Itinerant Teacher of the Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing
Daviess County Public Schools
Teaching is the best profession one can have. It is much more than teaching students that 2+2=4. It is much more than preparing students for state assessments. Every day, teachers have the opportunity to be an educator, a parent, a nurse, a counselor, and a friend. We inspire; we motivate; we love; we care; we soothe.
I did not enter the teaching profession with the goal of becoming wealthy or trying to being the teachers whose students had the highest test scores. I became an educator to be emotionally rich, to change lives.
Teaching students who are deaf and hard of hearing is full of amazing rewards:
- I was able to witness a 3 year old student understand the concept and sign for "water" for the first time.
- A student shared that she never thought she was capable of achieving because she was deaf. Once we researched successful adults in various professions, her self-esteem sky-rocketed.
- I sat next to a 5th grade student at her grandmother's funeral. During the ceremony she turned to me and said that she did not understand the sign language interpreters and asked if I would interpret. In that time of grief, she advocated for herself to ensure she understood everything that was being said.
- One student has a passion for storytelling. His idol is a deaf storyteller who was performing at a festival. With his parent's permission, I took him and a few other students to the festival. He was called up on stage during the performance. Afterwards, he took a picture with the man and said that he wanted to be a professional storyteller when he grows up. I believe one day I will be taking another group of students to watch him perform at a festival.
No comments:
Post a Comment