50 Years--So Many Students, So Many Stories

I have been purging student records and photos and reports and lesson plans.  I do not know why I saved so much.  Maybe because it was painful to throw things away at the time.  It is still painful now.

I think of the 5th graders and the 6th graders at Seymour Christian School in Grand Rapids, Michigan. I remember Kevin who wrote on his spelling paper, "I am dum."  I remember John who taught me to recognize Orion's Belt in the sky.  I remember Lynn who has become my Facebook friend and said she went back to school to become a teacher because I inspired her.

Then there was my year as an "assistant music mistress" teaching 15 little girls at St. Leonard's School in St. Andrews, Scotland to play the piano.  Four of them were named Fiona.  None of them played very well!  Especially the boarders, one of whom told me, "Daddy has millions of cattle in the Hebrides."

After a year as a secretary at Harvard, I spent three years tutoring in a program for the "perceptually handicapped" in Newton, Massachusetts where I learned a method for teaching reading that I used over and over again with dyslexic children and adults.  I will always credit Dr. Jesse Grimes for a method that he developed and many use today.

At this point it was my turn for an advanced degree--an MS in special education from North Carolina State University.  For the next several years children came one by one or two by two for tutoring in Raleigh, North Carolina --at a clinic office or later, in our own basement classroom.   This was teaching and learning at its best--focused on each child and his or her needs with recorded progress.  It was hard to recycle the reports that I once worked so hard on.

Next were the years of adult education here in South Bend--at Hope Rescue Mission and at Family Literacy which met at four different sites over the years.  When I look at the rosters, there are so many names I don't remember but others I think I will never forget!  Dale, my first successful GED student, showed up for the graduation ceremony all dressed in black with  gold chains.   And Eric, when I complimented him on his gentle spirit, told me that I should know that he had spent time in prison for murder.  Tiffany, Tequila, Noelia, Latisha, Shaina, Jennifer, Jackie, Dishona--so many mothers of little children-- had so many obstacles to overcome.  And occasionally a father, too--John, Gerald, Adell, Ralph, Dion.

Before retirement, I decided a transition to regular adult education classes would be good--fewer administrative responsibilities than I had at Family Literacy.  One day a young black man walked into class and told me he knew nothing about computers because he had spent the last 15 years in prison for a crime he had not committed.  I was skeptical.  But he was right.  The Northwestern Exoneration project helped to free Harold and three others.  He got his GED quite easily but transition to civilian life had its perils for him.  It probably has even more perils now that he has his very large settlement from the city of Chicago.

It's overwhelming to see these names again and see the photos and read the writing in the the monthly newsletters we published.  Where are they now? How about the Family Literacy children who are teenagers and young adults?

I don't want to return to teaching.  I'm glad I had the opportunity to serve others in that way.  But sometimes it seems sad that so many chapters in my life are over.