As a special education teacher, Madison Phillips ’23, ’24MED recognizes that progress will always look different for each of her students and may often come in small steps. 

Watching her students at Southwood Elementary School make this progress, and accomplish something they once thought to be impossible, is what makes special education so rewarding, she said. 

“I truly love what I do, and I feel incredibly fortunate to get to come to work each day and work with students who challenge me, teach me and remind me that every child has so much potential,” Phillips said. 

Phillips’ school district also feels fortunate to have her on their staff, recognizing her commitment to her students with the Davidson County Schools Exceptional Children Educator of Excellence Award. 

In presenting Phillips with the award, one of the district’s Exceptional Children (EC) directors cited Phillips’ “natural leadership, professional grace and deep compassion” and noted her commitment to ensuring that students with disabilities are included in extracurricular and all other aspects of school activity. 

“Receiving this award means more to me than I can really put into words. I love what I do, and I genuinely love my students, so to be recognized for something that I pour my heart into every day is incredibly humbling,” Phillips said. “As a young teacher, I am still learning and growing, and there are many people who have poured into me and helped me become the teacher I am today.”

Her time in the NC State College of Education—where she earned an undergraduate degree in elementary education with a special education add-on licensure and a Master of Education in special education—also prepared Phillips to be an effective teacher. 

She chose the College of Education, where she was a North Carolina Teaching Fellow, because it offered a strong foundation in both elementary and special education as well as opportunities to collaborate with other future educators and learn from faculty who had classroom experience. 

One of the most important lessons she remembers from her time in the College of Education, she said, is that there is no one-size-fits-all approach to teaching, especially in a special education classroom. 

When a student is facing an obstacle to understanding, Phillips always remembers not to ask “why isn’t this student learning” but instead ask “what can I do differently to help this student learn?”

“Every student comes with different strengths, experiences, needs and ways of learning, and it is our responsibility as educators to figure out how to meet them where they are,” Phillips said. “That lesson has stayed with me, especially as a special education teacher. I think about it every day when I am planning instruction, working with a student who is struggling, or trying to find a different way to explain something.”