When I first started teaching Special Education years ago, I learned a valuable lesson about bullying. For bullying can come from anyone, child or adult. I taught students that were labeled Mentally Retarded but they weren’t retarded at all.These eleven to thirteen year old students were socio-economically deprived. The materials were scarce and I had to use my creativity and own materials to teach them reading.
The first week I taught reading I would call on them to read. I was shocked when one boy named Michael got up and stuttered with the words. He didn’t normally stutter when he spoke. Some of the kids laughed. I realized then he had been bullied by students or perhaps even a teacher and calling on him to read made him stutter and anxious.
For the rest of my career I always asked first, “Who would like to read?” Michael taught me a very valuable lesson. I learned to respect and honor the students, being sensitive to their needs and character. It was honor to be all my students’ teacher. I was young and inexperienced but an angel must have been on my shoulder.
A quote I live by was written by the seventeenth century Japanese haiku poet, Mizuta Masahide. It represented to him the meaning of life.