Teacher Stories: Crystle Skinner, 6th and 7th Grade Teacher at Grace Middle School, Hamilton Township, NJ
I teach Special Ed, which is something that I was drawn to earlier in my life. In high school, I used to help out in a class where special needs students learn daily living and life skills. I just always found the special ed population to be really cool people, and I think many mainstream people don’t understand them. They just don’t really understand that population. And I just thought they were great to work with in high school. They just made my day.
Unfortunately, I also learned that some people can actually be very mean to these individuals, and when I worked with them while I was in high school, there were a lot of times I would see them in the hallway…I am getting choked up… But other people would be so unkind to them. The classroom I was in with them was a contained classroom, so I didn’t see it in the classroom, but outside of class, I did. One time, I witnessed one student push this girl who I believe had cerebral palsy. I didn’t fully know the medical history, but she had difficulty walking. And this one student intentionally pushed her. And I spoke up and said, “You knock it off!” It was at that point that I knew I wanted to help this population.
I just see how different students are in our current times towards the special needs students. My heart swells when I see the kids treating the other students kindly. I have morning duty, and when the buses arrive, the MD students come in, and a lot of the kids will stop and say good morning to them and just say, “What’s up?” And they fist bump each other, and it just makes me really happy, and I feel like that has changed since I was a student, and it’s wonderful.
In my classroom, I want to make the experience for my students as positive as possible. I try to check in with people, you know, even with my colleagues, throughout the day and just see how they’re doing. People struggle, and it’s not always visible, which is what I try to remember with my students, to just check on them. And sometimes they’ll open up a little bit, and sometimes they won’t, but you can tell when people need a little TLC.
Interview by Gregory Andrus
Portraits of the Jersey Shore
