Jessica Gooenow Wrote:
Chapter 12 spoke volumes to me. When considering myself and the road I have traveled, I sometimes forget to realize the affect I have on others. Has there been a time where I have had the pleasure of lifting a teammate, student, or stranger up enabling them to realize their dreams and exceed anything that you could have imagined? I HOPE SO! I hope I am positive to my team every day of the week. One circumstance where I looked outside of myself to uplift a colleague was with a para-professional. She is fantastic para. She has the presence of a teacher in the classroom. When she comes into the room, with a one-minute prep, she could co-teach the classroom. She is one in a million in the realm of para-professionals. One day I asked her if she had every considered being a teacher. She looked at me like that thought had never entered her brain. After explaining to her how wonderful she is with the students and in the classroom, she opened up to me about a disappointment she had had when trying to get her degree in education. She had gotten pregnant with her now 20 year old daughter and never thought she could be a mom and finish a degree. Life got crazy, but now is settling down again. I told her about how universities are trying to make degrees more accessible to older students and gave her a couple universities to look into. A couple weeks went by. She surprised me one day by saying she signed up for an art class to go towards her general requirements. I was so happy. She told me that I had been the bug in her ear. She needed to get back to her passion. She loves kids. Anyone could see that. It was all about honesty and appreciation.
I hope I live every day sharing honest appreciation with my family, colleagues, and students. You never know when a person might be needing a little bug to encourage them to seek what is possible!
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| Photograph by: Deborah Sanders |
My response:
Jessica, your story about the wonderful para professional you work with mirrors a story of mine. During a re-organization in my district I was given the honor of being placed with a para who basically taught me the ropes of preschool. I was a neophyte in this arena of education. The first month or so she walked me through the motions and as she and I became WE our classroom and the work our children produced was recognition worthy. Again our district went through another reorganization and all of the paras were phased out. Talk about a blow to some of the paras self-esteem. My para was graduating with a degree in another area and heart broken that she would not be returning to work with children. It was I who suggested she take the Praxis and try to return to any district through an Alternate Route program. She would need to take a year’s worth of education classes while she worked. The idea resonated with her and she did just that! Yes the possibilities in life are endless.
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| Photograph by: Deborah Sanders |
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