Emily Pan

Staff Katie Heuer poses for a picture in her classroom. Heuer’s students picked out a festive option to get into spooky season on Oct. 15.”[My students] chose ghost toast for this week,” Heuer said.

Fun baking activities in Found Of Independent Living classes have been taking place in the last few weeks. Special School District teacher Katie Heuer enjoys implementing a curriculum called Unique Learning System in her lessons. This system is a modified curriculum for students with disabilities used across the United States. For one unit of the Found Of Independent Living curriculum Heuer teaches she takes a fun twist on an important life skill: cooking. 

“I pick two recipes, and then [my students] get to choose what they cook,” Heuer said. “We have to go online, find the recipe and then they make a grocery list for me to go shopping with.”

The accommodations that Heuer’s students receive have allowed Heuer to be able to establish a consistent learning environment for her students. 

“We make sure that all the accommodations that [my students] need are available on their laptops,” Heuer said. “They also get technology through [Special School District].”

Beyond high school, Heuer’s curriculum helps set up her students for future endeavors they want to pursue.

“My students do community based vocational instruction,” Heuer said. “They go to three different places; they work there two to four times a week. In our independent living, we do cooking, we do cleaning, we wipe tables, they do laundry, dishes. We work on life skills that you need to be successful.”