Camelot Profile: Camelot Excel Academy Director of Diverse Learning Administrator for Special Education Elizabeth Landig
Elizabeth Landig is the Director of Diverse Learning Administrator for Special Education at Chicago Excel Academy. Elizabeth holds a Master’s degree in leadership and special education, and a Bachelor’s degree in education. After traveling the world as she grew up in a Navy family, Elizabeth spent her career a special education teacher in both alternative and traditional schools. Elizabeth joined Camelot in 2012.
What is your role as the Director of Diverse Learning Administrator and how does this position impact the students?
My role here at Camelot is to manage the support and services students need in order to be successful academically. We service students with a wide range of needs. In some cases they missed out on instruction due to dropping out so they need to catch up on some of the basic skills. Then we have those who struggle with motivation due to various socio- emotional factors. Some students have disabilities and it is my job to make sure that we are providing the academic and functional support they need in order to graduate.
How do you respond to students who need a little more help than others?
We provide support in many different ways to meet the socio-emotional and academic needs of the students. For example, the Behavior Specialist and I work together to develop a technique to manage a student’s response to frustration. In academics, we are using a computer-based program to bolster a student’s basic reading and math skills. We also provide collaborative teaching teams in all of the core subject areas, so with two teachers in the room the students are able to benefit from individualized attention. Lastly, we provide accommodations and modifications for students in accordance to their personal needs.
What do you enjoy most about your job?
I especially enjoy teaching students about the self-advocacy skills that they are going to need to be successful in life. I teach them to build on their strengths and to use strategies to overcome their weaknesses. Working at Camelot feeds my soul because when I see a student achieving their goals, despite the obstacles in their way, it’s just an amazing feeling.
Describe a moment where you were in a challenging situation but you overcame it.
Yes, I will say as a former teacher I was faced with many challenges of motivating students, either to stay on task etc. I tend to meet this challenge by frequently being a little on the “crazy” side. I have been known to standing on my head or playing sling shot games or even making music videos! I try to approach things from a unique point of view in an entertaining way in hopes to meet that challenge of motivating a student.
How have you used the Camelot Philosophy of “sharing success every step of the way”?
To me, this phrase means the students and staffs are working together for the success of our students. A prime example of that process is when our school received accreditation this year. And I was in charge of this process and it involved getting together the students, alumni, staff, community members all working together for about a year and a half, collecting and analyzing the data on our school to come up with a seven-year growth plan.
As a result of that process,
we have already implemented many positive changes in hopes to continue to lead to success for our students. For instance our mission statement has changed, we increased our professional development, broadened the post-secondary support we provide and increased the use of technology. These are some of the pieces that came out of this collaborative process and we think going forward with this seven year program will bring more success to our students.
What is your ultimate goal for every student?
The key skill in life for determining your success is self-advocacy. The ultimate goal of students is to help them build their self-advocacy skills. I tell them everyone has strengths and weaknesses. A person with strong self-advocacy skills knows how to build on those strengths and knows how to seek out help when needed.
What do you feel is an advantage for a student being at Camelot versus a traditional school?
We are not a school we are a program. We provide wraparound services where we support students intellectually, emotionally and even socially. We are a family here where staff gets involved in the students’ lives and the students see that we value their continued success.
