As a lecturer, I teach live and online courses at the graduate and undergraduate level in the area of Special Education. I fully embrace the unique 21st Century learning community that is conducive to my educational needs. I have a family, work full time and pursuing a Ph.D. in Education with an emphasis in Special Education. Patience, determination, life struggles, and a willingness to help others comes natural. I grew up in low income family where we relied on spirituality and each other for support. As an adult, I have been able to live a middle class lifestyle providing my children with opportunities that were my fantasies. My success has come through continued education and opportunity. I want to develop a social change program that will focus on developing African American males to allow them the desire and opportunity to live prosperous adult lives.
I am currently a student at Walden University. I am employed as a lecturer at The University of Tennessee at Martin where I also completed a Master of Science Degree in Advanced Secondary Education. I have received an endorsement in Special Education and I have completed the coursework in Administration and Supervision. While I have a passion and determination to develop every child to his/her fullest potential, my research will specifically target African American males receiving special education services.. This zeal has been recognized by my professors and colleagues alike. For my graduate research project, my husband and I established a summer work program for students who were rising high school seniors receiving special education services. The program was embraced by a major corporation in a midsize city. Developing this project allowed me to apply proven research that attitude and opportunity affects performance. Every student who participated in the summer work program needed to complete at least one gateway exam to graduate high school with a regular diploma. When the students returned to school in the fall, all were motivated to pass the gateway exam.
I am entering the second year as a lecturer at UTM and realize that I LOVE it! I have also discovered that I am a “career” learner who believes in applying what I have learned. The research project that I implemented in graduate school afforded me the opportunity to see how the acceptances of students with disabilities significantly impact their learning when they returned to the classroom for their senior year of school. The graduate research project opened the door. I believe as I embrace the goals of Walden University, I will be able to walk through the door to discover positive programs that should be implemented in public school systems to for the success of African American males in education.
The African American family is diminishing. More and more children are being raised in the absence of positive African American males in the home. In addition to a large percentage of African American males developing a low interest in education, the numbers are becoming overwhelming for African American males categorized as special needs children. Through research, I believe I will also be able to collect data, develop a hypothesis, conduct research and implement a program that will prove African American males are being misdiagnosed, unfairly labeled with disabilities and improperly educated. Moreover, I am confident I will be able to provide a social change solution that will transform the African American race.