The Evolution of Excellence: How Michelle Tyler Has Spent 17 Years Defining the “Haynes Way”
Long before Michelle Tyler ever stepped foot into a formal classroom, she discovered the spark of teaching in the simple living rooms of her neighborhood. As a 16-year-old babysitter, she remembers the overwhelming rush of excitement when she walked through the door, ready to turn basic math lessons into a game for the children in her care.
“The excitement when I came in the door, and they knew I was coming and I was teaching them—they got super excited about that,” she smiles, tracing the lineage of her calling.
Years later, that same passion led her to E.L. Haynes Middle School, working in the aftercare program. She saw it as a temporary space—a place to do creative projects with kids before heading home. But a legendary Haynes educator, the late Simone Jackson, saw a deeper light in Michelle. Simone pulled her aside and insisted, “You should really look into teaching. It’s instilled in you.”
Seventeen years later, Michelle is still here, serving as a pillar of the Special Education department. The school that first recognized her latent genius has poured into her every single step of the way—backing her through her bachelor’s degree, supporting her master’s through the prestigious Relay program, and funding her special education certification.
“They have just been pouring into me,” Michelle reflects. “Helping me grow as a person and as an educator. It’s not stagnant here. They don’t want you to just feel like, ‘Oh, I’ve been here for 17 years, that’s it.’ No, they want to make sure you have the growth mindset we pour into our kids.”
The Co-Teaching Symphony: Differentiating with Dignity
For anyone entering the complex landscape of special education, Michelle’s classroom is a blueprint for true institutional synchronization. At Haynes, special education is never treated as a separate island. It is a collaborative partnership built into the literal calendar.
Every single Wednesday, general education teachers share their upcoming lesson plans with the special education team. This structural rhythm allows Michelle to seamlessly integrate accommodations before the instructional week even begins.
“We always make sure that we connect,” Michelle explains. “Because we want to make sure we’re educating and growing the whole child, and we need that partnership with general education teachers to do that.”
Backing this collaboration is an unprecedented level of classroom autonomy. Armed with robust foundational tools like the Eureka Square math curriculum, Michelle is given the professional freedom to pivot when a standard approach isn’t connecting. If a student is struggling with a conceptual math goal, she has the institutional backing to seek out alternative visual models and tactile manipulatives to unlock their understanding.
Mirrors of Innovation: Special Education Meets STEAM
As E.L. Haynes boldly transitions into a premier STEAM school, Michelle views the shift not as a new initiative, but as a homecoming for neurodiverse learners.
“I feel strongly that special education is moving in a way where it mirrors STEAM,” Michelle notes profoundly. “Kids who receive special education services thrive with hands-on learning. They love building, they love technology, they love music, and they love to create games.”
In Michelle’s space, a multiplication problem like $5 \times 2$ isn’t just a static equation on a worksheet. Through a STEAM lens, a scholar can physically build a 3D structure featuring two distinct models replicated five times over. By shifting away from rigid, traditional testing and lean-in to multi-modal engineering, Haynes is making academic excellence completely accessible to every mind.
Reciprocal Leadership: Creating the TRAY Pipeline
That same culture of mutual elevation is hardcoded into how Haynes develops its staff. Through the school’s unique “TRAY” mentorship framework, veteran educators come alongside new teachers using a highly relational “Grow and Glow” cycle. Instead of a top-down evaluation, the mentor models a practice—like navigating a complex IEP meeting or collaborating with related service providers—and invites feedback from the novice teacher before reversing roles.
This barrier-free community stems directly from the top. Michelle notes that school leadership maintains an unmistakable daily presence. They stand at the front doors every morning and afternoon, and possess an authentic open-door policy. If a teacher needs to instantly step away from a lunch or recess duty to provide intensive social-emotional support to a struggling scholar, a principal doesn’t promise to “find someone”—they personally step in and cover the duty themselves.
The X-Factor
When asked what kind of educator survives and thrives across two decades in this environment, Michelle doesn’t hesitate.
“The X-factor is determination and having a mindset that you are a lifelong learner,” she says. “Every day education is changing. Being receptive to learning, receptive to change, and being able to take that change and apply it so our students are growing—that’s the X-factor.”
Looking back at her first day as an aftercare worker, Michelle remembers being a bit quiet, occasionally shying away from speaking up in front of adults. Today, as a TRAY mentor, her advice to the next generation of educators is to command the room and boldly voice their opinions.
Seventeen years in, Michelle Tyler stands as a master architect of the school’s culture. And whenever Montell Jordan’s classic anthem “This Is How We Do It” plays at a school-wide cookout, Michelle can’t help but laugh. Because at E.L. Haynes, that lyric isn’t just a nostalgic 90s throwback—it’s the definitive truth of how they engineer equity every single day.