Episode Details

Anthony Godfrey:
Hello and welcome to the Supercast. I'm your host, Superintendent Anthony Godfrey. He is a kind, compassionate, and caring special education teacher by day. However, when he's not in the classroom, this teacher is in the weight room defying normal human strength with his deadlifting abilities. On this episode of the Supercast, meet Sheldon Russell, an incredible teacher and world record holder in deadlift weightlifting. Find out how Sheldon has defied the odds in life and is inspiring others around him every day.

We’re here at West Jordan High School with Sheldon Russell to talk about a world record that he holds. Sheldon, thanks for taking time.

Sheldon Russel:
Thank you.

Anthony Godfrey:
Now first, let's talk about you as a teacher and educator in Jordan District. Tell us a bit about your career.

Sheldon Russell:
Well, I've been all over the place and I did some administration for a while, did teaching special ed, and I decided to go back to doing what I love, special ed. I'm a lot older than I look. I've got a few years left and I thought I'd finish doing what I love to do.

Anthony Godfrey:
That's great. And tell us about your current teaching assignment.

Sheldon Russell:
I teach Life Skills at West Jordan High School. High school students with intellectual disabilities, autism, multiple disabilities. It can be challenging, but it's fun.

Anthony Godfrey:
It's hard to come by Life Skills teachers. Explain to those who may not know what a Life Skills class is, what's involved.

Sheldon Russell:
We work on a lot of functional skills. So there's kids that may need help with reading or writing or math. My students need help in all facets of their life. So they will have some sort of dependence on people for the remainder of their life. Our job is to help them become as independent as possible. Some kids, we're working on writing numbers, other kids were working on finishing their math homework. But we deal with students with autism, down syndrome. We have kids with physical disabilities and impairments, hearing impairments, vision impairments. It's kind of a challenge, but like I said, I enjoy it.

Anthony Godfrey:
And how many students are served in this support classroom?

Sheldon Russell:
Okay, so we have 24 students in our support classroom and we have two teachers in there and we have some assistants that help us out as well.

Anthony Godfrey:
It's a really important program. And you have peer tutors I assume as well.

Sheldon Russell:
We do. Peer tutors come and help throughout the day, and they do a journal each week, and it's interesting reading what they write. And I've found this in my life, not only in my life, but I've noticed it with these kids. I'm an educator, but I get paid to learn every day. Working with kids like this gives you a lot of perspective on what life is really all about. So yes, I'm an educator, but I consider myself a professional student right now because I'm taught about life and perspective every day.

Anthony Godfrey:
That's true for the peer tutors that get to be part of your class as well. It's a really important program. Yes, the peer tutors are there to help the students who are in the support classroom and need the help, but I think they learn a lot about life, a lot of perspective. And develo