My Education

The other night I couldn't sleep and when that happens, my mind tends to wander to my work. This night though, I thought about all the awesome teachers I'd had over the course of my education. My next few blogs are going to be a tribute to them and how much they helped me succeed.

I have to start with my kindergarten teacher, Mrs. Crawford. I was four years old when I started kinder, and from what my mom says, I was extremely excitable and overactive. I was the youngest child in the class and therefore, not as developmentally mature as the rest of the kids. I struggled with tying my shoes, with learning my letters and later, with reading. It was suggested I had ADHD, that I had learning disabilities, that I should be held back. I was none the wiser, of course, my mom made sure of that. One thing I do remember is that I was always with Mrs. Crawford when I was at school. There would be other kids at centers but not me. I would be at her table and we would be doing something. I thought I was pretty lucky and we soon became fast friends. What I know now was that I needed to be at her table, working with letters and sounds all the time. She worked and worked and persisted with me and with the help of my mother, I learned to read. I was the last kid in the class that learned to read, but when I picked up my first book to read I never put it down. Mrs. Crawford believed in me even though at times there probably wasn't a lot to believe in. I don't know what would have happened to me that year had it not been for her and my mom. I think my mom and her became friends just for the sheer fact that they worked so closely together in ensuring that I learned to read. I have students now that are always at my table while everyone else is working at workstations. I hope I am able to do for them what she did for me. Thanks to Mrs. Crawford's persistence and belief in me, I left kindergarten on level in reading. She was a hero to me then and she's a hero to me now.