Joann Good

Background

About Joann Good

I have always enjoyed working with children. As a teenager, I worked in the neighborhood drug store. One of my " customers" was a Down Syndrome boy. Of course in 1966, there were no public classes for special needs students. So I worked with him when I was not busy, and taught him how to write his name. It was rewarding "work" and those interactions helped me realize what my career calling was to be. I started at Madison College in the fall of 1968 and majored in Special Education, which was a very new field. I also could teach K-7, because of a dual major. I loved the classes in my major and being able to interact with actual students in school settings in many capacities. I was thrilled to get a teaching job in Shenandoah Co. in 1972 working with Trainable Special needs students at New Market Elem. School. My first classroom was actually an old chicken coup. There was about an inch between the door and floor. So, it snowed into my room. My biggest accomplishment in teaching was the Work Experience Program I started for my Educable special needs students in 1997, at Central High School in Woodstock, VA. The students were able to get "hands-on experiences". We volunteered in three nursing homes, interacting with the patients. We played Bingo, read to them and wrote letters for them. Two days a week, we cleaned houses for pay. The program was from 12:30 PM to 3:10 PM. At first my teacher friends allowed us to clean their homes. But word got around that the students did a good job and were cheap. I supervised their work and had to give a critique of their work. If work was not "up to par", the job had to be done again, This was the first time my students had a job and earned their own money. It was awesome! Specialties: When you teach special needs students that range in age from 6-18, all in one classroom, with no aide, you have to be organized. There were very few to no classroom curriculums for my students in 1972. So I prepared all the worksheets, wrote their books. I used functional words, student's names, local towns/cities and sight words. It was fun, but time comsuming. I bounded the books in folders or in some cases used notebooks.