Lisa Skovlund
Multi-Grade-Level Special Education at Sturgis Elementary
“The first thing I love about my kids is the hugs. They’re excited to be there, and I’m excited to watch them learn. They come in as potential, and I watch that potential as it keeps increasing.”
This year, Lisa Skovlund did the impossible. Just two weeks into the school year, she was happily teaching her K–2 Special Ed students when another instructor suddenly left. The 3–5-grade class was teacherless. “I didn’t hesitate,” Lisa says. “I said, ‘I’ll do it!’ I didn’t want to leave those children in limbo.”
She and Dr. Seuss spent the Labor Day weekend decorating the room—and reformatting her entire curriculum schedule. Lisa arranged to integrate some of her former class into the new room, and now she’s teaching grades 1 through 5. No one missed a beat because of her active, inspiring classroom and enthusiastic approach.
“Teaching a multi-grade special education classroom allows me to meet the students at their current levels,”
Lisa says, “but I can’t do it alone.”
She credits her students’ families and her co-workers at the Meade School District as being essential to the Special Ed team’s success.
Photo by Jesse Brown Nelson Photography