HOULTON, Maine — An Aroostook County high school teacher was shocked to learn she was recently named Maine’s state special education teacher of the year.
A Houlton native and University of Maine at Presque Isle graduate, Chris Lee, special education teacher at Houlton Middle High School, has worked for the school system for 44 years and is in her 30th year of teaching, she said.
In April she was named the Aroostook County Special Education Teacher of the Year and on Monday night the school board honored Lee for the state recognition.
Lee will officially receive her award from the Maine Administrators of Special Services for Children with Disabilities at its annual meeting in Bar Harbor later this month.
“I have a passion for what I do. When you come to work every day, you know the difference you are making for your students and their families, but you don’t think about how other people necessarily are viewing what you do,” Lee said.
Early in her teaching career Lee attended a preview session on the Wilson Reading System, which is a method of teaching people who have a language-based learning disability, that changed everything for her and her students.
“It was a lightbulb moment,” she said. “I thought, ‘this is what my students need.’”
Lee has created a space for her one-on-one reading sessions with students. The scent of soothing peppermint lightly fills the small room she was assigned a few years ago. Prior to having her location to work with students, it was a daily nomadic adventure as she packed up each student’s reading workbooks and other learning tools to find a space in the school where they could work.
It didn’t appear to bother her that for several years she did not have a permanent space as she talked about student progress and the science of reading with the knowledge of a practiced veteran.
“I marvel at her energy and endless supply of patience as she methodically transforms the lives of her students,” said DeWayne Morris Houlton Middle High School Principal in his letter supporting Lee’s nomination. Morris found a permanent space in the school for Lee to work. “Simply put, Chris Lee is changing lives, one student at a time. She is opening doors that students and parents thought would be shut forever.”
The district’s director of student services, Sandy Flacke has been a member of Maine Administrators of Special Services for Children with Disabilities for many years and at each annual meeting she considered who in the district might be a good candidate for the award. She decided to nominate Lee after sitting in on an individual education plan meeting with her, adding that Lee is highly professional, articulate.
Reading is not a natural process, and many mistakenly believe anyone can read, Lee said. “If you have dyslexia or another reading disability that does not happen. So, you have to be explicitly taught.”
After a year of intensive training, Lee was certified in the Wilson Reading System and uses it to teach students from several grades in one-on-one sessions.
Putting her new skills to work, she agreed to help a student after his father, Ken Ervin, asked for additional reading assistance for his son, Zack.
Zack, who was in the seventh grade at the time, started at level one with closed syllable words like cat, hat, mash, she said. And he worked his way up to level 12, being able to read words like ambiguity. Zack was the first student in the district to graduate from the program and he no longer needs his siblings to read for him, his father said.
“Working with Zack rekindled that passion that I had for using Wilson and for the science of reading,” she said. “It’s what students need to become successful.”
Ervin said Lee will always hold a special place with his family.
“Zack will always be thankful for her patience and belief in him. Zack and I cannot thank her enough,” Ervin said in his letter of recommendation for her nomination.
Zack uses what he has learned to help his 8-year-old twin sisters with decoding and understanding words, he said.
Maine Special Education Teachers of the Year are nominated for their outstanding contributions to the field of special education, demonstration of an awareness of current educational developments by utilizing programs which are viable, innovative and being involved in implementing new programs for students with disabilities, to name a few.
“It is my honor to tell you about Chris Lee. We have known each other professionally since we began our special education coursework in the early 1990s,” said Renae Foley, instructional strategist at Houlton Middle High School. “She is one of the most caring, hard-working and thoughtful educators that I have met through my years in education.”