Friends!
Students
and teachers in Charlotte returned back to school this week. The first week of school came with a flood
of social media posts that ranged from finished fellow teachers classrooms to
why we’re still dealing with race in our schools nearly 60 years after
desegregation / integration. (History
Matters!) As a teacher at heart (who is
diligently preparing for her teaching exam) looking at social media this week
was tough.
Nonetheless,
I continued to post, like, and share what
spoke to my heart and hopefully, the hearts of others as always. In the mix of my newsfeed, I found and shared
a blog titled: As School Begins Please Teach
Your Children About Disabilities. The writer of the blog explained to readers
what her journey with cerebral palsy was like until a teacher took time to
explain her disability to her classmates.
The blog reminded me of the first time I shared my story of having
cerebral palsy with my third grade class.
Let’s just say, I’ll never forget the boy who asked me if my children
were going to have CP. My reaction…. How
in the world am I supposed to know??!! (CP isn’t genetic so, I can’t give my
disability to my future kids.) It also
reminded me that I’ve always been a believer that sharing this story matters! Moreover, part of the reason I continue down
this long and winding road is so, that perhaps, people won’t have so many
questions about how those with disabilities can be positive difference makers!
I keep
scrolling the newsfeed and find a video of Playing For Others (PFO) Buddy Program. Playing for Others (PFO) is a non –profit with
a mission to “ create a more compassionate world through the arts and service.”
One way they do that is by pairing non – disabled and disabled buddies together
to cultivate friendship. In the video a
PF0 teen with disability says something that is simple but is worth my
echo: Having a disability can be
confusing and hard. ”---- I’m not sure if she meant for her as someone with a disability,
the non- disabled teen or both. Regardless, her comments remind me that I’m not
completely alone in uncertain feelings of how I’m really supposed to feel as a young woman with a disability. Let’s face it sometimes, I struggle to know
if teaching is really what I am meant to do because it’s been such a long
winding, and bumpy road! And then,
there’s this thought that the only thing I’ve ever wanted is to be a
schoolteacher! I’m so close. I can’t give up. I won’t give up! Nope. Here’s
why as I reach for my classroom; I
strive to teach perseverance and love!
The
scrolling is finished, but Facebook has captured and kept my dearest
memories. So, I’m reminded of my first
summer UrbanPromiseCharlotte, a
Christian youth ministry, and the very first place I ever felt like a teacher
amongst all the uncertainty in my heart about this journey. The tangible experience
that reminds me about the joys of teaching, learning, and becoming who you
are! (I posted that story as earlier
blog.)
As a teacher at heart, I definitely had so much to say this week!
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