Meet More Exceptional Adults Serving Exceptional Children

The people highlighted in the November issue of The Exceptional Times are:  

Wiley Magnet Middle School has a very unique program. They are able to provide direct support to students who have VI needs, and they have excellent support available who work directly with our students.  Carolyn Wooten and Catherine Knight are two dedicated hard-workers who go the extra mile to work with students, communicate with parents, and travel to extracurricular activities — including overnight field trips and afterschool activities. 

It is hard to recognize one and not the other because their strengths are very much the same.  They work very closely together in order to promote student success, and they coordinate with teachers as needed in order to appropriately modify assignments in advance in order for students to learn and progress. They “step up” repeatedly to make sure students are included, supported, educated, and valued not only in our building, but in our community as well.  Wiley has many hidden treasures, and the TA-VI team is definitely one of them!

Royzetta Cokley, an Exceptional Children’s teacher at Reynolds High School, was told by doctors Aug. 4 that she had breast cancer. But she refused to let it crush her. “I don’t see cancer as a death sentence,” said Cokley, who also is a 21-year survivor of Hodgkin’s lymphoma.

She recently returned to teaching at Reynolds. The first week was a bit tiring, Cokley said, but her students have been helpful. The school rallied around her before and after the surgery. Students made her get-well cards and wore pink to a football game, and faculty members brought her meals. “I really felt a tremendous amount of love and support,” she said.

Karen Archie, an assistant principal at Reynolds, said, “Ms. Cokley, she is just a ball of energy that is very inspirational. She is the most positive person that I have by far ever met. She never sees the cup as halfway empty — always sees it as halfway full.” Archie said Cokley makes an attempt to get to know not ony her classroom, but also students throughout the school. This is Cokley’s third year at Reynolds and her 13th year teaching. She is working on her doctorate in educational leadership.

“There’s still people that I have yet to help,” Cokley said. “So I always say my list is still long. I’ve got a lot of work to do.”

The Winston-Salem Journal wrote a story about Cokely. To read that, go to Winston-Salem Journal

To read November issue, go to The Exceptional Times