- Spending time with family and friends
- Exploring famous landmarks, historical sites, and cultural attractions in a new destination
- Travel
- Participating in fundraising events to support local charities, schools, or community projects
- Time at the Lake and Pool in the summertime
- Tennis and Pickleball
- Horseback Riding
Megan West-Binder
Cleveland,TN
Summary
I am seeking a full-time role that offers professional challenges and allows utilization of interpersonal skills, effective task management, and problem-solving expertise.
My primary focus as an Educator is on meeting academic and emotional needs of all students, while guiding them towards a Christ-centered path. Faith serves as the foundation of my life and influences every aspect, including my role as a teacher. I strive to approach each day with a positive and enthusiastic attitude, aiming to embody the Lord's love for my students, their families, and my colleagues.
I consider myself to have a compassionate and caring nature, while offering personalized and hands-on support tailored to individual learning needs and strengths. My strong communication skills and patient demeanor, are strengths that help me to offer positive reinforcement in both team-based and structured environments. Additionally, my education and experience in the classroom has equipped me to address a wide range of skills by customizing instruction to promote success and growth amongst my students. As a parent first, then educator - I understand the importance of effective collaboration with teachers, support staff, administration, and parents/guardians to foster educational, social, and spiritual growth for each student. I feel strongly that my background in early childhood as a developmental therapist and exceptional education teacher in the elementary setting, has prepared me to be a well-rounded, effective teacher across many grade levels.
Overview
13
13
years of professional experience
1
1
Certification
Work History
Exceptional Education Teacher
Hamilton County Schools
08.2023 - Current
- Effectively case-managed 12-70 students.
- Provided professional development consults to educate faculty and staff on laws and regulations governing special education, when needed.
- Planned daily activities to keep students engaged and on track with learning goals.
- Utilized technology to create meaningful lessons that engage students.
- Maintained accurate records of student progress and attendance.
- Developed Individual Education Plans for students with special needs.
- Monitored student performance to evaluate effectiveness of instructional strategies.
- Conducted assessments of students to determine individual needs.
- Provided emotional support to students and families.
- Implemented behavior modification techniques to improve student social and academic performance.
- Collaborated with other educators to develop instructional strategies.
- Helped students with special needs integrate into general classroom environments by advocating for individual requirements and helping teachers solve problems.
- Mentored new teachers on student progress monitoring and legal document preparation.
- Developed and implemented behavior management plans to improve student behavior.
- Worked closely with parents and guardians to address students' issues on multiple fronts.
Special Education ERC Kindergarten
Cleveland City Schools, Candy's Creek Elementary
09.2022 - 08.2023
- Lead classroom teacher for kindergarten ERC classroom, with 5 students - 2 being non verbal
- Create lesson plans and instructional materials based on needs of students and differentiate appropriately in instruction
- Provided support to students through specialized accommodations, extra assistance and educational assessments
- Organized IEP materials through easy IEP, conducted IEP meetings, and implemented IEP through instruction
- Supervised test taking and graded papers
- Affirmatively communicated and promoted positive attitudes with every student
- Conducted personal progress monitoring reports to observe educational and behavior needs of each student
- Fostered relationships with students to increase engagement and periodically reported student progress to parents
- Work alongside other sped team members, administration, speech therapists, occupational therapists, esl teachers, etc to better serve student's needs
- Worked to integrate students from fully contained ERC-classroom to attending specials and participating in other regular ed classroom settings from October to February.
Developmental Therapist
Signal Centers
01.2022 - 10.2022
- Attended training and seminars that educated on Autism, behavior intervention, autism intervention therapies
- Participated in transition meetings, eligibility meetings for upcoming preschoolers
- Accompanied parents and children to their OT, PT, ST and evaluation appointments
- Supported parents in providing an outlined goal list per week and interventions to use to work towards reaching each goal
- Supported parents by educating them on an array of disabilities as well as interventions and therapies that were beneficial for their children
- Worked with TEIS service coordinators, PTs, OTs, STs, etc to provide intervention plans to best suit each child
- Brainstormed with Developmental Therapy team on strategies and interventions to implement and use.
Special Education Paraprofessional
Bradley County Schools, Ocoee Middle School
08.2014 - 05.2015
- Organized and prepared instructional materials
- Delivered specialized classroom instruction to broad range of students with developmental disorders
- Conducted small group and individual classroom activities with students based on differential learning needs
- Implemented lesson plans outlined by classroom teacher to educate students about key concepts
- Built and strengthened positive relationships with students and teaching staff
- Assisted in and participated in IEP meetings and parent conferences
- Conducted progress monitoring observations for students and assisted in behavior management.
Special Education Substitute
Bradley County Schools, Goal Academy
03.2014 - 05.2025
- Organized and prepared instructional materials outlined by classroom teachers
- Delivered specialized classroom instruction to broad range of students with developmental and behavioral disorders
- Conducted small group and individual classroom activities with students based on differential learning needs
- Built and strengthened positive relationships with students and teaching staff.
Business Owner - Orange Blossom Boutique
Self
09.2017 - 02.2019
- Trained and motivated employees to perform daily business functions.
- Consulted with customers to assess needs and propose optimal solutions.
- Negotiated price and service with customers and vendors to decrease expenses and increase profit.
- Handled problematic customers and clients to assist lower-level employees and maintain excellent customer service.
- Monitored daily cash discrepancies, inventory shrinkage and drive-off.
- Supervised creation of exciting merchandise displays to catch attention of store customers.
- Tracked trends and suggested enhancements to both challenge and refine company's product offerings.
- Managed purchasing, sales, marketing and customer account operations efficiently.
- Interacted well with customers to build connections and nurture relationships.
- Recruited, hired, and trained initial personnel, working to establish key internal functions and outline scope of positions for new organization.
- Observed each employee's individual strengths and initiated mentoring program to improve areas of weakness.
- Scheduled employees for shifts, taking into account customer traffic and employee strengths.
Sales Associate
Genevieve Bond Gifts
08.2012 - 12.2020
- Prepared merchandise for sales floor by pricing or tagging.
- Helped customers locate products and checked store system for merchandise at other sites.
- Organized racks and shelves to maintain store visual appeal, engage customers, and promote specific merchandise.
- Accurately processed POS transactions, returning coin, currency, payment cards, and receipts to customers.
- Maintained calm demeanor and professionally managed issues in busy, high-stress situations.
- Engaged with customers to effectively build rapport and lasting relationships.
- Answered customer questions about sizing, accessories, and merchandise care.
- Solved customer challenges by offering relevant products and services.
- Provided positive first impressions to welcome existing, new, and potential customers.
- Managed returns, exchanges and refunds in accordance with store policy.
- Rotated stock and restocked shelves to maintain product availability and store appearance.
- Used in-store system to locate inventory and place special orders for customers.
- Monitored customers for signs of security concerns and escalated issues to management.
- Opened, shelved and merchandised new products in visually appealing and organized displays for optimal sales promotions.
Education
Masters in Education - Special Education
Lee University
Cleveland, TN07-2025
Special Education Support Services -
Lee University
Cleveland07.2017
Skills
- Christ Centered Foundation
- Communication
- Social Media Knowledge of Disorders and Coinciding Therapies
- Positive Outlook
- Energetic
- Passionate
- Goal Oriented
- Creative
- Critical Thinking
- Problem-solving
- Adaptability
- Decision-making
- Microsoft office
- Conflict resolution
- Team management
- Multitasking Abilities
- Parent and teacher conferences
- Curriculum implementation
- Child development
- Differentiated instruction
- Learning strategies
- Student motivation
- Student engagement
Certification
- DLM Kite Assessment Proctor- 2024
- Read 360 - Certificate - 2024
- Certified Special Education Comprehensive K-12 Teacher
Interests
Timeline
Exceptional Education Teacher
Hamilton County Schools
08.2023 - Current
Special Education ERC Kindergarten
Cleveland City Schools, Candy's Creek Elementary
09.2022 - 08.2023
Developmental Therapist
Signal Centers
01.2022 - 10.2022
Business Owner - Orange Blossom Boutique
Self
09.2017 - 02.2019
Special Education Paraprofessional
Bradley County Schools, Ocoee Middle School
08.2014 - 05.2015
Special Education Substitute
Bradley County Schools, Goal Academy
03.2014 - 05.2025
Sales Associate
Genevieve Bond Gifts
08.2012 - 12.2020
Masters in Education - Special Education
Lee University
Special Education Support Services -
Lee University
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