A Recent Grad Gives Back and Inspires

The following story is shared with permission, though with request to maintain confidentiality. As a first year teacher she is understandably cautious of how colleagues may respond.

Standing before a teacher certification literacy course, her first presentation to adults since graduating in June, she was a mixture of excitement and confidence. She was here to share how a balanced literacy program works with a range of students with special needs. Yes -- works, with evidence in test scores, writing samples, stories, and appreciation from students and parents. The first-year certification students were captivated.

At the outset the problem was named: "Too often children with handicapping conditions learn helplessness, learn to wait passively until someone does the task for them. I want them to be readers, independent readers. When I learned about a balanced literacy program in the class you are taking right now I was sold. I knew I could do this." As an intern in her CityU program she dove in. I love her stories of shared reading using assistive technology with non-verbal multipli-handicapped students. Colleagues had said this wouldn't work, but she was tenacious and shared her pictures of a delighted young man now engaged in the reading process. She carried this tenacity to her new teaching position and now inspires our candidates with what is possible.