Inspire Me

I admire my students. My students are an inspiration to ME. I admire T. who, at ten years of age and in spite of tremendous obstacles to reading and focusing, will sit for hours reading and re-reading his assignments, doing and re-doing his homework and classwork until he gets it right. I admire his patience and resilience in the face of teachers who don't "get" his learning differences, who routinely pass out long, tedious work packets which take him twice the time to complete than his peers, even though he has completely and competently mastered the skill that is being taught. My heart aches for him when he stays in from recess to make sure he has all of his work done. He is conscientious. He stays motivated, asking his mom if he can be in honors classes for math next year when he goes to Junior High. And, by the grace of God, he always aces the state adopted test!

I admire H., age 9, who comes to school but would much rather be ranching, riding, hunting and barbecuing: living the outdoor life that he loves; the one he is really good at and was born to do. In spite of the fact that he labors to read so slowly that he couldn't possibly comprehend a word of it and you think he is going to wiggle out of his seat on to the floor or drape himself over the table when you try to teach him phonics, he consistently and seemingly miraculously, makes A's and passes his tests. How does he do that? He also, always has a grand smile to offer when I see him, except in the morning, coming to school. He's not a morning person.

B., who repeated kindergarten and couldn't read much throughout first grade, read every book in the primary/intermediate school library before he completed his last year there.

My descriptions could go on for longer than I have the patience to type them out. I am so honored to have so many students on my "Most Admirable People" list. I've been lucky to watch them grow. I'm happy to have been their teacher.