1. JAMIE JULIAN EDU 550 Introduction

2. ABOUT ME I am a single mother of a beautiful daughter named Riley, age 6. I live in Connersville IN. I have an animal posse: which includes two dogs, Winnie woo and Gracie lou; two cats, Misha and Leah; and two horses, Buck and Reno. I am passionate about my daughter, horses, history, reading, and animal rescue.

3. EDUCATIONAL BACKGROUND  I have 12 years experience in the teaching profession in the area of Special Education.  I have worked as a Consultant for the Deaf/Hard of Hearing for 8 years and as a Teacher for the Deaf/Hard of Hearing for 4 years.  During that time, I have worked with ages 3 through 18, served in traditional public schools as well as private school setting.  I have also worked with many different types of students who have disabilities, including hearing loss and speech disorders, learning Disabilities, autism, and mild to severe mentally handicapped.

4. MY SCHOOL EXPERIENCE  I attended a traditional public throughout my childhood. Frazee Elementary(k-6) Connersville Middle School(7-8) Connersville High School(9-12) Ball State University(undergraduate BS in Deaf Education Elementary Education)  Key experience –I became very ill during my senior year of high school, and missed one-third of the year. My high School had no idea how to handle this situation and was not going to let me graduate with my class, even though I had completed all of the academic work. I could not complete physical education requirement in the traditional sense, and my high school di not offer any alternatives. Without the intervention of my father, who taught history at my high school, and the State Department of Education, I would not have graduated and went on to college. I knew then that I wanted to work in the Special Education field, and help students overcome their unique situations in order to become the person they wanted to be.

5. MY FUTURE  Currently, for the 2013-2014 school year, I am unemployed due to budget cuts.  I hope that working toward my masters degree will help me become more marketable in today’s world.  I am excited for the prospect of learning new solutions, ideas, and innovative strategies that would help schools face the challenges of today.

6. MY QUOTE  “The things I want to know are in books. My best friend is the man who’ll get me a book I ain’t read yet.” Abraham Lincoln  This quote is especially powerful to me because it describes the one thing that had a deep impact on my education and shaping the person I have become. My father was an educator, who shared with me his love of literature. We spent uncountable hours reading, discussing what we were reading, and sharing favorite titles and authors. As I look back on my life, I cannot remember a week where we did not visit the library or bookstore. He made holidays such as Christmas or birthdays special because there was always a treasured book awaiting me as a present. Today, even though he has passed away, I continue this tradition with my daughter.