Professional Background

Disclaimer: I’m not a big fan of resumes, CVs, cover letters or other traditional documents, because they feel inauthentic and contrived. So take the following with a grain of salt, because it doesn’t necessarily mean much. In the education world, there is a lot of BS to sift through. What’s important to me isn’t  the “qualifications” people list. What is important is that someone can help solve problems, and actually help a child. Having said that, feel free to peruse the following if you find it useful. -Seth

Overview

I’m Seth Perler, an Executive Function Coach and Consultant with extensive experience addressing extraordinarily diverse learning needs. My experience includes:
  • Teaching for 12 years, different ages and subjects.
  • Teaching Gifted and Twice Exceptional (2E) students for 8 years.
  • Teaching students with learning differences like ADHD, Dyslexia, ASD, and executive function challenges.
  • Teaching Special Education students with developmental disabilities e.g. Autism, Down Syndrome, Coffin-Lowry Syndrome, Xeroderma Pigmentosum, SPD, LD, etc.
  • Teaching “typical” students.
  • Teaching Navajo students on the Navajo Indian Reservation 3 years.
  • Executive Function coaching middle, high school, and college students since 2010.
I have a passion for meeting the highly unique needs of individual students, and place heavy emphasis on addressing social, emotional, lifestyle, and executive function issues in order to help students experience success. My specialty tends to be with twice-exceptional learners. My goals are to:
  • Help students develop strategies for enhancing friendships, organization, and task management.
  • Determine exactly where to guide a student in order to help her/him thrive.
  • Help learners understand and utilize their strengths.
  • Help students understand their unique learning styles and needs.
  • Inspire and encourage students.
  • Help learners create meaningful and lasting changes.
  • Transform a child’s negative attitudes and limiting beliefs into positive and motivating ones.
  • Empower kids to simply be happy and successful.
I designed a service that would allow me to meet with families in order to provide highly customized guidance to meet the complex needs of learners. And so, sethperler.com was born to provide a valuable service that helps meet your needs.

Experience

Credentials -Licensed Teacher: Certified K-6 and Secondary Language Arts. Education -B.A. Education: Indiana University. Minored in African-American Studies. -M.A. Education: Gifted Education/Special Education, University of Northern Colorado. Teaching
  • 2003-2009 – 5th & 6th Grade Combo Teacher, all subjects.
  • 2002-2003 – 5th Grade Teacher, all subjects.
  • 2001-2002 – 6th, 7th, 8th grade Social Studies Teacher, World Civ, Ancient Civ, US history.
  • 1998-1999 – Pre-school Special Education Teacher, Twin Lakes, NM.
  • New Mexico K-8 License.
12 Years Experience Teaching Diverse Learners – Grades: Pre-K, 3rd, 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th. – Subjects: Math, Science, Social Studies, Language Arts (Reading, Writing, Speaking) – Learners: Typical Learners, Gifted, Twice Exceptional, Special Education – Where: Taught in Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado. Curriculum – Significant experience writing creatively differentiated curriculum, often based on state and national “standards.” Coaching & Consulting I have been coaching and consulting students and families since 2010. This is what I love. I get to help struggling students figure out how to navigate school and life. Camp I created and ran a Creative Writing Camp in Colorado for 3 years, because I love to teach writing. Other
  • I spoke at Indiana University graduation to represent my graduating class. This was a great honor.
  • Graduated with honors.
  • Received “9 News Teachers Who Care Award.”
  • Nominated for “Your Hub Top Teacher” award.
  • Nominated twice for the “Colorado Charter School Teacher of the Year” award.
  • Received the “Outstanding Achievement Award,” Indiana University School of Education.

Teacher Trainings, etc..

Note: A lot of trainings are a waste of time. Schools sometimes do stupid stuff, spending valuable money on red tape, and jumping through bureaucratic hoops, that could be better spent to help students in more meaningful ways. I am not a traditional teacher, and honestly, a lot of these things are BS. Just because someone completed a training doesn’t necessarily mean much. Having said that, here are some of the trainings I have done.
  • Mentor Training Course
  • Technology in the Classroom Certification
  • Differentiation for the Gifted Learner Certification
  • ELL Elementary Training: Basic Sheltered Instruction
  • Colorado Writing Project Fellow, Karen Crawford, coloradowritingproject.com
  • School Climate Liaison Training, I was the School Climate Liaison for the school.
  • Math Add+Vantage, I got a lot out of this exhaustive training series
  • Science Investigations Training
  • FOSS Science program professional development. How to use FOSS kits in the classroom.
  • Standards-Based Unit Design Professional Development Program, Division of Navajo Education. Extensive training program designed to teach me how to use the standards to drive curriculum development.
  • Equity in Education Leadership Cohort Group – One of my favorites. Unfortunately, even though participants found this incredibly useful and meaningful, the district decided to eliminate the Equity program.
  • Choices and Change Bully Prevention Training – Safehouse Progressive Alliance for Nonviolence
  • The Devine Healing Rays – Certificate of Achievement Healing Practitioner from the Garden of Healing Energy. Yep, apparently I can heal you with rays of light, at least that was what I learned about in this course I paid a bunch of money for in Sedona, AZ one time. Umm, I am skeptical that I can do any healing with light rays, and I’m pretty sure this certificate is useless.
  • Service to Youth Award – An award from the Kiwanis Club.
  • Honor of Excellence Award, Little Singer School
  • Help for Billy in the Classroom Training – Addressing the emotional needs of kids. Trauma, the neuroscience social-emotional development, and teaching traumatized students.

My Values

Service

I’m motivated by the belief that people should use their strengths, talents and interests to better the world in a personally meaningful way. Therefore, my intention is to be of maximum service to the people I work with. I develop genuine care and concern for families and invest a great deal of time and effort, in and out of sessions, to empower meaningful solutions.

Honesty

Serving in this capacity allows me the opportunity to see family dynamics from an outside perspective. It takes courage for a family to hire someone that will see these dynamics and to actually ask for help and honest feedback in honor of helping their children. I bring a strong sense of clarity to these unique situations without judgment. My honest perspectives are positively framed and solution-based.

Creative Solutions

There is no “one size fits all” when it comes to effective coaching. Facilitating change that is truly meaningful requires creative approaches that are carefully tailored to individual situations. Unfortunately, schools often neglect this sort of approach as curricula that are driven by standardized tests often end up standardizing students.