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Clear Creek Amana teacher ‘walks in kindness’
Thomas Braverman, who’s worked with special education students for 35 years, is finalist for Teacher of the Year
Grace King
Apr. 13, 2024 5:30 am, Updated: Apr. 15, 2024 10:11 am
TIFFIN — In Thomas Braverman’s classroom, students 18 to 21 years old learn how to shop for groceries. They make their own lunches at school. They learn how to use public transportation to get to jobs.
Braverman, a special education teacher for 35 years in Eastern Iowa, is a finalist for this year’s Iowa Teacher of the Year award from the Iowa Department of Education. The award recognizes teachers who take teaching beyond textbooks and who inspire their students and peers.
“I believe every student regardless of their disability has something they can give back. I also believe learning is always reciprocal, and I’ve learned more from my students than they will ever learn from me,” said Braverman, who oversees the transition program in the Clear Creek Amana Community School District.
Braverman, 60, said his students “demonstrate to me every day” what is important in life: “Love, forgiveness, understanding other people and being tolerant of other people’s differences and having sustained relationships.”
‘At-risk’ himself
As a youth, Braverman went to Iowa City schools, where he said he was considered an “at-risk” student.
“I spent a lot of time in the parking lot hanging out with people I probably shouldn’t have,” he said.
He left high school and obtained his high school equivalency diploma through Kirkwood Community College. While taking Kirkwood continuing education classes, he began working at a group home with young adults.
“A lot of the people I was working with probably could have learned some skills at an earlier age to make them more independent,” Braverman said. He discovered helping people gain those skills and work toward independence was “what I really wanted to do.”
A friend encouraged him to apply to be a paraprofessional at Iowa City West High School. He got the job. More than a decade later, a West High administrator encouraged him to go to college and earn a teaching degree.
He did that and worked almost 20 years in the Iowa City district as a teacher and paraeducator. He also worked in the West Branch and Solon school districts.
While teaching at Iowa City High, Braverman developed a community-based work experience program where special education students could intern at more than 50 businesses. The real-world work skills they learned set them on a course toward more independent living after high school.
His work at City High led to his Teacher of the Year nomination.
Braverman began teaching at Clear Creek Amana after taking an early retirement package last year when the Iowa City district cut its budget.
‘Transition into life’
Today, Braverman oversees the Clear Creek Amana transition program for students who have met the requirements to graduate from high school but need skills to live independently.
“The whole idea is to help them transition into life after high school as successfully as possible,” Braverman said.
With the help of Braverman and paraprofessionals, the students learn those life skills and gain workplace readiness skills. Most of the students have paid jobs they go to daily.
The students also volunteer at places like the North Liberty and Coralville food pantries and Colonial Manor, a retirement community in Amana where they visit every Friday to play bingo with the residents.
“I believe every student regardless of their disability has something they can give back,” Braverman said.
Joey Glass, creative director at Colonial Manor, has worked with Braverman to place students in jobs for almost a decade.
Braverman, he said, “walks in kindness.”
Mark Moody, principal of Clear Creek Amana High School, said Braverman has brought a “wealth of knowledge, experience and connections” to the district and its Transition Alliance Program.
“For some kids, you may need to try four or five different times before finding a good fit at a work site, but he has those connections and patience to work with employers and students to find a good fit,” Moody said.
Credit to paras
Braverman said he helps students set goals that both challenge them and are realistic. He works with the students and their families on services available to them after high school, such as group homes or assisted living facilities if that’s the support they need.
Braverman gives the paraeducators who work with him a lot of credit for the transition program.
“The paras are a huge extension of me as an educator,” he said. “They are my left arm and my right arm. We would never be able to do this work without them,” Braverman said.
Julie Gunnells, a paraprofessional at the district’s Transition Alliance Center, said Braverman understands his students “on every level.”
“He always shows them a lot of respect, even if they’re having a bad day,” she said.
Comments: (319) 398-8411; grace.king@thegazette.com