Just as every other little girl, I had dreams of being something or someone glamorous when I grew up. Being a teacher was never something that crossed my mind as glamorous. With age came knowledge and perspective and now to me, there is nothing more glamorous than being a teacher.
In my early years, I was a social butterfly and a natural born leader. My parents have often told stories of being on vacation at the beach. In no more than five minutes, I would have found a group of kids making a sandcastle and taken over. I became the foreman of our little work site, divvying out jobs and spitting out commands. I would talk to my new friends until I was blue in the face. Good listener is not a role I took on until I was much older.
Throughout Elementary School it was clear that I was a bit ahead of the game. As soon as I was old enough, I tested into the gifted and talented program. I loved the time I got to spend with my like minded peers. I also enjoyed the fun activities we got to do within our class. As I got older and the work became more complex, I started to fall behind. Around 6th grade, one of my teachers realized that I was having difficulty reading. Although I was on my grade level, reading for me was task and an embarrassing one at that. My teacher tried to tutor me and encourage me to get tested for dyslexia, but I refused to live my life with a label. I did not realize until later on in life that dyslexia was not a defining characteristic but simply one of many things about me. I continued to find ways to avoid reading in and out of class. This caused me to fall further and further behind my gifted peers. By the time I reached high school it was clear to me that I was not cut out for the accelerated program. It was not because I could not do the work, but because I was much more devoted to my social life and extra-curricular activities than I was to my grades.
I dove into a number of different teams, groups, and clubs before I finally found a home in the Theatre. I found solace in this goofy bunch of outcast, and I was able to be my true self with them. I did not have to excel in any aspect of this program to fit in and be welcomed with open arms. Through this experience, I started reaching out to other “outcasts.” I became a sort of mentor to two students with a number of different emotional and learning disabilities. I connected with them on a level that was beyond my understanding at that point in my life. I was in a way an advocate for their rights in school. I defended them from those who taunted them. I tried to educate those around them of not only their differences, but of their likenesses. Looking back on this time in my life, this was the beginning of my career as a Special Education Teacher.
The summer of 2009 I was presented with a job opportunity that could possibly help further my career. I took a job at the Human Development Center in Corpus Christi. The facility was a home for people with disabilities so severe and profound that their families were not able to take care of them. This was the experience of a life time. Although I loved my job more than any other job in the past, I was able to see the flaws in the system. I was able to see the neglect and disrespect many of our clients had endured and were continuing to endure. When the summer ended, I was filled with sadness and relief. I was filled with sadness because I had bonded with everyone there and relief because I did not have to see the heart ache in the eyes of my friends with special needs any longer.
As my student teaching has now come to an end and I have graduated college I have learned many things about myself. I have learned that I am able to endure much more than I gave myself credit for, I have learned that the love a teacher has for her students runs much deeper than anyone could understand and I learned that life does not always pan out the way you might expect it to but that’s not always a bad thing.
