Today I am subbing in Webster School District at one of the middle schools. I love this school and would love nothing more than to get a job working here as an ELA teacher. However, that is not what this post is about. Today I am not subbing for an ELA teacher. Instead I am subbing for Academic Flex (a course where you help students realize the steps it takes to succeed, what it takes to be a good person, and how to accomplish their goals in life) and RTI (reading). I love both of these courses, and I find the students in them to be wonderful, fun, and always ready to learn.
With the reading courses, the students are intelligent, bright, thoughtful… and require a little extra help. For some that might be getting help sounding out words and for others that could mean using no-tech AT device. In any case, they remind me of when I was young. As a little girl I had a speech impediment. I couldn’t speak if it meant saving my life. Once, I got lost in Ames (remember Ames?). I was playing a game of hide-and-seek with my mom, except she wasn’t aware of that fact. By the time I realized my mom was no longer around, I began crying and walked my way up to the front of the store, where luckily store employees were standing. When asked who my mom was I replied Beverly… or so I thought. Suddenly, over the intercom, the employees were paging, “Will Barbara Lee please come get your daughter at the front desk.” Luckily, my mom new she was Barbara Lee!
Anyway, the point of that little anecdote is that I remember struggling with my speech, and I remember having a hard time reading in school. I went to speech therapy and used many different techniques and services to help me hear the “right” way, which then helped me speak the right way.
I feel Webster does a decent job accommodating their students who have disabilities, whether it is learning, physical, behavioral, etc. I’m always pleased to see the cooperation of the teachers and the equipment provided for the students when I sub in the school.
