High School Life Skills Teacher in Chicago, IL
Ray Graham Training Center High School
Alex was a special education teacher at Wilma Rudolph Learning Center, a Chicago Public School on Chicago’s near westside, during his year in the Fellowship. Alex has his Master’s in Special Education, an LSB2 in transition and curriculum adaptation, and an ESL endorsement. Alex is currently serving as Rudolph’s case manager and working with middle school students to prepare for the transition to high school. Prior to Rudolph, Alex taught high school special education for 6 years in a full inclusion setting.
Alex has worked with students who have a wide variety of needs, and he believes that the best way to support student learning is to get to know your students’ strengths and interests and incorporate them into instruction. During the 2020/21 school year, Alex won a grant that provided the school with gardening and kitchen equipment and has been working with students to grow their own vegetables and make meals with them at school.
A favorite Food Education memory:
Any time we cooked as a class, would probably be my favorite memory. I current teach a post-secondary special education life skills, where we do a weekly trip to the grocery store, and cook one meal a week. That has been my favorite culinary activity so far.
Favorite Food Education Standard:
#1 – Food Connects Us to Each Other.
How Pilot Light changed my teaching:
I’ve been working on culinary projects more since I left the fellowship. My class now plans for a weekly recipe (putting together a grocery list, working on a budget, going to the store, following a recipe). This year we will be ranking our recipes and making a class cookbook out of the top 10 recipes at the end of the year.