Becky Lewis is the new special education teacher at Artesia High School. Lewis and her husband, Bo, moved here last March from Lubbock, Texas when Bo became the new minister at First Presbyterian Church in Artesia.

New to Artesia and AHS, Lewis says she enjoys both. "I enjoy it. I really do." About her students, Lewis commented, "I have a great bunch of kids. They’re a delight to work with. I love these kids."

There are nine students in her classroom. "It’s a great situation. I have two teaching assistants, Clyda Smith and Beth Conklin. They are great. I have enjoyed the people around me. They have been really nice."

The Lewises have three grown sons, Scott, Steve and Mark and two granddaughters. They met at Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge, La. where Becky got a Bachelor of Science in Speech Therapy.

After working for 20 years as a public school speech therapist, Lewis returned to college to get a master’s degree in Special Education at the University of Arkansas, in Little Rock, Ark. She has been teaching in special education for 10 years.

When asked why she decided on special education and speech therapy, Lewis replied that she had two cousins who were physically disabled and she spent a lot of time with them while growing up.

Lewis explained that she was trained in a community-based instruction philosophy which promotes getting students out into the community to teach the skills that they will need to function after graduation from high school. There are four areas of life addressed in this education model: vocational, community, recreation and domestic.

About the vocational component, Lewis said, "Ideally, it would start back in junior high, getting job training sites." The students she worked with were not paid, but they learned skills. "Not just cleaning," she noted, "other skills." They learned to work a shredder, run copy machines, collate and staple newsletters while working at government offices in Little Rock. "We worked at one of the hospitals doing the doctor’s on-call bedrooms which gave the kids practice in cleaning the way a hospital would like, making beds and cleaning floors."

"In the community component, the students are taught the math they will need when they go to the grocery store, etc. We plan trips. We have speech skills in (practicing): ‘This is what I want.’ How do you find something if you don’t know where it is.

"In the recreational component, we go to the movie theater and bowling alleys (to develop the same kind of skills). "How much do you pay. If you want popcorn how much money do you have to bring. What size shoe do you need. How do you work the machines. How much does the movie cost."

In the domestic segment, students learn skills they can use at home: making beds, vacuuming, etc. According to Lewis, the Artesia School District has not followed this community-based model before, but they are interested in getting it started.