Stories of Children’s Lives Changed

LSEM > stories
Apr
24
Facing Fears

I have a few students who are select mutes due to extreme anxiety.  These children have real fears of speaking in front of others, especially in a classroom environment.  This fear hinders their ability to participate in the normal, everyday class activities and requirements.    One specific student has not made a whole lot of […]

Posted in: Wow Story,
Apr
17
Perseverance and Persistence

This story comes from a while ago, during my second or third year of teaching. I was hired to teach in a self-contained program for students with mild cognitive impairments. At that time, it was called an “EMI Program.” The program served students who were Educable Mentally Impaired. I taught Math, English Language Arts and […]

Posted in: Wow Story,
Apr
10
Support and Confidence

I have a student who started St. John as a fourth grader. She was struggling with not only basic academic skills but also lacking the stamina and motivation to make it through a school day. She has had experience in school but the year previous to starting St. John she was homeschooled. As the year […]

Posted in: Wow Story,
Apr
03
Organization and Progress

-An unconfident beginning for a couple of Middle School students- As we all know from either our years in Middle School or teaching middle school, staying organized with a locker, books, and papers can be a challenge. Students with ADHD can have an especially difficult time with this many times. As we began the school […]

Posted in: Wow Story,
Mar
27
A Growing Service

This academic year is the beginning of my 7th year with LSEM at Immanuel Lutheran School in Saginaw, MI. I served one half day for the first six years, but this fall Immanuel has increased my time to two half days.  This was not exactly what I was planning on doing in my retirement!  (I […]

Posted in: Wow Story,
Mar
20
Long Lasting Effects

As an LSEM teacher, I have really enjoyed working one-on-one with students to help them experience the joy of learning in school.  It warms my heart when students ask when it will be their turn to work or read with me.  I even have a kindergarten friend this year that has been drawing pictures for […]

Posted in: Wow Story,
Mar
13
Benefits of Collaboration

As I began this school year, one of my goals was to spend more time with our upper elementary and middle school students who were several grade levels behind their peers and work together with their general education teachers to fill the gaps while still including grade level material. For one student, the general education […]

Posted in: Wow Story,
Feb
27
Productive Starts

This school year I have been amazed at how much my co-teacher and I accomplished within the first month of school. We helped teachers find baselines for their students by using Acadience testing and running records. We have helped facilitate small groups within their classroom and then formed our own push-outs and got groups started […]

Posted in: Wow Story,
Feb
20
It Works!

D is a student who was new to the school in 2022-23. She entered second grade and was struggling to read and could only read a few sight words. I began working with D immediately. One of the resources I had her use was the Lexia Reading program. D was most excited to use the […]

Posted in: Wow Story,
Feb
14
A Fun Challenge

Students in my “Book Bunch” Reading Intervention groups in grades K-3 were given a Summer Reading Challenge.  The students were encouraged to complete all of the items on the challenge sheet sometime over the summer to practice their reading skills in a fun way. Some examples included: Build a fort. Then read in it! Read […]

Posted in: Wow Story,