Disclaimer: I’m not a fan of resumes, CVs, cover letters or other traditional documents, because they often feel inauthentic, misleading and contrived. So take the following with a grain of salt, because it doesn’t necessarily mean much of anything. You see, in the education world, there is a lot of BS floating around. So what’s important to me isn’t that I use my “qualifications” to somehow prove something. What’s important is that I’m able to help you solve your problem, to give you tools that actually help your kid. Period. If I don’t help you in that way, my site is a waste of your time, and that’s the opposite of my intention. Having said all that, feel free to peruse the following if you find it useful…
I’m Seth Perler, an Education Coach, Consultant and Advocate with extensive experience addressing extraordinarily diverse learning needs. This includes:
- Teaching a diverse range of Gifted and Twice Exceptional (2E) students in charter schools
- Teaching students with ADD, ADHD, Dyslexia and other executive function challenges
- Teaching Special Education students with developmental disabilities e.g. Autism, Asperger’s, Down Syndrome, Coffin-Lowry Syndrome, XP (Xeroderma Pigmentosum), SPD, LD, etc.
- Teaching “typical” students
- Teaching Navajo students on the Navajo Indian Reservation
- Teaching grade 3, 5, 6, 7 & 8 as well as working with high school and college students
I have a passion for meeting the highly unique needs of individual students and I place heavy emphasis on addressing social, emotional, lifestyle and executive function issues in order to help students experience success. My specialty tends to be working 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 strengths.
- Help students understand their unique learning styles and needs.
- Inspire and encourage students.
- Help learners create meaningful, powerful 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.
Experience
Credentials
-Licensed Teacher, Colorado, Certified K-6 and Secondary Language Arts
-B.A. Education, Indiana University, graduated with honors, they asked me to speak at graduation, received an “Outstanding Achievement Award”
-M.A. Education, Gifted Education/Special Education, University of Northern Colorado
12 Years Experience Teaching Diverse Learners
– Grades: Pre-K, 3rd, 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th
– Subjects taught: Math, Science, Social Studies, Language Arts (Reading, Writing, Speaking)
– Learners: Typical Learners, Gifted, Twice Exceptional, Special Education
– Where: I taught in Arizona, New Mexico and Colorado
Curriculum
– Significant experience writing creatively differentiated curriculum, based on state and national standards (and we love them standards, don’t we?).
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 because I love to teach writing.
Other
- Spoke at Indiana University graduation to represent my graduating class. This was a great honor.
- Received “9 News Teachers Who Care Award, Honorable Mention.”
- Nominated for “Your Hub Top Teacher” award.
- Nominated twice for “Colorado Charter School Teacher of the Year” award.
- Received “Outstanding Achievement Award,” Indiana University School of Education.
Education
- BS Elementary Education, Indiana University. Minored in African-American Studies, May 9, 1998.
- MA Gifted Education, UNC (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 (yep, teaching these three areas was a big job!)
- 1998-1999 – Pre-school Special Education Teacher, Twin Lakes, NM
- New Mexico K-8 License
Teacher Trainings, etc..
Note: A lot of school trainings are a complete waste of time. Schools sometimes do some really stupid stuff, like force teachers to take trainings that have nothing to do with their role in the school, which means that they spend valuable money on red tape and jumping through bureaucratic hoops, that could be better spent to help students in meaningful ways. It’s truly disturbing to experience, ask your teacher friends about it someday. Having said that, here are some of the trainings I have done.
Mentor Training, Adams 12 Staff Development Course
Technology in the Classroom, Adams 12
Differentiation for the Gifted Learner, Adams 12
ELL Elementary Training: Basic Sheltered Instruction, Adams 12
Colorado Writing Project Fellow, Karen Crawford, coloradowritingproject.com
School Climate Liaison Training, BVSD – I was the School Climate Liaison for one of the schools I worked at.
Math Add+Vantage, BVSD – I got a lot out of this exhaustive training series
Science Investigations Training – BVSD
FOSS Science program professional development. How to use FOSS kits in teh classroom. BVSD
Standards Based Unit Design Professional Development Program, Division of Navajo Education. This was an extensive training program designed to teach me how to use the standards to drive curriculum development.
Equity in Education Leadership Cohort Group – This was a huge training, and one of my favorites. Unfortunately, even though the 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, August, 2005. 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 of Meridian Hills in Indianapolis. Honestly, I can’t remember why they gave me this.
Honor of Excellence Award, Little Singer School
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 a 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” in 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.
Certifications, etc..
Note: Feel free to read through these, but know that I am not a traditional teacher, and honestly, I think that a lot of these things are BS. Just because someone completed a training doesn’t necessarily mean much.
Help for Billy in the Classroom Training – October, 2014, 5.0 hours. Heather T Forbes taught this seminar, and I’m a big fan of hers. I’ve been following her work for a long time and she does a great job of addressing emotional needs of kids. This seminar covered Trauma and neuroscience social-emotional development, and teaching traumatized students.
