Profiles in Achievement

Celebrating Educators
Michelle Havill, Kindergarten Inclusion Special Education Teacher
Albuquerque Public Schools—Albuquerque, NM

“…stay tuned into what students need on a daily basis. Constantly reevaluate and let students guide your instruction.”

Michelle Havill has brought much energy and enthusiasm to her classroom during her 4 years of teaching. “During my time as a student…my own anticipation of new learning opportunities was the result of engaging instruction and contagious excitement I witnessed from my teachers.”

“I find that even students with the greatest struggles can be reached at some level if instruction is engaging and relevant to them.” Michelle connects students to learning through empathetic means such as “using student names in examples, using silly voices or participating in the lessons myself to help students understand it’s possible to feel comfortable and excited about learning.” Her empathy is most evident at critical moments during lessons, “…even when a student has true difficulty with a task, making the environment safe to make mistakes and ask questions can at times be more crucial to learning than the lesson itself.”

One particular student stands out as a special success to Michelle. “Entering kindergarten, this child had not yet learned any letters and sounds nor was he able to find his own name in print. After building a rapport with him, we spent a great deal of small group and one-on-one time together echoing letters together, working on sounds, reading names and words around the room together and making associations between pictures and letters, sounds and words.” According to Michelle, the difference was made through using a variety of tools and several modes of instruction. “He is now able to read his first and last name, as well as read and provide sounds for all letters of the alphabet. He is also able to read c-v-c words when he applies individual sounds and he knows his 20 sight words for kindergarten!”

	EPS began as the leading publisher of materials for students with dyslexia. Over the past 50 years, we’ve developed programs that support students with a wide variety of learning disabilities. Choose a subject from the left to learn more about these resources.