Special School District – Webb

Julia Bailey

Every school day she looks out into an expanse of warming faces. She sees student’s minds that can be molded, not their disabilities.

Lisa Webb teaches students who have severe and profound disabilities. She works with students who need a more modified curriculum being that they have limited mobility, limited visual hearing and usually have an IQ lower than the average of students placed in General Education classes.

Webb is with her students for two hours during electives and four hours in her classroom, in which she teaches math, English, science and a preparatory class for every day life after graduating high school called Life Skills. The students leave her classroom for electives, where they participate in traditional classes with General Education students. Webb believes her students want to be able to do things like their peers and she finds they enjoy being integrated with the General Education students.

“The students love being part of the high school,” Webb said. “Everyone loves the high school experience and everyone should have the opportunity to.”

Similar to her students relationship with General Education students, Webb sees her relationship with students as essential to creating a more normal environment for them. Webb strives to constitute a typical teacher-student exchange like any other student would have with their teacher.

Webb has noticed over the years, throughout all the kids she has taught, the students always preserve and remain motivated even when situations are difficult for them. Unlike General Education students, a whole year may pass before Special School District (SSD) students see even a little bit of change or success. But when they triumph Webb feels she too has succeed and is proud of their hard work.

“Seeing those little successes, especially when I see them do things that I’m amazed they are able to accomplish,” Webb said.

Webb said many of her students struggle with some activities however she always sees them laughing and they always have a good sense of humor in light of their struggles.

According to Webb, working with the special needs students has certainly made her believe that everyone has their own strengths and abilities. She believes in the reward of teaching special needs students is seeing them become independent. The ultimate goal of the SSD is to aid students to be dependent in the future, meaning they can live in their own apartment by themselves and have a job once they graduate. She strives to help students obtain these essential capabilities and arm them with the knowledge they need to eventually contribute to the community.

Webb said before entering in the field of Special Education she had not realized the little amount of resources available and provided for special needs people – many school districts do not even offer a Special Education program at all. Webb wanted to see this change. She believes that SSD should be to prepare students to be dependent in life and to have a voice when often times they would not.

“I feel that it is important that everyone has a voice,” Webb said. “Everyone has their own opinion and should have the rights to do what they want. In Special School District we try to give that voice to people that might not have that opportunity to do it themselves. We are able to teach them to advocate for themselves.”