Sabah Ahmed

Same signs add
Different signs subtract
Keep the sign
of the greatest number

Songs like this are just one of the ways Sabah Ahmed breaks down complex math concepts for her special education students at Glades Middle School.

It is a tactic Sabah honed while a student herself. She often hears her students hum a few bars or mouth the words to her rhymes while working on problems in class. Her original compositions have led to so many successful outcomes for her students that Sabah was named her school’s Rookie Teacher of the Year in 2020.

For many reasons, 2020 was one-of-a-kind. There was the COVID-19 pandemic, when Sabah and her colleagues scrambled to ensure their students could get online and continue learning virtually. It marked the year her father was diagnosed with cancer, when Sabah and her mother shared responsibilities providing for his care. It would also be the year he passed, just one month into her graduate studies.

Sabah counts Associate Teaching Professor Liana Gonzalez among the mentors who inspired her to succeed. Sabah is graduating with a 4.0 GPA. In 2020, she published a literary review with the National Association of Special Education Teachers on the importance of parental involvement in secondary education.

After commencement, Sabah hopes to become a special education administrator and an adjunct professor to prepare future generations of special education teachers.

By Chrystian Tejedor
Account Manager
College of Arts, Sciences & Education