I am a PhD student in the Curriculum, Instruction and the Science of Learning program at the University at Buffalo! I specialize in early childhood special education and have been teaching for several years. My husband and I live in the City of Buffalo where we're currently building our life. My goal is to create an additional teacher preparation program in early childhood special education in Western NY to address the need for providers to service young children.
Well, the spring semester ended about two weeks ago, but with grading final projects and quizzes, taking a mental break, handling a death in the family (and thus, taking another mental break), I am slowly but surely getting back to the grind! While I had the chance to breathe and give myself some grace, I … More End of Spring ’24!
Well, I am BACK! I’m exhausted, but after attending 3 days of AERA down in Philadelphia, I drove back to Buffalo Sunday morning, getting back officially in the evening. Yes you read that right, I drove. We either need to add more affordable, direct flights to nearby cities, or rebuild our railroad infrastructure in the … More Recap: AERA 2024
So Spring ’24 has proven to be a pretty busy semester. Outside of me teaching LAI 205 (which has been fun!), I’ve successfully been able to be accepted to a multitude of talks surrounding the HTKS-Kids paper that I’m currently revising! Besides ISLS in June and AERA next week, I was able to practice and … More Research Talk Bootcamp: What 2 Talks in 5 Days Taught Me
Hello everyone! This will be a short post as I’m still in mourning over Dr. Mira Berkley’s passing, but I wanted to let you all know that over the weekend, an alternative, shorter version on my HTKS-Kids paper was accepted for a poster session at the ISLS (International Society of Learning Sciences) conference in June! … More Accepted into ISLS!
I don’t know what to doAn angel wakes me, rids the burden of a hangman’s fate,Clear those eyesI’ve played with gasoline and lit it now after mourning,Cured my apathy, see that forest burningIt’s plagued with all the thieves,Their world came down without a warningAnd I’m the one they see when the sky is falling(Lit it … More In Memoria: Dr. Mira Berkley
It’s the beginning of February, and it already feels like the spring semester has been going on for months; not just barely three weeks. And yet, that’s how business (and admittedly, stress) fools the mind into thinking that time has either passed so slowly, or it’s just buzzing right on by. This semester I am … More Spring 2024: New Adventures!
Another end leads to another beginning as my fall semester officially wraps up! All final papers and projects have been submitted, and I now have the luxury of fully focusing (or mostly focusing) on my continued recovery from my foot surgery in August. I started physical therapy a week ago and I’ve been pretty diligent … More End of Semester: Fall ’23
Hello to all of my followers and readers! I have very exciting news! I’ve been accepted to host a round table discussion at AERA 2024 in Philly next year! My paper is titled, “Striving for Equitable Assessment Opportunities: Preschool Teacher Feedback on a Gamified Self-regulation Task”. To celebrate, I’ve created a new page called “Presentations”! … More Accepted into AERA 2024!
Out of all the events that I’ve attended post-op since my foot surgery in August, this one was not only the most accessible for me, but one that I took so much more out of than I had expected. The Neurodiversity Network of WNY held a conference yesterday, spanning an entire five hours with talks … More Uncovering Neurodiversity in Western NY Conference
On Wednesday, September 20th, I hobbled my way into Buffalo Public School 192, the Academy for Visual and Performing Arts as I continued to recover from my foot surgery a month prior. While walking around outside of my apartment can be exhaustive in my cam walker, I was on a mission. I had made plans … More The Dismantling of Special Education in Buffalo Public Schools
Samantha Didrichsen, PhD. 