Education experts liked Victoria Valentine’s teaching at West Leyden High School so well they surprised her with a statewide award of Special Education Teacher of the Year.
Yet regardless of how others judged Valentine’s work in the 16-student LIFE (Learning Independence through Functional Education) program, the true definition of a good special education teacher must come from the educator herself.
“At the end of the day, I love these kids,” said Valentine, who just turned 25. “I was aware the award existed, but thought I didn’t meet the criteria.”
Instead, parents of students she has been with since she started at West Leyden in August 2019 apparently were instrumental in the special-ed award given out last week by the Illinois State Board of Education.
The nominators may have noted Valentine’s approach to handling students with autism, Down’s Syndrome and a host of other developmental disabilities. Like many other teachers, she shepherded her class through difficult remote learning for the first year of the pandemic, then adjusted quickly to in-person teaching with masks.
“I’ve always been a very expressive person,” Valentine said. “I always model the way I’m thinking. How I’m working through a negative emotion and positive emotions. I model those emotional aspects. I’m very expressive with my eyes and my eyebrows. A mask can’t hide that.”
But the Northeastern Illinois University alum had a head start on putting herself in her students’ shoes after academic training and student teaching. She benefited from the specialized help available for her own developmental disorders.
“High school was very challenging,” Valentine said of her time at North Side College Prep in Chicago. “I had a major depressive disorder and an anxiety disorder. But the way I was supported by an individual education plan helped. I received social-work services and extra time in a resource classroom. I built the resilience I needed to be a teacher.”
Now Valentine, of Chicago’s Northwest side, is literally part of a village-within-a-village to render similar assistance to her students. She has a co-teacher in Teagan Lyke. A total of six classroom aides and one-on-one aides ensure all students have individualized instruction and attention. They are Linda Reed, Patty Robertson, Gayle Valdez, Yesenia Montes, Char Gordon and Courtney Jelonek.
District 212 is staffed above the state minimum for a special-education classroom. The maximum number of students for one classroom was 13, guided by the Illinois School Code, with one teacher and one classroom aide required.
“Because there are more than 13 students, we have the option of splitting the group of 16 students into two separate classrooms (which we sometimes do) with two separate teachers, or combine them (which we also do sometimes),” said Brian Mahoney, District 212’s assistant superintendent of special education and student services. Based upon the lesson for the day, or the specific learning intentions, the teachers make the determination of how to best reach their students.”
Her immediate supervisor is happy Valentine is the classroom leader.
“I knew she was an outstanding teacher during her first year at Leyden,” said Becky Burger, chairman of District 212’s special education department. “
“She has an impeccable work ethic and cares about students and their families beyond the walls of Leyden. She goes above and beyond to support students’ individual needs and takes her work as an advocate for individuals with disabilities and their families very seriously.”
How the students respond to their teacher is crucial in a special education setting.
“Students absolutely love Valentine,” Burger said. “She has high expectations for her students, and students know this and respect this. Valentine cares deeply for her students. She creates a safe place for her students to learn, take risks and gain independence. Valentine pushes her students to be their best and prepares them for our Transition Program and/or other post-secondary outcomes that they are interested in pursuing.”
LIFE actually is a post-high school preparatory program. Students can attend until the school year of their 22nd birthday. In addition to academic programs tailored for each student’s abilities, life skills such as cooking are taught.
The program does not have the type of vocational aspect in which students hold part-time jobs. But they are given exposure on how people perform in the workplace to be applied for practical experience in a multi-year post-Leyden Transition Program. At that juncture, a helper would accompany the students to an actual job.
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“School is really a reflection of life after Leyden,” Valentine said. “We are exposing the students to jobs, cooking classes, planning for a day.”
A fun aspect of a recent class was in conjunction with Banana Bread Day. The neophyte cooks baked banana muffins.
“High school is a really turbulent time,” Valentine said. “As they’re growing and changing, we see new things come up. What’s the next thing we can do for them?
The daily wearing of masks, made optional on Monday, Feb. 28, was made into a lesson.
“We do something we call a social story,” Valentine said. “It’s a concept that’s a part of life. We have a lot of social stories about wearing a mask. I had a clear mask on when I use phonics. The students had to wear them, as some are immunocompromised.”
After the mask mandate ended, “there will be no judgment” about the mask status of any student, she added.
The pandemic presented challenges Valentine believed she overcame when remote learning began March 13, 2020. Students were all over the map in their computer skills, requiring parents or guardians to supervise them. Hybrid learning resumed in March 2021.
Pandemic or not, Valentine also would face challenges explaining outside traumatic events to students who likely had a harder time processing them than those in regular high school.
“Breaking down very serious issues is challenging!” Valentine said. “I remember talking about George Floyd with my students and how difficult that was. But I’m here for them no matter how they react, to try and help them understand.”
. Valentine is also beginning to take classes for an eventual Ph.D. program to become a clinical psychologist.
“I know this is a field with a very high burnout rate,” Valentine said. “It’s a very taxing position, managing behaviors, managing staff and a ton of paperwork. I love this program, but it is very demanding. I am lucky I am very young. It’s a team effort.
“The big thing is you can’t take it home with you. I struggle with that. Did I do enough to support them? That’s led me back to the research world. I network with others for emotional support.”
And if Valentine could be an Illinois state czar of special education, with the ability to appropriate millions, what would she do to improve her field?
“I would make sure there’s enough money for every program to be fully staffed,” she said. “Having the group of adults here to problem-solve and take some of the work off each other is I believe one of the keys why I’ve been able to be successful. Team approach is everything. Many schools have just one classroom aide, and it puts so much weight on the teacher.”