dramatic changes that will ever occur within a single year of an individual’s life.  From loosing their first tooth to reading their first sentence, no other time in a child’s life is filled with such wide eyed wonder.  I am intensely aware, each day, of the awesome responsibility God has placed before me as a positive guide through this wondrous year of life.

My goal is to raise the level of awareness on a myriad of issues which impact the quality of our children’s lives and futures.  To that end, I need your dialog and participation as we reach toward that goal together.  From the vantage point of an educator, I am witnessing a rapidly changing culture in our schools.   The demands of an increasingly politicized environment staggering under the reality of budget deficits and expectations of raised national test scores, are taking a toll on the energies and resources of all concerned.  We are not alone in this dilemma, sadly, our children are there also.  As a parent and a grandparent, I am witnessing the community schools that I grew up in morphing into government institutions driven by data collection mandated by federal legislation and special political/corporate interests.  Perhaps it is time to start asking some questions for the sake of our children and demand some TRUTH FOR EDUCATION.  That is the challenge God has set before me, would you care to join me?

For Our Children’s Futures – Donna Goodman, M.A.