Interview with Nancy Williamson, History 150, Spring 2024, Conducted by Peter Williamson, March 15, 2024.

Overview to Interview:

Special educators play a key role in giving the extra support and  assistance to the countless students  across the country who have learning differences. Many people don’t realize the challenges or obstacles that must be overcome to be a special education teacher. One of the challenges faced are the shortage/recruitment of qualified educators. In 2017, 17% of schools could not find special education teachers to hire compared to the 2% general education positions. This goes to show the struggle of filling these positions which takes away from many of the kids that need the support of a special educator. The process of becoming a special educator requires a lot of work and certifications but it is all necessary for the betterment of children across the country. Teachers such as Nancy Williamson spent another 6 years after her undergraduate gaining the proper degree and license to be a special educator and a private Wilson tutor. Besides all the qualifications and paperwork, Special education teachers must be prepared to handle children who do have learning difference such as ADHD all the way to severe cases of autism along with the parents of these students who, as said in the interview, are more interactive in their child’s education because of their special case.

 

The lack of special educators in this country is taking away opportunities for many kids who just need a little extra help. In this interview my mother, Nancy Williamson, discusses the obstacles she overcame to be the teacher she is today. She talks a lot about her long journey of becoming properly trained and qualified to becoming a special education teacher as well as some of the troubling kids and parents she worked on this road. She provides her side on what worked with her as well as what worked against her. She worked for a private institution, AIM academy, which is nationally known for being a school for the support they offer to children with learning differences as well as the research they do to find new support methods for these children. This interview is an attempt to make aware of the importance of special educators and the role they play in education.

Biography:

Nancy Williamson was born in 1973 in Bucks County Pennsylvania. She attended Millersville University where she got her Bachelor of Science in Elementary and Special Education (dual degree) and was certified to teach in PA and VA. She also attended Penn State University for her Masters degree in Special Education. She spent a couple years as a elementary and high school learning and emotional support before getting her Wilson Level 1 and was a Wilson teacher for five years in the Delaware County Springfield School district. She then went to teaching at AIM Academy which is a private school which focuses on children with learning differences.

Research:

In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, special education faces unprecedented challenges as highlighted in a recent article from Idaho EdNews, More kids are having bad days: special education after COVID. The article discusses the alarming increase in the number of students experiencing difficulties in special education settings, attributing this surge to the disruptions caused by the pandemic. As schools shifted to remote learning and then grappled with the complexities of returning to in-person instruction, many students with special needs encountered significant obstacles in accessing vital support services and resources. The article underscores the critical need for heightened awareness and innovative strategies to address the unique needs of these students, emphasizing the importance of collaboration among educators, families, and policymakers to ensure that every child receives the specialized assistance necessary for their academic and personal growth.

The article from WeHaveKids, Challenges for Teachers in Special-Needs-Inclusive Classrooms, sheds light on the multifaceted challenges encountered by teachers in special needs inclusive classrooms, offering valuable insights into the complexities of special education. It emphasizes the diverse needs of students with disabilities, ranging from learning disabilities to behavioral issues, and the consequent demand for individualized attention and tailored instruction. The piece discusses the strain placed on teachers due to large class sizes and limited resources, which can impede their ability to provide the necessary support and accommodations for every student. Additionally, it highlights the importance of fostering a supportive classroom environment where all students feel included and valued, despite their differences. By delving into these challenges, the article underscores the pressing need for ongoing professional development, increased funding, and collaborative efforts among educators, administrators, and support staff to ensure the success and well-being of students in special education settings.

The article from American University’s School of Education Online, The Role of Special Education Teachers in Promoting and Inclusive Classroom, provides valuable insights into the promotion of inclusive practices within special education classrooms. It emphasizes the importance of fostering an environment where all students, regardless of their abilities or disabilities, feel valued and included. The piece highlights the significance of individualized education plans (IEPs) and the role they play in tailoring instruction to meet the unique needs of each student. Moreover, it underscores the importance of collaboration among educators, support staff, families, and community resources to ensure comprehensive support for students with special needs. By advocating for inclusive practices such as differentiated instruction, assistive technology integration, and positive behavioral interventions, the article emphasizes the potential for creating a supportive learning environment that nurtures the academic and social-emotional growth of all students.

Transcript:

Speaker 1: Peter Williamson

Speaker 2: Nancy Williamson

Speaker 1

Hello, I’m Peter Williamson. I’m here with my mother, Nancy Williamson. And this is our interview for our oral history project or hist. 150. So, um, mom. Yeah, you can introduce yourself, like, state what you do.

Speaker 2

Okay. Yeah. So I yeah, like you said, Nancy Williams. And so I am a learning support teacher and a Wilson reading intervention. Therapist. Did you want me to go into my schooling or background at all?

Speaker 1

Yeah, I’ll go right into the first question is, can you talk about what kind of schooling you had to go through for a specific teacher degree geared towards kids with learning differences?

Speaker 2

So yes, I got a Bachelors of Science from Millersville University in 1995, in both elementary and special education. I got a master’s in special education from Penn State in 1998. I taught on and off and learning the Learning Support classroom in both elementary and high school for a few years before kids and I stopped teaching you can in Pennsylvania, you’re allowed to change your teaching certificate to inactive status, if you’re going to stop teaching for a few years, which is what I did. And I just needed to get a certain number of credit hours before I reactivated it. So what I did before I reactivated my teaching certificate was got trained in the Wilson rating system, which is started in the 80s. But I didn’t hear of it until the mid 90s. And then by the end of the 1990s, it was really taking off all over the country. And so to do that, it was I think it was a 60 hour online course and written exam, a three day introductory workshop. And then I had to work with a practicum student for something like working like 75 to 100 hours, it depends on how old your student is, you have to get to a certain level and Wilson. Then I taught for four years as a Wilson reading teacher for Springfield, Delaware County School District as a subcontractor. And while I did that, I started my level two Wilson certificate, which is way more intense. Think that one was about, oh, God, to work with a practicum student another 100 hours, I had to do a group for about six months. So it’s an hour a day for five, six months. In addition, there were like, probably 60 to 80 hours of training, both online and in person workshops, and two written exams. So you can get extra graduate credit for all of this. I didn’t do that because I already have my masters. I wasn’t interested in getting a second master’s. So anyway, so it’s the point in saying that it’s just that it was a lot of work. And then after that I did about a year’s training, and Orton Gillingham, which is another multi sensory based reading program. So a lot of trading, multi sensory based reading program for kids and adults with learning differences. But then I did teach so I was a full time teacher for five years, as in as a Wilson reading teacher for an AIM Academy. And AIM Academy is a private institute or private academy for children with language based learning disabilities, you have to have a documented learning disability to get accepted to the school and it’s, it’s well known all over the country as being one of the best for kids with all sorts of different language based learning disabilities. Sometimes people think of just dyslexia, but it’s more than just dyslexia.

Speaker 1

Thank you. That was an awesome response. Going into our second question taking place before COVID-19 How is your classroom structured? And what about this school Assisted/defected You’re teaching for the kids.

Speaker 2

Before COVID, what did the school do?

Speaker 1

Yeah, like how was your classroom structured and like how it was founded the school, like assessed these kids with the oral language based learning disabilities.

Speaker 2

So one of the greatest things our class or school does is make sure that the classes are small. So even an English class is usually only eight to 12 kids depending on the grade. And so in Wilson, the average class is three kids, which is ideal. Sometimes there’d be four or five very rarely, though, sometimes there was two. So small, having a school that’s recognizes the importance of having small group instruction for this population is huge. I mean, every teacher there knows the population, that we, we have to address their needs that we have to address there. So breaking down instructions, having using multi sensory instruction, having resources available online or in print, communication with parents, all of those things like we’re used to doing all the time. My classroom structure was Wilson, the Wilson reading program is a very intensive multi sensory program. And it is very structured just by nature. So you start with sounds and then from sounds, you build words and from words you Yeah, go on to fluency and accuracy, practice and then sentences. So there’s a structure to it, that, so it’s not like I had to come up with my own structure, I was very, I do move very quickly. And I tried to make sure I addressed every kid’s needs. So for the younger kids, I would have behavior modification systems, if needed, like points for prizes and things like that. For my older kids, I tried to just make sure it’s very engaging. Usually, I didn’t need points and prizes, but sometimes I did. For the older kids, I mostly did middle school grades 678 I, structure so I, I think it was what I taught was already very structured. And the kids are all very familiar with the program. It’s the same structure, you know, throughout, from teacher to teacher, so they were used to the expectations and what what we were doing. Did that answer the question adequately?

Speaker 1

Okay. Yeah. Perfect. Our third question, before COVID, what were the biggest obstacles you faced in this line of teaching?

Speaker 2

For it depends on the kid. So I guess, basically addressing each student’s individual needs, I tended to get a good number of groups that were new to it, where students were new to aim. So they came from a traditional school setting. And we’re, like, I got them when that was their first year writing. Some songs like 5050, some of them had been there for several years, but a lot of my groups were new. And so I got them introduced to their culture. So it was, it’s the first time that they were surrounded by teachers and peers, that all had a learning disability. So everyone is on the same playing field, they’re no longer like the only kid or one of two kids in the group that had to go to a different learning support room during reading or something like that, like everybody there. So that was huge to see that like them, look around and not feel like they were different. And so building confidence was a big, big thing.

Because I’ve always told my students if you’re not confident, what we do means nothing, you won’t, it means nothing. You have to you have to believe in yourself. You have to have confidence in order for us to make progress in reading and spelling, reading and spelling means nothing if you are always doubting yourself, so So those were my biggest struggles like making sure I was building confidence in what they could do not that and getting getting them to accept their strengths and weaknesses, just like any human being has. We’re all good at some things and not others and it’s okay to not be good at spelling, you know, or whatever it was that you had. So just always reminding them that wherever they were was was just right. So and then so that would be like the more, I guess, social emotional side of it, but I’m making sure that I was addressing each individual kids needs. Because it sounds ridiculous because we only have three kids in a room. But they’re pretty much always each kid had their own set of challenges. And I knew coming to our school, something sacrifice for a lot of families, a very expensive school. And I wanted to make sure, and just because, you know, I wanted to make sure it was an effective teacher that I was, if one kid really struggled with reading fluency, I was trying to provide that child with extra or, you know, focused practice on reading fluency. But if the kid next to that one didn’t need that, then I was trying to see, okay, while I’m doing this, what is this kid going to be doing? And it wasn’t just, I never did just worksheets for the sake of worksheets ever, you were doing something that addressed your deficits, or practiced and honed your strengths. So maybe then one next to him was working on vocabulary and building vocabulary. Like, through making flashcards or something like that. So that was that was where what I tried to do, and I guess it would be the biggest struggle.

Speaker 1

Awesome. Yeah. I’m going to our fourth question, and we’re going to start talking a little bit more about what it was like, going, like when COVID hit and like how that impacted specifically a classroom like yours. So when COVID first tip, how was the transition going from in person to online?

Speaker 2

Horrible. I mean, we were lucky. So when the kids came to our school, every kid in sixth grade to 12th, grade was had a school issued. MacBook, because we partnered with Apple. So the school owned the hardware, and they had could program it with whatever programs, they I don’t know anything about tech, but so everybody had their laptops at home. So we were lucky in the way in, like, some schools didn’t have that at all as an option. And even if the kids did have computers at their home, I know some schools dealt with like, each kid’s got a different kind of computer, or and now like zoom will work on some but not on others. So we didn’t have to worry about any of that. So we were lucky in that regard. So we got sent home on a Thursday, and we were online on Monday, whereas a lot of other schools have a week or two off. We were we were online. We shortened our classes to 45 minutes from an hour. And it was just so hard as it was for everybody. But what I teach and what we a lot of our teachers at our school did with our kids was multi sensory that was we were trying to teach to every modality. And now all of a sudden, you’re on a video, which is something we just like what I taught. It didn’t have any computer involvement at all, it had to be a lot of reading, listening, literally touching, manipulating sounds. So to go to a computer on that was very counterintuitive. And it it took weeks for me to have that mind shift and and try to think about for all of us, we did meet as a team, that teachers that teach what I teach our Wilson team, middle a lot, like once or twice a week to try to share what was working and what wasn’t. But it was it was exhausting. Yeah, it was It wasn’t and then there’s the emotional side of it that, you know, now we’re stuck at home. The kids that I teach pretty much all of them have ADHD. A lot of this population that with learning differences, it’s never just one thing. It’s a multitude of different things working together. So I’m trying to hold the focus of kids with ADHD on Zoom was in a subject that they hate, like reading was was really really difficult.

Speaker 1

Okay, um, yeah. That sounds pretty horrible. You kind of answered the fifth question. What were the biggest challenges face teaching online? But if you want to go in with any other specific challenges, or the second part was, was anything made easier about teaching online?

Speaker 2

No, not one. thing was made easier by teaching online not a single thing. I mean, maybe you’ve got to wear pajamas all day, but I feel like in middle school kids wear pajamas to school anyway. So I don’t know. But no, nothing was made easier by teaching online, not a single thing. Not for the population I work with, I have heard from other friends of mine that are in special education. Not at my school, though. The kids with autism had an easier time because, or any any kid on the autism spectrum disorder, which I thought was interesting, because social interaction is sometimes that’s the challenge that they face. So often, it actually worked out better for them. But no, not the population I work with. Yeah, so just to like, hone in on challenges, definitely the attention, feeling like I wasn’t effective, because I couldn’t, I couldn’t monitor their progress as closely, I couldn’t, you know, see exactly what they were doing. Like because I in my classroom, I was a little bit of a control freak, I wanted to make sure they were using every minute they could with me to practice or just using time effectively in the time that I had with them to help make them as much progress, help them make as much progress as possible during the school year. And now I’m online and I was trying to like see what their eyes were looking and having them hold things up on whiteboards and just thinking any way I could to keep kids engaged through a computer, and it just is really difficult. So I mean, at the end of the day, I we all all teachers had to tell themselves, their themselves that we’re doing the best that we can but so just keeping kids focused monitoring their progress, wandering, questioning how effective you’re being, all of those things were really, really difficult in what I do, because it’s you’re trying to you have to make sure that you the kids really grasp the concepts before you move on to the next concept as with many subjects, and it’s really just hard to gauge you’re collecting information all the time normally, it was really hard to do that during during COVID online.

Speaker 1

Yeah, definitely sounds like I remember that. So our sixth question if you were in any way, how were you supported from the school? And or how did the parents of the kids work with you to accommodate their kids? I know you mentioned like you had the school issued laptops, which were a huge help to all the kids but if you’re gonna go into any other specifics?

Speaker 2

The school I mean they were as supportive as they as they could be truly with any anything we we have an amazing technology department we had three or four full time tech people in a school where they’re only 300 kids so some schools don’t have three or four full time I teach people just to help the students in like a huge public school like so I know we were lucky in that regard and they were great anything we needed they were they were there our our principal of the middle school he was checking in with us a lot just mental health like making sure we were okay trying to have like group meetings and he hired a comedian on Zoom actually to like you know, say this like a treat for teachers I don’t know he’s trying to think of anything he could so it but it definitely the parents were as understanding as possible I don’t I don’t know of anyone I didn’t incur encounter any problems with parents, they were very grateful for what we were doing. I’m sure it might have happened somewhere I don’t remember hearing of any parents that were disappointed or upset or anything like that, when they were all doing the best we could. So the parents for the most part, or at least mine were very grateful no i i did like like collect things for them. Like when we were able to the first few weeks we weren’t able to even go to our classrooms. So when we were maybe closer to like April or May or something like that. I got the supplies from the classroom that each kid had and I dropped it off at their houses I spent like the weekend driving around to my kids houses and you know, obviously emailed the parents and let them know first but so it was in they were very grateful for stuff like that. So we’ll just do anything we can to make life as and that as normal as possible because it was not normal. We’ll, but just to try to make it as easy as we could. But yeah, so with the parents were very grateful. I remember that. But there’s not much they could do because they too were trying to work from home and they’d other kids that were trying to work from home. So I think if anything, aim was probably the easier of the transitions, compared to other other schools. I know, they’re obviously there. There’s a lot there. We’re all going through all those changes, too.

Speaker 1

Yeah, that was perfect. For one final question is just what has this teaching experience taught you? And what did you take away from online teaching? For kids with learning differences?

Speaker 2

It is not ideal. It is, it should be a last resort, because I’m just the, the gist that for what I teach, at least, you need to be constantly engaged. You can’t, cannot don’t have the opportunity to space out and move. And we’re doing this now we’re doing this and we’re doing this and we’re we’re doing it until you’re, you’re providing enough practice for you in whatever, let’s say the skill is like, whatever. But all teams, right? You’re practicing various words, real words, nonsense words. Now, we’re moving on to this. So in doing in doing that online, it’s just not. Doesn’t doesn’t work? It really, it’s, you can make progress, but it really is not as effective at all. So what have I learned from it? I really hope and, once again, I think kids definitely. I don’t want to say suffered but didn’t make the same amount of progress. Absolutely not. I’m weak, we couldn’t collect accurate information on where they were, and where they needed to go, which that was drives our, our decision making in education. Then just interpersonally. Working with peers, like I mean, getting along with peers and learning how to maturely interact with your peers and respect for each other that that’s hard to make sure you’re doing because then when you’re dealing with a population that has pretty much all ADHD, impulsivity is a big thing. And a lot of sometimes, we definitely try to work on kids respecting each other’s in individual strengths and weaknesses and respecting your own individual strengths and weaknesses. And when you’re online, that kind of got put on pause. I feel like so there’s a lot of behavior problems. And I know every school is dealing with it. I have teachers at public and private schools, everybody’s dealing with it. So there’s a lot of maturity problems, a lot of behavior problems. A lot of focus problems, because so it’s I hope in a few years that we come out of it better, but yeah, that there wasn’t there was nothing good. Not one single think about it.

Speaker 1

Yeah, I’m okay. Just to wrap up. If you have like any final thoughts, anything else you’d like to say about being a teacher in your profession that I didn’t cover in the questions like, feel free to say whatever you’d like? Okay.

Speaker 2

Um, no, I think neither. I hope I gave you a little overview sense of what goes that time was like. I mean, we have to have make make our peace with we did the best we could I feel like and but Oh, and then the masks when we went back. Oh, my God, I forgot about that part. The year we went back to school, the following school year, and we were hybrid. So half the kids were in class, and half the kids were online. So we had these. We had these blue and gold days. So the gold team was in one. Monday, Tuesday, every other Wednesday, and the blue team was on every other Wednesday, then Thursday, Friday. So like you had to do both. You had like two kids that were online in two kids in your classroom. And you had to it was that was the worst of both worlds. It was awful. And we’re all wearing masks and I teach sound Right, when you there was a kid, I worked with one to one. And for three months, I didn’t know. He wasn’t saying M’s and ends, right. So he was reading words with as hmm. And I couldn’t get it because he was wearing masks. It was very frustrating. So I can, so you can put that in there with the what were the challenges part, I guess. But it was, it just took so long to come out of it. So I was very grateful when we were all in person. And then once the some kids still wear masks, which is fine, we left it up to the individual family to decide that’s totally fine. But once they could see, you know, my mouth, and I could see their ears to make sure they were saying sounds correctly. Who that that was that was important. And it’s something who thought of that, like, nobody would think of that. It was one of those things that just came up during COVID. And so yeah, I’m just very glad it’s over. And I guess if I learned anything, I guess teachers are resilient, and kids are resilient. And parents are resilient. And even though we’re all a little, I think still scarred from the experience. Because you know, we’re all going through the teaching part of it, but then we all have our families to take care of to or worry about and so that adds another layer. So hopefully, doesn’t happen again.

Speaker 1

All right. Thank you so much.

 

Interview & Transcription Process:

The interview was done over Zoom because we live in two different states. The interview went greta and using the Zoom app made it super easy to record. Once the interview was finished, I downloaded it directly to my computer and then proceeded to upload to Otter.ai for the transcription process. Otter.ai made it super convenient to make the transcript. Once finished I gave it another listen/read through before uploading it to the cite. Both Zoom and Otter.ai worked to my convenience which I was very appreciative of. I would totally recommend this software to another student.

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