At that time the disciples came to Jesus and asked,
"Who, then, is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?"
He called a little child to him, and placed the child among them. And he said, "Truly I tell you,
unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.
Therefore, whoever takes the lowly position of this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.
And whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me."
I've chosen a profession that allows me to spend my days working with struggling children, but that wasn't where I started. In fact, when I started my freshman year at Harding, I had no intention of teaching. I was a business major. It wasn't until my sophomore year that I changed to the college of education. Even then I maintained that I did not want to teach young children. I even tried negotiating with the person that gave student teacher assignments to make sure I wouldn't have a placement with students younger than fourth grade. That didn't work out, I had a second grade placement. I insisted that I would not teach young students, then my first job out of college was teaching kindergarten. I maintained that I could not teach special needs students. I didn't feel like I had the skills, talents or knowledge to teach students with special needs. Then I went to graduate school and got a degree to work with struggling students.
For those that don't know exactly what I do as a reading specialist, here it is in a nutshell... I work with the students that are not able to reach classroom benchmarks in reading. My students are struggling to learn to read, either because of environmental deficits that have caused them to start out behind their peers, because they haven't had enough of the right kind of instruction to be successful, or because they are beginning to show signs of having a learning disability. For many of my students I bridge the gap between the regular classroom and special education. In the last few years I have handled all of the pre-referral interventions for special education at the elementary. I've walked students and parents through the intervention and evaluation process to determine if special services are warranted. This is the part of my job that I hands down, absolutely love. It allows me to diagnose a reading problem, prescribe and/or design a specific intervention for the problem and work with all of the adults in the students' lives to coordinate services. Since I do not have a background in special education, I've had a lot to learn, but I've met the challenge head on and in a lot of ways I feel as though I've been successful in this area of my job. It has inspired me to consider pursuing certification in mild and moderate disabilities. Definitely not what I set out to do as a freshman in college.
For as long as I have said that I cannot be an effective special needs teacher, I have always had great admiration and respect for those that have chosen to do just that. Special education teachers have the patience of Job, the creativity of JK Rowling, the work ethic of Bill Gates and artistry of Michelangelo. This year two of the special education teachers at my school have taken me under their wing and allowed me to be a part of their world. I've learned so much from them and their students. One of the major blessings for me this year has been to participate as a volunteer for Special Olympics. I'm not the best team member in the world and I haven't been as consistently involved as I would have liked, but I am grateful to them for allowing me to join them. My schedule and the fact that my job description is a thick as it is, has kept me from being able to attend all of the practices. I've worked hard to be at as many as possible and I have immensely enjoyed my time with the team.
In the faces of those children I've seen glimpses of heaven, in their smiles I've seen blinding joy, in their encouragement of each other I've been encouraged. On the eve of the state games, the culmination of what this team has worked so hard to achieve, I am grateful. Grateful to Marie and Lesley for their initial example of special education teachers. Grateful to Lynn for her guidance and on the job training as I learned what it takes to be an effective special education teacher. Grateful to Shelynn, Vickie and Kris, for opening their doors to me and allowing me to be a part of such an amazing experience. And most of all grateful to the students that allow me to hold their hands and take hold of heaven.
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