Trinidad Contreras

My full name is Trinidad Contreras, but I preferred to be addressed as Trini. I am a mother, first in foremost, a wife of twenty plus years, an 8th grade ELA Special Education Aide and now a student of Lamar University.

Currently, I am a full time SPED Aide / Co-Teacher at North Shore Middle School at Galena Park ISD in Houston, Tx. Concurrently, I am a full time online student at the University of Lamar which is located in Beaumont, Tx. My employment position lead me to return to college in order to obtain a BAAS degree and a Teachers Certification. I am ambitious and set high goals for myself, professionally and personally. I love working with special needs children because it is so challenging and never boring. I am extremely active in the teaching environment and create genuine personal connections to my students, since I have found that 99% of them need advocates for not only their education, but for their domestic lives outside of school. As a child, my own struggles with behavioral issues and education have resulted in a desire to teach children with behavior issues. While I find my current work in and around these students challenging and rewarding, I am concerned for the students whose needs go unmet despite current best practice methods. When these needs go unmet it affects their education and life trajectory. I have a passion for fulfilling these needs by researching methods and pedagogy for the instruction of children with behavior issues to seek ways that facilitate not only their learning but empower them to become active and engaged learners.