Arielle K.

T.G. Barr

What if I walked into the room right now and assigned you a new life? From this point on you will be a new teacher in an elementary school. You won't be teaching just one grade, rather a group consisting of kindergarten through third grade children with autism. Oh, and you will be enrolled in a master's program at ASU. Scared yet? Arielle King wasn't. When she first started teaching last year, she found herself in the situation described above, which would have sent even some of the stoutest individuals running and screaming towards the hills. But Ms. King didn't have time to run or scream, but she instantly gave herself entirely to her students, from her time to her money to her love. Working in South Phoenix, Ms. King quickly discovered that sometimes economic support runs out before it trickles into special education, so she spent countless hours creating her own curriculums and student-specific worksheets in order to teach not only state and federal standards, but also each of her student's individual education plans. She paid for most of the activities and therapy tools in her classroom, somehow stretching her pockets deeper every time she felt one of her kiddos would benefit from a certain manipulative, despite the fact that she was also paying her master's tuition at ASU. So what made her come back for a second go round this year? That's where the love comes in. Arielle loves those kids like they are her own. She could just teach to the standards and be done, but instead she works to make every day stimulating, fun, and a proof that school is an incredible place to be. She adds lessons like "Country of the Week" to teach global awareness and encourages activities like picking up litter to teach civic responsibility. She signs her class up for every school show to make sure they know they are just as important as their peers. And the kids love her back almost as much as I do. They call her Ms. King, but I am honored to call her my sister.

Signed,
Julia King