It
is with great honor that the Albuquerque Journal announces Kevin Rogers as New
Mexico’s Teacher of the Year. The
New Mexico Teacher of Year Program is sponsored by the American Federation of
Teachers – NM, Golden Apple Foundation of New Mexico, SMARTer Kids Foundation,
PNM, Sandia National Laboratory, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Santa Fe
Capital City Florists, Ortiz Printing of Santa Fe Team Sales, and the New
Mexico chapter of the National State Teachers of the Year. By receiving this award it puts Mr. Rogers
into the running for National Teacher of the Year which will be awarded during
the summer of 2017.
Mr. Rogers is a
Special Education Teacher at Career Academic Technical Academy an alternative
High School here in Albuquerque. Mr.
Rogers chose a career in Special Education after spending eleven years with
Intel Corporation. As Mr. Rogers was deciding
on what he wanted to do as a second career becoming an educator was at the top
of his list. Already having a bachelor’s
degree Mr. Rogers was able to get into the Alternative Licensure Program in New
Mexico. Being in this program it allowed him to get his I-license which enabled
him to work as a teacher while he went to school to get his teaching license. Mr. Rogers has always had a desire to help
students with special needs.
The Journal
spoke with a few of Mr. Rogers’ students’ parents and when asked what they thought about Mr.
Rogers and him winning this award they both felt that he was deserving of the
award because there was never a time that Mr. Rogers did not follow their child’s Individual Educational
Plan (IEP). Which is a Federal
requirement for each child who has a special need? In addition to speaking with
some parents the Journal was also able to speak to some of his administration. They too felt Mr. Rogers was deserving of
the award because besides taking the time for each of his students, Mr. Rogers
also took the time to coordinate time to collaborate with his fellow teachers. The Journal would like to wish Mr. Rogers the
Best of Luck in his running for The National Teacher of the Year Award.
Nice Kevin. I like how you emphasized the importance of individual attention for each of your students. I think this is probably the most important function of the special education teacher. Without this attention, we as educators cannot come up with creative and unique ways to specifically reach and help each student.
ReplyDeleteBeing an educator is one of the most important roles a person could have in serving the community. The fact that your desire to teach brought you to work with special needs children is profoundly important and the students that you help will be lucky. The individual plans that are needed in special needs classes would be a valuable tool for any teacher to have. Some sort of plan should be implemented for all children wherever possible. Also the collaboration a teacher has with peers is important for learning from each other and it raises the standard at a school by having more interaction and a more cohesive community.
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