Mrs. Smith not only shows that she cares about the success of her students, but will personally invest her time, energy, effort and love into it. She came (at no request) to the parent teacher conference outside school hours; she was prepared with printed copies to share my student's progress and with her guidance for the next semester. Mrs Smith is a SPED teacher that doesn't only evaluate the needs of her diverse kiddos but proactively reaches out to parents to collaborate and plan together so that meaningful milestones can be reached. On top of that, she connects with the children and fosters a relationship of trust that in turn leads students to work hard with her towards those goals. She is an example of a SPED teacher leader and I hope she is recognized as such by her school peers and administration and community at large.