Jessica Beaudry has worked as a tutor in The New England Center for Children’s (NECC) Partner Program as a tutor in an elementary school in Derry, NH, for three years. She was nominated for Staff Spotlight because she “continually works hard to gain so much knowledge and should take pride in all her accomplishments. In the classroom, she is dedicated to all the students and is an amazing resource when you need help understanding academic curriculum or behavior plans. Jess is going to make an incredible teacher in the near future and possesses so many amazing qualities for all her future goals.”
What are your daily duties/schedule like as a tutor in Derry?
My duties include working 1:1 with students both in the NECC classroom and inclusion classrooms. I am a case manager for a fully included student, so in addition to typical case management duties (summing IT data and behavior data, creating materials, updating prescription sheets and curriculum), I also work closely with the general education teacher to figure out how best to accommodate my student.
What is your favorite part of your job?
My favorite part of my job is working with general education teachers and getting to show them all that our students have to offer.
Why did you choose a career in helping children with autism?
I actually joined this field by accident. I was looking for a new job and my mom recommended that I apply to the public school as a paraprofessional. I ended up being placed in a sub-separate classroom with students who had all been diagnosed with autism, and I have never looked back after that. I have been in the field since then, which is about eight years now.
Why NECC?
The teacher with whom I worked in my first public school job told me about NECC’s program in Abu Dhabi and showed me pictures from her time there. She also worked to get the ACE® ABA Software System for our district. Fast forward a few years, I was applying to jobs after COVID and saw that NECC was hiring. I remembered all of the conversations I had with this teacher about it and decided to apply.
Have you taken advantage of any of the graduate programs or teacher training at NECC? If so, how has it affected your teaching style?
I am enrolled in the Simmons University master’s degree program and will be graduating in 2025. I have taken a few education courses that have helped me remediate some programs for my students and also helped me recognize where a skill deficit is. For example, I took a multisensory reading strategies class and was able to recognize that one of my students was having trouble identifying certain words when reading because of a deficit in letter sounds and letter-sound combinations.
What is something about you that your colleagues might be surprised to learn?
My husband and I have eight pets: two rescue dogs (Crockett and Dixie) and six ducks (Mac, Fawn, Hazel, Pint, Puddle, and Petal).
Who is someone you look up to?
I look up to my mom. She is a cancer survivor and was a single mom for many years. She taught me resilience and strength.
What is your life philosophy or motto you like to live by?
My motto is to “dance like no one is watching.” I use the word dance in the figurative sense and take this saying to mean that you should do the things that bring you joy no matter what other people think of them.