Introduction
My name is Emily Klein, I am an adaptive physical education and a special education teacher in northern Nevada. I have an interest in quality PE for students with disabilities and have taught on the topic. I am happily married to my wonderful husband John and we have one very active son, Gage and two dogs. We love to PLAY! We have been married for 13 years and every year we celebrate by playing outdoors as a family. I have a teaching degree in physical and health education from Idaho State University. Go Bengals! In 2015 I graduated with my master's in special education from the university of Idaho. My passion is bringing quality movement to all children. I have been a volunteer with Special Olympics coaching swimming, softball, snowshoeing, volleyball, and bowling. I taught swim lessons to children and adults with a variety of abilities for 9 years and volunteered in special education classrooms to teach adaptive PE. I've been teaching in the fields for 3 years. I've presented at state and national conferences on the collaboration of Physical and Special Education and incorporating the common core into the PE curriculum. I am a first author for the Teaching Exceptional Children (TEC) journal on collaboration between PE and Special Education.
Philosophy
Special education is a unique and inspiring setting; it is where students with disabilities are seen as students with exceptionalities. It is a place where students, families and teachers of all kinds, come together as a team for youth to have continued success. Special education should never be taken advantage of. It should be a place where students of multiple abilities can come to flourish and feel safe doing so. I was first drawn to special education when I began working on field work for my undergraduate classes. I noticed how happy and enthusiastic the kids in these classes were and how simple improvements were so exciting. Small steps, such as a student with an intellectual disability who makes contact with a volleyball and hits it over the net, is something that makes my day. I eventually started working with students with special needs in and outside of the classroom. They always made me happy and were so fun to be around. I was so excited to see small improvements from my students during swim lessons or during adaptive physical education. I believe all children can learn, regardless of the challenges set before them. I know that all children can play and in my classroom everyone does play, no one is left out because they play differently. First and foremost students must know that they are cared for by their teachers and have their support. If this is the case, ALL children can learn because a caring teacher will not let anything stop their student from learning. They will find the resources and tools that are necessary to give their students the best education and work with their families to provide consistent benefits. I have seen caring teachers and what their classroom feels like, I've also seen less fortunate classrooms that seem to lack this great environment. Students must have opportunities to access the benefits of the classroom through multiple means of representation and this site provides the tools to give them this access. Children should not be looked at like little robots who function the same way. Instead they should be recognized for the strengths they bring to each setting, the challenges they face to help us all learn, and the unique individuals that they are.
My name is Emily Klein, I am an adaptive physical education and a special education teacher in northern Nevada. I have an interest in quality PE for students with disabilities and have taught on the topic. I am happily married to my wonderful husband John and we have one very active son, Gage and two dogs. We love to PLAY! We have been married for 13 years and every year we celebrate by playing outdoors as a family. I have a teaching degree in physical and health education from Idaho State University. Go Bengals! In 2015 I graduated with my master's in special education from the university of Idaho. My passion is bringing quality movement to all children. I have been a volunteer with Special Olympics coaching swimming, softball, snowshoeing, volleyball, and bowling. I taught swim lessons to children and adults with a variety of abilities for 9 years and volunteered in special education classrooms to teach adaptive PE. I've been teaching in the fields for 3 years. I've presented at state and national conferences on the collaboration of Physical and Special Education and incorporating the common core into the PE curriculum. I am a first author for the Teaching Exceptional Children (TEC) journal on collaboration between PE and Special Education.
Philosophy
Special education is a unique and inspiring setting; it is where students with disabilities are seen as students with exceptionalities. It is a place where students, families and teachers of all kinds, come together as a team for youth to have continued success. Special education should never be taken advantage of. It should be a place where students of multiple abilities can come to flourish and feel safe doing so. I was first drawn to special education when I began working on field work for my undergraduate classes. I noticed how happy and enthusiastic the kids in these classes were and how simple improvements were so exciting. Small steps, such as a student with an intellectual disability who makes contact with a volleyball and hits it over the net, is something that makes my day. I eventually started working with students with special needs in and outside of the classroom. They always made me happy and were so fun to be around. I was so excited to see small improvements from my students during swim lessons or during adaptive physical education. I believe all children can learn, regardless of the challenges set before them. I know that all children can play and in my classroom everyone does play, no one is left out because they play differently. First and foremost students must know that they are cared for by their teachers and have their support. If this is the case, ALL children can learn because a caring teacher will not let anything stop their student from learning. They will find the resources and tools that are necessary to give their students the best education and work with their families to provide consistent benefits. I have seen caring teachers and what their classroom feels like, I've also seen less fortunate classrooms that seem to lack this great environment. Students must have opportunities to access the benefits of the classroom through multiple means of representation and this site provides the tools to give them this access. Children should not be looked at like little robots who function the same way. Instead they should be recognized for the strengths they bring to each setting, the challenges they face to help us all learn, and the unique individuals that they are.