Deeper learning happens when students experience agency and engagement with their work. My goal was to pair specially designed instruction aligned with individual IEP goals while also diving into student choice with deeper inquiry. By encouraging curiosity, discourse, and student-led discovery, we fostered a climate of inquiry and investigation that has led our students to growth across many areas.

When I was a young child, I spent time moving around different states and elementary schools. Instead of developing a strong sense of community within a single school, I often felt unknown. Instead of being just “Nicole,” I was grouped and viewed by teachers and administrators primarily through my paperwork and school records. By the time I had reached third grade, I had been labeled a “STEM kid” because math and science were the strong skills that I demonstrated on my tests.

Outside of my test scores, though, I loved many other things, including art, music, literature, and the humanities. As I grew older, I engaged in more service projects and activities and realized that I also really enjoyed working in a service capacity, helping others with compassion and consideration.

However, I continued to be told I was a science and math kid. This was during the 1990s, when STEM was considered the wave of the future, especially for young women who wanted to be daring and make a difference. I believed this was my plan and my destiny because that’s what my test scores told me.

Despite my inner hesitations, I eventually enrolled in a math and science program with a scholarship at a large university. I was given a prime internship opportunity with the U.S. government in Washington, D.C., involving top-secret security clearance and the opportunity to program and develop spy satellites. On paper, I had achieved the epitome of a STEM kid’s dream. I had the coolest job ever! Yet, I knew I needed to make a change. I finally needed to take ownership of my own education.

Before long, I had switched to the College of Education to pursue a dual degree in Special Education (LBD) and Elementary Education. I left my coveted government internship and my scholarship opportunities. I faced the disbelief and judgment of professors, advisors, and even friends and family. But I was happier than ever, engaged and excited about my own learning for the very first time as a young adult.

Now, over 25 years since college graduation, I remain happily working in schools, committed to education and young people. My own story has paralleled many of the same situations that my own students often experience as students with IEPs. Our well-intentioned data collection, progress monitoring, and shared learning goals and objectives often mean that even our youngest students arrive with a large packet of folders and labels.

Yet, we know they bring so much more. Their current mastery level of one-to-one correspondence doesn’t let us know that they can identify over 30 species of dinosaurs. Their fluency in decoding CVC words doesn’t tell us that they dream of becoming a ballerina and spend their evenings perfecting their spins in front of a mirror. I’m eager to continue exploring how I can use vibrant learning along with SDI and IEP goals to make learning more meaningful to each of my students.