Samantha Gilmer

This is my 3rd year teaching 2nd grade special education. In my second grade classroom, I appropriately plan instructional opportunities that are adapted to diverse students. I utilize different teaching methods (small groups, class discussions, and collaborative learning) to meet the variety of learning needs. Throughout the school day, I include an array of accommodations, remediation, and enrichment so that all learning styles are met. For visual learners, SMART Board presentations, graphic organizers, and classroom posters are included in the lesson. For kinesthetic learners, an assortment of hands-on activities is used during the school day. For auditory learners, aside from hearing the lesson presentations, students are engaged in various online review games using KUNO tablets. In my opinion, knowing who your students are, as individuals, is an important part of high-quality teaching.

As an educator, it is my desire to help students meet their fullest potential by providing a warm, safe environment that supports risk-taking and individualism. I believe that in order to establish such an environment a teacher’s role is to act as a facilitator. The environment supports hands-on, small-group activities which allow for group exploratory and group discovery. I strongly believe that if I integrate critical thinking lessons in the curriculum, students would be able to lay the foundation for a creative society.

Just completed my Master's degree!!

Master's of Education-King University, 2013 Bachelor of Arts PreK-6, Special Education PreK-12-UVA-Wise, 2011 Algebra 1 Add-on-UVA-Wise, 2011

As a teacher, it is my responsibility to encourage students’ development of critical thinking, problem solving, and performance skills. I organize students into cooperative groups at least once a week. I often group students in the following informal methods: think-pair-share, fishbowl, say something, and question-answer relationship (QAR).