Teacher of the Month: Karen DuCharme
Karen DuCharme's integrated life skills class is designed to prepare all students for the world post high school.
WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — Mount Greylock Regional School life skills special education teacher Karen DuCharme has been selected as the April Teacher of the Month.
The Teacher of the Month series, in collaboration with Berkshire Community College, will feature distinguished teachers nominated by community members. You can nominate a teacher here.
She has been a teacher for 24 years, starting at Pittsfield High School, and has been at Mount Greylock Regional School for the last 11 years.
"I always say that I didn't really choose special education; special education chose me," she said
DuCharme initially wanted to be a physical therapist, but the universe had other plans for her. While attending Pittsfield High School, she did not want to have a study hall, so she opted to take an Introduction to Special Needs class.
From there, she knew that a career as a special education teacher was the right choice for her.
"Even when I was a student, I gravitated towards other students with different needs and tried to help them and wanted to help them," she said.
DuCharme highlighted how she grew up next to a Berkshire County Arc house, so she had adults with special needs living next to her.
"I always wanted to help them, but I didn't really think of being a teacher ever until I took that special needs class," she said.
"I loved working with my peers, and I liked helping them, and I liked how it made me feel, and I liked how what I think it made them feel. It was just, I think, something bigger than just me deciding."
In her position, DuCharme collaborates with all the cooperative "unified" teachers to discuss how to modify the curriculum to make it accessible for every student.
Cooperative classes are integrated learning environments where general education and special education students learn together. These classes include subjects such as cooking, art, and music.
"[DuCharme] has really affected all our students and our community in her performance as our special education life skills teacher in that she has integrated her students into athletics, extracurriculars, and into the classrooms throughout grades seven through 12," said Principal Jacob Schutz.
"It's important for her students and for the rest of the students. It's important because her students deserve to be included in every aspect of the regular ed curriculum, and it's important for our other students to know and experience various students."
Additionally, special education classes participate in English language arts, math, and life skills, the lessons of which are tailored to the specific needs.
In English, they work on their reading, writing, and speaking skills. Math covers a wide range of skill levels including the fundamentals, money kills, and math concepts up to seventh or eighth grade.
In their life skills course, special education students prepare to enter the community by learning about establishing and maintaining proper boundaries, how to interact with people, and building and maintaining friendships.
These are all practical skills that will help students function independently in various settings.
"I think teachers who work with special ed students are one-of-a-kind angels sent by God because it's a lot of work. And, it can be hard building those relationships with some. I think she 100 percent deserves teacher of the month," said senior Nick Bellora.
Cooperative classes help students interact with peers they may not normally encounter otherwise.
This is beneficial to both the general education and special education students. The classes help special needs students to model appropriate behaviors from their peers.
For general education students, it enables them to develop an understanding and friendships with students with different abilities through organic social interactions.
DuCharme's ultimate goal with these classes is to "break the stigma and for everyone to be friends with everybody," creating a more inclusive school and community environment.
Bellora said the unified classes have helped him connect with a broader range of people they wouldn't typically interact with.
"One of my best buddies I actually met in unified class, Parker. I'd see him every day. I have lunch with him on Thursdays, and I probably wouldn't have ever had the chance to talk to him if I didn't have these classes," Bellora said.
"It's a relationship inside the class and outside class. When I see them in the halls, I give them a fist bump … It just widened my spans into people who I most of the time, wouldn't have a chance to talk to, and now I get to, so I think that's really big."
DuCharme helps facilitate these connections by creating a safe, welcoming, and fun classroom, students said.
"I think she's definitely very good at bringing the energy. This is always a class that everybody can relax in and everybody's excited for," said senior Jameson "Jamo" Bayliss.
Bayliss said it is important to feel comfortable in a learning environment because it makes students feel safe enough to speak up and makes them more engaged and willing to learn, he said.
Devika Sharma, also a senior, highlighted her experience in the cooperative cooking class. The class is fun but also teaches students important life lessons such as turning on the gas, using the stove correctly, and how to cook meals and desserts, she said.
Sharma said she has been baking since she was 9, but this class has taught her how to cook meals like shepherd's pie, homemade mac and cheese, among other things.
"I actually made gluten-free cookies, obviously, in the gluten-free kitchen, and I wasn't sure how they were going to come out. But believe it or not, they came out better than all the other cookies," Sharma said.
"The other ones were good too. But, I think I was just surprised, because gluten-free is different than gluten for sure."
Community skills student Aidan Barnes said he hopes to be prepared for the workforce, to learn how to make meals, and how to make friends once he leaves school.
Barnes said he has known DuCharme deserves teacher of the month since last year.
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