About Al Ellis-Behavior Specialist
I started working for a company in June of 1995 that specialized in providing services for children and adults with mental and physical disabilities. My job consisted of providing direct care to children that had been diagnosed with severe and profound mental retardation, ages eight to sixteen. When I first started this job, it was to pay my way through college; it was not the career path that I had chosen for myself or thought that I wanted to be a part of. However, being part of the direct care team meant that I was responsible for helping these amazing young children learn how to wash, how to eat, how to dress, how to communicate based on their capabilities and how to enjoy life to the best of their ability. There was a supervisor who outlined the blue print, wrote the goals, and made the daily schedule, but at that time, and unbeknownst to me, I along with the other direct care staff that worked with these children were their teachers. Everything they would learn, every goal or failure, they experience was influenced by their direct care team.
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It was that job from June of 1995 to August of 2000 that influenced me to pursue my teaching certification, in a concentrated area of study that would allow me to work directly with a very special group of students. I chose special education because over those five years I witnessed how simple things that people without disabilities take for granted, meant the world to these particular students when they accomplished them. I found myself just as excited as they were when they learned to tie their shoes or when they were able to write their first complete sentence or when they could read their first book. I volunteered to go with their class on their school field trips and to be their chaperone so I could see how they interacted with other students their own age. I was hired to a do a job, and I did that job well; but, I was learned more from those kids than I ever taught them, and they helped a young college student with no clear career path make his choice and begin a journey that has been the most fulfilling journey I have ever had the pleasure to be on.
Fast forward to 2017, and my greatest contribution to education has been working with exceptional children. I have made a career out of working with students that have been diagnosed with disabilities that range from autism, to severe and profound mental retardation, to students with behavior and emotional disorders. I have received my master’s degree in the field of special education, and, in 2009, I received my National Board Certification under the category of Exceptional Needs Specialist Early Childhood through Young Adulthood, for working with students in the exceptional children’s area. I have been at Green Hope High School for eleven years, and every student that was on my caseload as a freshman and remained on my caseload through their senior year has graduated from high school with their diploma. My greatest accomplishment has been to see those students, graduate from college, enter our military and defend our country, get jobs, and start families. Most importantly, my greatest contribution has been to watch those students become contributing members to society without using their disability as a crutch or as an excuse when things did not go the way they planned. The joy as a teacher that I receive is to have had a small part in shaping the leaders of tomorrow in spite of the obstacles that a disability might have told them would never come true.
I have had the opportunity to teach the Behavior Support Curriculum Assistance Class at Green Hope High School since August of 2006. During this time I have developed behavior plans, collaborated with regular education teachers, developed classroom strategies, and helped students that have been diagnosed with behavior and emotional disorders increase their academic, and social skills to help them achieve one of their first big goals in life: graduating from high school. That accomplishment should be mentioned in this section because while I may list it as a great contribution, I fully recognize that I did not accomplish this alone, but that I am merely a contributor on a team that is built on helping others achieve their success. Someone once said, “If you are doing what you love, then you will never work a day in your life”. I don’t teach because it is my job, but I teach because I love what I do, and the lives that I have had the opportunity to touch.
Fast forward to 2017, and my greatest contribution to education has been working with exceptional children. I have made a career out of working with students that have been diagnosed with disabilities that range from autism, to severe and profound mental retardation, to students with behavior and emotional disorders. I have received my master’s degree in the field of special education, and, in 2009, I received my National Board Certification under the category of Exceptional Needs Specialist Early Childhood through Young Adulthood, for working with students in the exceptional children’s area. I have been at Green Hope High School for eleven years, and every student that was on my caseload as a freshman and remained on my caseload through their senior year has graduated from high school with their diploma. My greatest accomplishment has been to see those students, graduate from college, enter our military and defend our country, get jobs, and start families. Most importantly, my greatest contribution has been to watch those students become contributing members to society without using their disability as a crutch or as an excuse when things did not go the way they planned. The joy as a teacher that I receive is to have had a small part in shaping the leaders of tomorrow in spite of the obstacles that a disability might have told them would never come true.
I have had the opportunity to teach the Behavior Support Curriculum Assistance Class at Green Hope High School since August of 2006. During this time I have developed behavior plans, collaborated with regular education teachers, developed classroom strategies, and helped students that have been diagnosed with behavior and emotional disorders increase their academic, and social skills to help them achieve one of their first big goals in life: graduating from high school. That accomplishment should be mentioned in this section because while I may list it as a great contribution, I fully recognize that I did not accomplish this alone, but that I am merely a contributor on a team that is built on helping others achieve their success. Someone once said, “If you are doing what you love, then you will never work a day in your life”. I don’t teach because it is my job, but I teach because I love what I do, and the lives that I have had the opportunity to touch.