Live and Love {Tasha}: Difference Maker

Note from Tash: SUPER thanks to my classmates in my Teaching Writing course for all the positive comments about this blog. Seriously means the world to me!

So remember that one time I talked about my next post being about rainbows? Yes, well, I haven’t got back the feedback I need to post it. So, gonna hold that one off until I get that. If you have no idea what I am talking about, check out my last post! I really really need contributions from others to get this done! I’m really excited about the post and I will not give up on it! So I’ll just skip over it for now.

Baseball started at the beginning of June for my youngest brother Alex (if you didn’t know, I have three older sisters and three younger brothers). I love softball so getting to see him play tee ball is wonderful! Anyway, you can only imagine my happiness when he not only stopped a ball, but also hit a coach's pitch in his first game! But that is not what this post is about. This post is about how simplicity and innocence can teach such a lesson. My 2nd youngest brother, Gary, is SO stinking amazing. He never fails to impress me! Gary’s smile is so contagious; he just loves life.

While we were at a game, two young girls were trying to talk to Gary. Here’s the catch, Gary is a non-verbal, wonderful 16 year-old who also has autism. They didn’t know- they didn’t care; all they saw was a kid sitting on the ground playing with an alphabet toy. These two girls were not going to give up on talking to him. Gary can be quite aggressive sometimes and he tried to grab the girls’ feet above him. I saw this and went over to them. I’m going to be honest, I really don’t know how to explain to people that Gary has autism without letting it define him, let alone explain it to some 8 year-olds! I just said, “Gary doesn’t talk; Gary likes to play with musical toys; Gary likes to play by himself.” This just made the girls want to talk to him more! When Gary wants you to know something, he will use simple sign language to tell you. Signing to me saying he wanted milk, the girls got even more curious! They asked all the words he knew how to sign.

With that, Gary and I went over words he knew in sign language. The girls thought it was the coolest thing.

Milk

Pig

Please

Thank you

This is why I want to be a teacher. I want to teach students with special needs, students with tough home lives, students who have no idea what they want to do in the future. I want to be the encouragement for these students who have had so many others give up on them. Not only that, but I want to encourage others to be passionate and loving toward all others despite differences they may have. We are all special in our own ways, we should be loved for that.

I have seen others give up on Gary just because he doesn’t understand things the same way. I will admit, I have given up on him. I am not perfect either. I, however, recognize that. It forces me to want to do better. No student should ever be given up on. I love seeing people get better at things. While, yes, someday I would love to be a coach of cross country or track, I love seeing others get better at life skills. Over the years, I have seen Gary learn more words, learn more life skills, and grow into a young man.

There is just something about the beauty of growth. Observable change over time. Sometimes we don't even get to observe it. I have heard so many stories from teachers about how years later they found out from a student about the impact they made on their life. It may not always be positive, but at least it means you did something. I know I have had teachers in the past that I have learned what not to do and others have been the biggest influences on what I want to do in my classroom.

Each and every time I go to a practicum, I am reassured teaching is the right life for me. I don’t only teach the students, they teach me. I am their difference maker and they are mine.