Every activity Lauren Puglia plans for her students has an educational goal. Photos by Norm Shafer.
As a first-grader, Lauren Puglia lined up stuffed animals in front of a toy easel in a pretend classroom in her basement. Today, the multiple-disabilities teacher is living her childhood fantasy of teaching, while pursuing a master’s degree in education at UMW.
A wooden easel with a white dry erase board sits at the front of Puglia’s Mountain View High School classroom in Stafford County, Va. Colorful pictures, ABCs, and crafts adorn the room where she works with four teenagers. She is equipped to teach students with a variety of disabilities – autism, Angelman syndrome, Down syndrome, traumatic brain injury, and more.
“My goal is for my students to be as independent as possible when they leave Mountain View,” Puglia said. “I want to give them the social skills that they need to be productive members of society and make them feel like they are part of a community.”
When Puglia took the teaching position two years ago, she started the Buddy Club to match students from the multiple-disabilities classroom with general education students. The invited high school visitors come every day to work on socializing, and the students have formed friendships beyond the classroom.
Lauren Puglia always dreamed of becoming a teacher.
Puglia, with the help of two paraprofessionals, keeps to a carefully planned teaching schedule. The day begins with morning news, then alphabet activities. There is music, dancing, and free play before gym class and lunch. Each activity has an educational goal, but Puglia makes time for breaks so students don’t get overwhelmed.
Night classes at UMW inspire the 24-year-old’s lesson plans. Nicole Myers, associate professor in the College of Education and an expert in special education, teaches lessons students like Puglia can use in the classroom – student social skills, how to set up a classroom, data collection and reflection, community-based instruction, and parent collaboration. Puglia is engaged in class, the professor said, sharing real-life successes and struggles from her day.
“You can tell when you are lecturing that she is already thinking about how to apply the knowledge to her classroom,” Myers said.
Puglia can see the potential for success in all of her students, Myers said. And the small, slow steps forward in special education don’t discourage her.
Puglia’s talents are being recognized. She was voted First Class New Teacher of the Year by Stafford County Public Schools in 2013. And Myers has asked her to serve as a mentor teacher for promising UMW students.
“She is engaging, tireless, and supportive of her students. She is able to adjust to things on the fly and doesn’t let a student having a bad day get her down,” Myers said. “She actually seems to get motivated to step up to the challenge.”
After getting a bachelor’s degree in elementary and special education from Millersville University of Pennsylvania, Puglia moved to Stafford County to be its only multiple-disabilities high school teacher. She hopes to finish her master’s this year, pursue a doctorate, and eventually, become a college professor.
But for now, she’s enjoying her students. “They just make you feel better every day,” Puglia said. “The little
accomplishments are huge.”
– Melina Downs ’06