Dan’s blog

The History of Special Education Through a Policy Lens Blog 14  In my Connecticut Aspiring Leadership Academy for Special Education, I have begun working on Tier Two of our learning, which consists of the special education laws. Our presenter this week was a very impressive woman named Dr. Deborah Ziegler. Dr. Ziegler has worked as […]

Blog 13 Leading Self We’re finishing up with Tier One with Leading Self this week in our Connecticut Aspiring Leadership Academy for Special Education. We’re learning about developing our action plan, identifying outcomes, and doing a job audit of what we do at work on a typical day to be more prepared to write good

Blog 12 Roles and Goals             This week we talked about roles and goals. I went into this week with the Connecticut Aspiring Leadership Academy for Special Education with the idea of eventually obtaining a fellowship for the U.S. Department of Education next year and becoming capable of doing a special education leadership position in

Using Data to Make Decisions about Professional Growth Blog 11   This week we learned about using data to make decisions in our professional growth in our weekly session at the Connecticut Aspiring Leadership Academy for Special Education. Our presenter was Mary Beth Bruder. She casually and deftly slipped in again and again on how

How to be a Special Education Leader Blog 10             This week I got to meet Deborah Richards. She was our presenter on what kind of leader we want to become in the special education field. Richards is with the Connecticut State Board of Education and Director of Student Services at Capitol Region Education Council

True Colors Blog 9   Well, this has been kind of interesting. Our special education presenter, Darla Gundler, who has a handicapped daughter who is now a surgeon, spent some time with us going over True Colors. She talked about her daughter’s rise through the special education school system to become a successful surgeon. And

The Department of Education Blog 8             Recently, I have learned more about the Department of Education. The Department of Education chose my school district as one of the school districts to pilot a new program to streamline the special education individualized education programs (IEPs). They want to make IEPs

The History of Special Education Blog 7            I got my master’s degree in special education in 1995 from the University of Hartford. Since then, I have spent a good part of three decades working in and out of the special education classrooms in public education. And the thing tickling my fancy now that I’m

Crip Camp Blog 6   So now that I’m officially part of the first cohort for the CT Aspiring Leadership Academy for Special Education, our first assignment is to watch Crip Camp. I’ve never heard of the movie. I don’t know anything about it. But, the special education leaders of our group tell us that

CT Aspiring Leadership Academy Blog 5   So, there I am, just minding my own business teaching my social studies and special education students at Brookside School, when I get an email that catches my attention. It is an email about a new leadership program in special education. I thought it would be great to