I’m so happy you’re here! We have so much to talk about. Let’s start with introductions- I’ll go first. My name is Maureen. My friends call me Mo, and my students call me Miss Howard. I’m a high school special education department chair in northern VA. I manage a program of about 50 students with 8 teachers, and 16 assistants. I do everything from curriculum and program development, to IEP writing and meeting facilitation, to finding creative ways to foster home school partnerships. I’ve learned so much about special education in the past 6 years working in the field. It’s become my biggest passion and something I am eager to share about and discuss with others. Topics that most interest me are vocational and life skills at the high school level, promoting community awareness and comfort, helping students find their voice through self advocacy and social connections, and creating systems to make this job that we love easier for all of us.
In my free time, you can probably find me nerding out over more special ed stuff (creating resources, getting my PhD in SPED, teaching undergrad classes… OH MY!), shopping at Home Goods or Target for house decorations, ordering takeout food (awful cook over here with no interest in learning), or binging a SHONDALAND show (this woman is a genius). I spend most of my time with my sweet senior dog named Rico Suave who is the best and loudest beagle you’ll ever lay eyes on.
Anyways, my hope is to use this little corner of the internet to share some tips, tricks, and lessons learned from my experiences over the years in an effort to hopefully make your teaching experience a little easier. And just like the great Ms. Poppins said, however cheesy, there is nowhere to go but up 😉
