Fab Teachers: California

Daniela Ortega 

Myrtle Finney Elementary School in San Diego | Kindergarten-First Grade Moderate/Severe SDC Teacher  

How long have you been teaching? Five years.  

What inspired you to be a teacher? I have always loved education. As a young girl, I loved going to school and some of my best memories are in a classroom learning. When it came time for me to decide my career path in college, I felt like it was an easy choice. I wanted to have a positive impact on children’s lives, just as my teachers had on mine. However, choosing this specific path of education and working with students that have severe disabilities such as autism, Down Syndrome and intellectual disabilities came as a surprise to me. Initially, I started subbing in a M/S SDC classroom which quickly sparked my interest in working with this amazing population of students and, honestly, I absolutely fell in love with it. Fast forward a few years and here I am with my own kids who steal my heart every day.  

What is your greatest joy in teaching? There are many amazing aspects to this job, but I would say my greatest joy is watching my kids make progress little by little. My goal for them is to be happy, as independent as possible and to be kind to others. Watching my students begin to meet their personal goals, locate their classroom chair and even standing in the lunch line choosing their own lunch are amazing demonstrations of the hard work they put in every day. Not every day is easy. Most of their days can be very difficult but they never give up, and it’s important to always push them to meet their highest potential.  

What about your greatest challenge? The greatest challenge that my job possesses is having the resources, support and time needed to care for all my of student’s specific needs. Each child has various high needs that need to be met. Whether that is academically, social/emotionally, hygienically or even their basic needs of being fed and cared for. Sometimes I feel like I’m doing a juggling act, and I know this goes for almost every teacher out there. Expectations for what a teacher is expected to do keeps increasing and our plates keep getting fuller with each passing school year. It can be hard to do everything, but I always try to make it work regardless of the situation.  

If a student can have only one takeaway from time spent in your classroom, what would it be? I hope they felt loved, valued and had fun learning in my class.