LORI LONG

Paraprofessional/Priestly Elementary MDS Classroom

Lori is able to think on her feet and create materials and activities, as they are needed. She assists in preparing the many engaging materials that are needed for individual students. With the diverse age levels and exceptionalities in our classroom, Lori creatively prepares and adapts materials according to student needs with a little help from Pinterest.

Lori does research at home in the evenings and brings materials to school for fine motor and craft activities. She does a great job assisting students with their skill development!

When in the Head Start program, there were days after the children left and the teacher would be studying the Work Sampling System Assessment book, and Lori would stay and read along and study with the teacher, so she could learn how to take observations, and she became quite good at it. There were days when it was our responsibility to set up the dramatic play area in the center, and Lori always happily stayed late with me to make it an extra special area for the children. Lori always looked for and helped to plan fun and educational activities for small group and art or sensory activities to add to Work Time to add some more focused learning opportunities for the students.

Since transferring to the Special Education division at the CSIU, Lori has worked to make sure that all of her students have access to an engaging and content-rich and learning environment.

Lori comes to work each day with a smile on her face excited about what the day will bring. She takes the time to get to know her students so that she can develop activities designed to meet their individual needs. Overall, Lori is an energetic person whose presence alone can have an overwhelming impact on a classroom.

– Bonnie Albertson