By Henriikka Niemi
Staff Writer

With seven years of experience and five years at Coppell High School, structured learning teacher Christine Walker was recognized for her hard work and dedication by being named Teacher of the Month for November.

Q:What kind of skills or expertise do you need to teach special education?

A: To teach structured learning, it’s a little bit different than special ed. You need training in behavior analysis, data collection and behavior management. It’s a lot more intensive than just a typical special education classroom.

Q: What is your favorite thing to teach?

A: We do a lot of activity based learning. It’s very important for the kids in my classroom to have vocational training because when they enter the workforce, they need to have a set of specific job skills. For example they need to be able to sort things, assemble and disassemble things, sit in a chair and be able to focus and work independently. When they are in ninth and 10th grade we start out with things in the classroom such as recycling. Once they get older in 11th or 12th grade, we start taking them off campus and go to specific jobs around town or in Grapevine. We teach them how to do what they learned here out in the community, so hopefully as they transition into adulthood they have job skills.

Q:Why did you get into teaching?

A: It was actually kind of by coincidence, I was going through college and I didn’t know what I really wanted to do. I was going through a bunch of courses and I decided to drop them because I didn’t feel like they were really leading me anywhere. I kept one and it was an exceptional children class. They just happened to get a grant program funded and I applied for it. It was special ed and it paid for the rest of my school and to go to conferences. Once I actually got into it, I was able to observe, and I really loved it.

Q: What has been your favorite moment teaching so far?

A: The best thing for me is when we teach things in class, and it’s really intensive, like we have to teach something over and over again and then one day it finally clicks. The coolest thing for me is when a parent writes me and tells me “we saw this at home,” because for the student to be able to learn a skill is hard enough in itself, but then for them to be able to generalize it to another setting with other people and different materials and actually perform that skill, it just makes you know you’re doing something right.

Q:What does Teacher of the Month mean to you?

A: It was really exciting to get chosen because being down here, I’m kind of secluded and I don’t work with a bunch of students, I have one or two students for their four years of high school. It’s recognition by your peers that you’re doing a good job.

Q: What’s one interesting fact about you?

A: I’ve been to Uganda twice for mission trips, and I really want to go back.