UNDATED (WREX) -
Painters, photographers and sculptors can all express a range of emotions without ever saying a word. An area art teacher uses that idea to help some of her special needs students. Lena-Winslow educator Mrs. Susan Amendt is our newest Teacher of the Week.
Mrs. Susan Amendt teaches art class at Lena-Winslow Elementary. She loves expressing herself through her creations and wants all her students--those with and without special needs-- to have the same experience, especially those with Autism Spectrum Disorder. "I feel like I need to stay up beat on those things because those students are all in my classroom and I feel like art is a great way for all children to express their interests and especially a child with ASD. They are put in a non-threatening environment where they all can excel."
Katy Raab is the Special Ed pre-school teacher at Lena-Winslow. She noticed that Mrs. Amendt was going above and beyond for her special needs students. Mrs. Raab nominated her for her extra efforts. "I just love the fact that she includes everybody in her classroom. And she reaches out to the entire population of students. It's really neat to see that she's not limiting herself as a teacher and she's not limiting the students that she works with because they might have a special need. So it's really neat to se her making connections with every kid in her room regardless of their ability."
Even Lena Winslow Principal Mary Gerbode noticed how hard Mrs. Amendt works. She says Mrs. Amendt is the type of teacher that sets goals for herself at the beginning of the year and always succeeds! "She does outstanding ideas and what's fun to see that every year. She takes new ideas and stretches them so the art work never becomes stale. Students look forward to coming to art class and she just pulls the creative side out of them and expects what they offer and stretches them even further."
Mrs. Amendt has been the art teacher at Lena Winslow for the past 12 years.
