Add to ORKGThis ethnography is centered on capturing authentic stories of a first-year Special Educator and her students. It is written as an act of resistance to the marginalization of students with special needs and how a Special Educator wrestles in challenging subtractive forces to provide students with a high-quality, student-centered curriculum they deserve. This work will consist of a personal reflection into the motivation of a Special Educator, a counternarrative of a student labeled as a “problem student”, and an exploration of evolving student-teacher relationships with love and patience. By documenting these stories, this ethnography captures the evolution of a Critical Social Justice educator as she takes her plans for her first year and ...