MERIDIANVILLE, Ala — Parents say one teacher in Meridianville has a special gift with students who have special needs.
They say she goes above and beyond with her students. Meet this week’s Valley’s Top Teacher Lynn Fanning Elementary School’s, Amanda Rowan!
“This is my fifteenth year in teaching, my second year in Madison County,” said Special Education Instructor Amanda Rowan.
Special Education Instructor Amanda Rowan said a close friend of hers lead her to her calling.
“I actually had a friend in high school who had special needs, and that kind of persuaded me to go into the special education field, and then I kind of chose to do it with the younger elementary-aged school students just from over the years of preference.”
Rowan says what compels her to come in to teach every day are the small victories.
“I love seeing just the little progress. In special ed, we have to look for those little moments. We don’t always get to see the big wins every day, but those little wins are so important to seeing — the big progress overall,” said Rowan.
Rowan says along there are challenges: “Every day that we’re working through, as we’re working through social skills and them learning what is okay school behavior, what school behaviors we need to work through, and then communication. A lot of our students are nonverbal, and so we’re working on just helping them being able to communicate with us, and be able to tell us what they need and what they know and find ways for them to communicate.”
“Every student deserves to learn and students deserve to have teachers that are passionate and are willing to fight for them and for their rights and needs in the education field.”
[WATCH: Amanda Rowan Surprise]
