Thursday, July 23, 2009

Why I teach

Today was an exhausting day, but it was eventful. I am teaching summer school this year. It is a bit different from my regular teaching assignment. It is preschool program for children with disablities. I have three students in my class. All are completely nonverbal. Only one student babbles when he is enjoying something.
Yesterday, the little girl mimicked the chorus of a song and said "roll over." I was so excited just for that little bit of language. Today she was doing even more. She was babbling all morning and repeating words from different songs that we had playing. She had speech therapy this morning and the therapist reported more interaction than she had ever seen before.
These little victories are why I teach. I did a little something to help someone communicate a little bit with the world they live in.

2 comments:

Jan said...

Hello from Shimmelle's class.
I am a tutor for teenagers who have failed at school because (mostly) of their backgrounds so I know what you mean about the small results and why you do it (I go all 'goosebumpy' sometimes) anyway well done to you (ka pai) on doing a great job from the sounds of it and keep up your good work. See you on the boards :-)

Nancy said...

As the mother of a 2-yo dd with Down syndrome, your "why I teach" post has me in tears. Every new sound is a joy, a hard-earned and beautiful reward for the child, the teacher and the parent. Thank you for your work with differently abled children.