Shelia Graham
Retired Educator
Shelia Graham was born in North Carolina during a time when the south was in the midst of racial discrimination battles, the slow demise of segregation and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s famous “I Have A Dream” speech. Under such conditions, imagine a well kept little black girl with blonde hair, an indescribable eye color and pristine white skin growing up with her very loving black family. In those times, perceptions, and limited understanding lead people to believe that this child surely belonged to a white family. However, her very strong, determined parents and grandparents were having no such thing. She might look different; but the expectations of getting a high school diploma were the same.
At an early age, Shelia became determined to do more than what was expected simply because others said she probably would never be able to due to her visual impairment. Excelling in school, she earned a high school diploma and later graduated from Herbert H. Lehman College with a Bachelor’s Degree in Computing and Management. Degree in hand, she set out to find a job as a computer programmer in a male-dominated field. With reality settling in, Shelia shifted her aspirations to education, where she began her career as a Computer Teacher which allowed her to utilize her computer programming knowledge. After teaching for one year, Shelia discovered that teaching was a lot of fun. She returned to Lehman College and earned a Master’s of Science Degree in Early Childhood Education. Over the years, not only did she demonstrate her abilities to educate children as a classroom teacher, she also served as an Instructional Technology Specialist, New Teacher Mentor, a Staff Developer as well as UFT Chapter Leader. Through the wisdom of a very supportive school principal, Shelia was strongly encouraged to obtain a degree in school administration.
She was accepted into the New York Institute of Technology where she achieved a Master’s Degree in District Leadership and Technology. Shelia later left her home school to work on a citywide team of Instructional Technology Specialists charged with creating and presenting professional development classes for teachers and leaders specifically designed to ensure that educators use innovative and engaging tools to effectively reach today’s learners. With an acute understanding that the foundation for learning is set in the early childhood grades, Shelia then took a position as an Early Childhood Achievement and Technology Coach. After getting a closer look at the performance of early childhood teachers and administrators, Shelia decided to become a change agent when impacting how teachers deliver instruction and the strategies leaders use to improve teacher and student performance.
Shelia returned to school and earned a Master’s of Science Degree in Early Childhood Leadership from Bank Street College of Education. She served as an Early Childhood Instructional Coordinator supporting 3K and pre-kindergarten programs across the Bronx and Manhattan. After 34 years of service to the NYCDOE, she is now retired and writing plans for an innovative educational center for early learners and their families.
