On SPED

This weekend, I was standing in line at Universal Studios with my cousin Gideon when I felt little hands poking my back. I swirled around to see a young boy, maybe about 9, looking frazzled and distracted. His mother/guardian insisted that he stop, but the poking continued. It soon escalated to him literally hitting my purse. Instead of ignoring him, I decided to introduce myself. His name was Johnny. I could tell immediately that Johnny had some special needs. He couldn't speak, but instead used hand motions to communicate. He couldn't stand still and was easily distracted and disoriented. Was it autism? Johnny had me swinging imaginary golf clubs like Tiger Woods, peering around imaginary corners looking for incoming ships and strolling up and down the slow-moving line. His mother/guardian explained that he did indeed have autism. I said I knew, and explained that I was a SPED teacher. "OH," she replied. "So you know all about this stuff huh?"

Do I? I think I'm learning, and I'm beginning to build a love for SPED and all SPED students deep into my heart. My conversation with Johnny, though, reminded me of this important quote from an inspiring teacher and mentor:

"I can go up to Wendy Kopp and be like ‘you can’t do my job.’ And I can go up to all these powerful people or amazing teachers and be like, ‘you can’t do my job.’"
— Jose the Curriculum Specialist, on teaching SPED

My friend Katey luckily wrote down this quote from Jose, our teacher about how to teach, regarding special education teaching. I think his point was the SPED is a challenge; it's hard; nothing about it will be easy. The personal challenges that have already come into play with my students already this summer have been extremely taxing, and I know it won't get any easier.

But, on the flip side, people like Wendy Kopp (TFA founder) don't get the same rewards I do. Sure, they see the numbers and celebrate their successes in their own ways. But they don't get to dance on the schoolyard with B celebrating her assessment; they don't get to call J's mom to tell her how much of a pleasure it was to have her son in class; they don't get to see the students "get it" and they don't get to watch their faces light up when they know they got a question right. And for that, I wouldn't trade anything.