Meet Ms. Izabela Piekut
“An Awesome Teacher Is Hard to Find, Difficult to Part with, and Impossible to Forget!"
Before I became a Learning Specialist I worked with at-risk youth as an Educational Counsellor in an alternative school setting preparing young people struggling with academic failure, delinquency, drug and alcohol addictions, as well as severe social-emotional and behavioural difficulties integrate back into the regular High School program. While working with these youngsters, I quickly realized that most of them were simply kids, who somewhere along the way “fell through the cracks” while going through the public education system and who did not receive the support they needed to address their learning differences. As a result, they completely lost confidence in their abilities, their self-esteem plummeted and they eventually dropped-out of school and ended up on the street. This was really heartbreaking to see, so in order to engage them in meaningful learning I developed a nurturing and supportive connection with these students and helped them discover their gifts, strenghts and talents. This empowered and motivated them, taught them resilience and ultimately set them up for academic success. One of my students, Mike, who really struggled in Math, at the end of the school year received “The Most Improved Award”. Seeing him beam with pride in front of the entire school was a turning point in my career and it was then that I decided to become a Special Education teacher with young children, so that I could “catch” the learners who had learning disabilities early… before they lost hope and belief in themselves. This turned out to be my life passion.