Harper's Unsung Heroes - Nicole Asher

Teaching Compassion

“There is no better compass than compassion.”

—-Amanda Gorman

Our students share many similarities, but there are also an abundance of differences. Environmental backgrounds and genetic variations exist among all children. The diversity among our students requires all of us as educators to be creative in how we teach basic academic skills. Students come to us at different levels of development, with varied strengths and concerns, and are equipped with varying experiences and background knowledge. The existence of variety in our schools can create the potential for our students to learn and practice many life skills, including compassion. The students in Wattles Park teacher Nicole Asher’s Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) classroom have helped staff and students to broaden their level of compassion.

For anyone who has watched Nicole interact with her students, it would seem that she was destined to work with and mentor children with special needs. She may not have known her true calling until a few years into her teaching career, but in listening to her reflect on her childhood, it seems that she was born with a calm and quiet demeanor, which is perhaps her greatest strength as an ASD teacher. She reflected on some of her childhood history and memories. “My twin brother Jesse and I were born in 1985 in Marshall to Don Volsteromer and Debbie Hoffman. My mom and dad separated years later, and we moved to Fort Lauderdale, Florida, when I was two years old to be near some of my mom’s family members who lived there.”

Nicole was young at the time, and although she may not have realized it then, she admits now that they lived on a limited budget. “While we were in Florida, I remember spending the bulk of many days enjoying the water,” Nicole commented. “At the time, Mom was a single mom, so we didn’t have much money. She would take us to the beach quite often because it was free. She would pack snacks, and we would spend the day.”

Nicole and her family returned to Michigan when she was five years old, taking up residence in Dowling. Not long after returning to Michigan, Nicole’s mom met Gene Hoffman. They were married a year later, and Nicole’s family moved in with Gene. “My step-dad’s house was on a wooded acreage near Dowling,” Nicole explained. “I enjoyed nature, and being out in the country appealed to me. I have fond memories of hours spent exploring the woods on his property. To this day, I still enjoy spending time outdoors. Being outside helps to balance my life and calm me if I am dealing with stress.” The time spent outside as a child wasn’t all play. Nicole reflected on this. “My stepdad heated his house with a wood-burning stove. He was always cutting up dead trees and fallen branches. Jesse and I would help out by hauling and stacking firewood.” The time spent outside for Nicole was not just restricted to Gene’s woods. “My stepdad had a camper, and we went camping a lot as kids with his family,” Nicole said. “During these excursions, we would paddleboard and just spend time in the water and outside.” Nicole’s extended family made time to be together, especially during the holidays. “My mom was the person who pulled everything together,” Nicole shared.  “We would always host all the holiday celebrations at our house with aunts, uncles, and cousins.” Growing up with a twin was something that Nicole considered no different than the typical sibling relationship. “As twins, Jesse and I had a typical sibling relationship. We played and interacted together. Sometimes we would get along, but not always.  Jesse would instigate, and I would retaliate.”

Giving her best effort and full attention as a student was something that Nicole always took pride in. She reflected on her early school experiences. “I was good at school, but I was shy and had a hard time making friends. My brother was the complete opposite. He was very social and outgoing. I did become a bit more social in middle school and high school. I attended school at Our World for Kindergarten and First Grade, which was housed in a church on the north side of Battle Creek. I transitioned to Pleasantview Elementary near Hastings in second grade and completed my elementary years there through fifth grade. I then went to Hastings Middle School and graduated from Hastings High School in 2003.” 

Nicole put time and effort into learning, but also kept busy with extracurricular activities. She reflected on this. “I participated in Girl Scouts for a while, and was also in the dance club later on in high school. The activity that I enjoyed the most was taking care of and riding horses at a local stable during my middle school years. A neighbor of ours participated in 4-H. She was going to the stable to help out, and she brought me a few times. I enjoyed this, so I started helping take care of the horses in exchange for riding the horses. There was a mustang there that was naughty and made it difficult to ride. This horse seemed to warm up to me and became the horse that I rode the most.” Her experience in working with and establishing a relationship with the horse that just needed a little extra attention would become a precursor to her future as an AI teacher. 

Along with time spent in Girl Scouts and at the horse stable, Nicole was also involved in 4-H, showing her cat at the fair. When she turned sixteen, the bulk of her time beyond school and her studies was spent working at Wendy’s in Hastings.

As she neared high school graduation, Nicole was a bit in limbo about what she wanted for a career. “As a teenager, I really didn't know what I wanted to do for a career. During my senior year, I was able to volunteer as a counselor for Hastings' 5th-grade camp. I enjoyed working with the kids. I didn’t know what else was out there. I was good at helping people, so I decided that I wanted to be a teacher.”

By the time Nicole had finished high school, her mom had moved to Battle Creek, so she stayed at home and enrolled at KCC, taking her prerequisite courses over a two-year period. During this time, she also met Travis Asher, her future husband, and eventually moved in with him in Battle Creek. As a college student, Nicole didn’t have much free time. “I was going to school, studying, and working at McDonald's,” Nicole said. “I enrolled at Western Michigan (WMU) after finishing at KCC. I continued to work at McDonald's in Battle Creek as a manager, getting thirty-five to forty hours a week. I would schedule all of my classes two days a week to enable me to continue to work full-time while commuting from Battle Creek to Kalamazoo two days a week for my classes.” Nicole’s hard work paid off for her. She graduated from WMU in December 2008, earning a BA degree in elementary education. 

Nicole reflected on the next phase of her life as a college graduate working in education. “I was unable to get a permanent teaching job immediately. There were very few jobs available, and one hundred to two hundred applicants for each job. I started substitute teaching in the Battle Creek area in January of 2009.” Starting the next school year, Nicole would receive a job opportunity that she was not necessarily seeking, but one that would change the trajectory of her teaching career. “In the fall of 2009, I started a two-week substitute position through Calhoun ISD as a paraeducator in a preschool AI room, which was housed in East LeRoy Elementary. I knew nothing about autism, and almost declined the job, because I was unsure of myself and a little bit frightened.” Nicole may have been uncertain about this new opportunity, but working as a special education teacher grew into her passion. She talked about the next steps. “Despite the nervousness I felt, I went through with the job because of the commitment I had already made. To my surprise, I loved it from the first day. I found I was really good at it. Teaching these autistic children made sense to me. I had found my niche.” Making the switch from general education teacher to special education paraeducator was not the only transition for Nicole during the fall of 2009. She and Travis were married in October, just a few months into the 2009/2010 school year. 

     Nicole’s end goal was still to land a teaching position. Her time spent as a special education paraeducator would prepare her for this goal, giving her many learning opportunities and valuable experiences. “The position turned into a full-time job as a floating paraeducator, so I decided to do this rather than go back to substitute teaching. I was able to help out in the other AI classrooms in the county.” It was an exciting time for Nicole with my job and the birth of their first child, Ella, in 2011.  “I worked as a paraeducator for two years when a teacher from one of the ASD rooms moved. The ISD asked if I would be interested in the job. I was offered the job with the contingency of going back to get my ASD certification.” Starting a graduate program to gain certification to be an ASD teacher was a bit of an inconvenience for Nicole, but she didn’t hesitate. “I had already started a Master's Program in Early Childhood through Western, and was over halfway through completing it,” Nicole explained. “I decided to abandon it,  take the AI job, and start a graduate program to attain my MA in special education with an AI focus. I went to school online through Oakland University and earned my MA degree in 2013.” 

Nicole had finally landed her first teaching job, but there were transitions that came with it. She reflected on this chapter in her life. “My new classroom was housed in Bellevue Elementary School. Although I enjoyed my new job, there was a lot going on in my life. I was adjusting to being a special education teacher and all the responsibilities that came with it, I was a young wife and mom with a one-year-old daughter, and I was a college student. There were times when it felt overwhelming. Travis was very supportive during this time and would watch Ella when I came home from school, allowing me to take a short break and decompress from the school day.” Nicole was trying to settle into her new role, but a shift was on the horizon. “In my second year, I shifted to Prairieview Elementary to teach in a K-4 AI room for two years and continued in this same teaching position in a new location, with the classroom being moved to Mar Lee. I continued in this position for three more years.” Nicole enjoyed teaching her students in a general education setting, but there were times when she felt like she and her students didn’t fit in. It was time for a change. “As an ISD program in an elementary building, it always felt as if we were there as guests. A position became available at the Doris Klausen Center Developmental Center (DKDC). I packed up my classroom at the end of the 2013/14 school year and moved to DKDC to start the next year teaching in a K-2, ASD classroom. Working at DKDC in a center-based program was much different than working in the elementary buildings. Being at DKDC, it felt as if my students and I were part of a larger family. My students were accepted as they were.” Just as Nicole transitioned in her teaching career when she moved to DKDC, her family experienced another milestone with the birth of their second child, Nathan, in 2013.

Nicole continued in the K-2nd grade classroom for a few years, and then moved into a 2nd-4th grade ASD classroom, still at DKDC, where she remained until 2022. She enjoyed her time at DKDC and working with the teachers there, but it was again time for something different. “My philosophy as an AI teacher is that AI kids need to be around general education students at their age. Their general education peers model social skills, behavior, and communication. My students at DKDC did not have access to this. I had thought about getting back into an elementary building for some time. I had heard that Harper Creek might be opening an ASD room at Wattles Park. They posted the job in the spring of 2022. I lived just a few houses down the street from Wattles Park, and my children were students there. It was too good to pass up. I applied for the job, interviewed, and was offered the job. I started in the fall of 2023.”

There was a learning curve involved in bringing severe ASD students to Wattles Park, for Nicole, her students, general education students, and general education teachers. This is a work in progress, with learning ongoing, but Nicole has seen positive growth. “I feel that our general education students have learned how to interact with our ASD students from the adults in our building, but this teaching goes both ways,” Nicole explained. “General education students are curious and have questions about why my students behave in certain ways. They don’t always know how to ask questions, but they are getting better at this. One of the reasons I wanted to come to Wattles Park was to be able to teach compassion and kindness to children when they are young. The families of my students find it difficult to take their children anywhere because of comments and stares. If we can teach our kids how to show compassion, then maybe we can eliminate this issue in the future.” 

Nicole appreciates that she has been made to feel welcome and a valuable member of the staff at Wattles Park. “Because I know a lot about the ASD world, I found it refreshing to help teach other adults and answer questions about ASD behaviors when I came to Wattles,” Nicole said. “I really like that I am included in the school family here. Sometimes, it’s easy in the special education world to feel like you are on the outside looking in. I haven’t felt that way here. I like it that my students are included. One of the biggest differences I have noticed since starting at WPE is that teachers have become more comfortable asking for recommendations and advice in working with challenging students. I feel that teachers are open to learning. One thing that I enjoy doing is going into classrooms and teaching the students and teachers about autism. Sometimes the teachers have more questions than the students.” One of the advantages of Nicole’s job is that she is a teacher for most of her students from the time they arrive in kindergarten until the time they leave in fourth grade. “It feels nice to know that I will have students from the time they start with me until they go to middle school. It is rewarding to see this growth over time.”

Nicole has seen proof of her philosophy that her students benefit from interacting with their non-disabled peers during her two years at Wattles Park. “We as adults can teach our students who struggle with social behaviors and communication how to behave and how to express their thoughts and feelings, but these lessons are much better learned through informal interactions with their peers. I have witnessed my students learning and practicing skills such as turn-taking while out on the playground with our general education population. My ASD students benefit from these interactions, but their peers also benefit.”

Nicole is part of a team of educators in her classroom. “Currently, I have four paraeducators working with me,” she said. “Managing adults is sometimes a challenge, but I couldn’t do what I do without their support. Having worked as a paraeducator has helped me see things through their lens. I value the opinions of my paraeducators and want their buy-in. We make many decisions as a team.” 

Being a special education teacher has shaped Nicole’s perspective on the human element of diversity. She summarized this perspective. “Success looks different for everyone. Approach others with curiosity and kindness. Everyone has an idea of what things should look like, but we are all different.” 

Teaching has provided influence for Nicole as a parent, just as being a parent has influenced her as a teacher. She talked about her family. “We enjoy traveling. Every few years, we take a big trip somewhere in the USA. Some of the places we have visited include Washington, DC, Arizona, Gatlinburg, and Texas. Both of my kids are narrow divergent in their own way, so working with ASD students has helped in how I approach parenting. It has helped me to navigate what’s worth worrying about and what’s not worth worrying about.”

One of the biggest difficulties we face as educators is meeting the variety of needs of our student population. The primary goal is for our students to learn and master academic content, but we also strive to prepare them to be productive adults in other ways. Part of this involves embracing diversity and showing compassion for others. The students at Wattles Park Elementary are modeling social and communication skills to Nicole’s ASD students in ways that we as teachers are unable to do. The ASD students are also providing opportunities for these students to understand and interact with those who are different from them.