On November 10th, 2025, I took my first flight in several years solo from Buffalo to Kansas City, MO. It wasn’t a direct flight, no; I had to make a connecting flight from Denver. But eventually I made it to Kansas City.
As I said in previously blog posts (1, 2), I was preparing to present my preliminary findings of my dissertation at TED 2025, or the Teacher Education Division of CEC. I had an absolutely BLAST in Kansas City and at the conference. Upon arrival, my first order of business was to go to the local Bills Backers bar in the heart of Kansas City, Taps on Main.
After I had a great dinner, the conference began. What I really enjoyed about this conference was two-fold: its people and the sessions. Practically everyone I met was so kind to me, especially since I was attending by myself. But we all had something in common, which was the fact that we were all teacher educators, specifically for special educators. This was so refreshing to me, as I generally just see myself as an early childhood educator with some neat tricks, if you will. However, to be able to go right on in and represent myself as an early childhood SPECIAL educator, wanting to help support future candidates in this career path—that felt so refreshing to me.
If the sessions I attended didn’t have any to do with early childhood special education, then it had to do with teacher well-being. I am so excited with how the field is pursuing this, and it gives me such energy to know that my research interests come at the right time in the field. I learned about Project RESPECT, a new measure to determine the quality of a special educator’s working conditions and resources, and Project Sustain, an intervention to enhance the working conditions of special educators who support students with emotional and/or behavioral disorders (but may be able to generalize into the overall special education population). I also was able to meet researchers from the SPARC Center and I’m hoping to apply for an early career research opportunity with them in March!
I loved connecting with people in the NERDS SIG, the early career SIG and the early childhood education SIG. I also had a great time with Kaleidoscope with fellow doctoral students!
Speaking of Kaleidoscope, and going back to my poster session with them—I won an award! I won first place in the Mixed Methods Research category of Kaleidoscope. I can’t begin to explain how ecstatic and proud I am of my own work. It makes me really excited to continue on with my dissertation and graduate in the spring, but now I just need to find the energy to keep on analyzing and writing! You can find my poster on my Presentations page.
TED 2026 will be held in Denver next year, and I’m hoping that I’ll be able to go. I’d love to be able to present my completed dissertation at that time, too! Everyone was just such a joy to be with.
Also, if you ever find yourself in the Kansas City area, I can’t recommend Senorita Margarita enough. There are two young women there who are turning their lives around after some time in incarceration, with one completing her GED. Knowledge is not just power, but freedom, and a second chance at life. I’m thankful not just for the establishment for giving these women the opportunity to work with a record, but just for my own personal experience laughing with them over multiple dinners during the week.
Samantha Didrichsen, MSED. 