The Blind Side

I watched The Blind Side tonight and I realized quickly as it began that it was going to be a story that reminded me of why I went into teaching. When I first went to college, I was firmly convinced I was going to be a CPA. I loved accounting and had forgotten the childhood dream of being a teacher. Most children say they are going to be a teacher, or a fireman, or a policeman, or the President when they are little, but then as they age, new dreams and goals take shape and form.

That was me. I wanted to be a teacher from the time I was small, but then as others began to influence me, they convinced me teaching wasn't really what I wanted to do. So, off to college I went, firmly entrenched in my desire to major in accounting. However, as I stayed awake nights trying to figure out how to get the spreadsheets to balance and to find some odd error that was causing my balance sheet to be out of balance, I realized............I don't really like doing this. So, I quit college, got married and went to work at the drug store back home. Then I moved on to a job issuing food stamps. Then, I was reading the paper one day and saw an ad for a business teacher at the local high school. My mind raced. My thoughts swirled. Reality surfaced. I realized I could do the job, but was not qualified for the job.

So, bless my husband's heart. It was August and I had him pull up roots and off we went to chase my childhood dream of teaching. I didn't dare tell him the first month or so that I was miserable. School can be depressing. Married housing was not the taj mahal. We were working to make ends meet so I could go to school. There was no time to enjoy school. It was work, school, sleep, work, school, sleep. Then, it happened. That teachable moment. That lightning bolt from the sky. Much like in The Blind Side when she said turn the car around and they went back and picked Michael up and changed his life forever. Dr. Turner did that for me. I turned in a word processing test and she stopped me and said "How are you doing? How do you like Arkansas Tech?" Simple questions, simple words, but they meant to me that someone had noticed me and cared how I was faring at school outside of my immediate family. I had a 'connection'.

Dr. Turner was truly a mentor to me and helped me complete my degree as well as give me the perfect advice I needed to land that first teaching job. As I have gone through my teaching career, I've often remembered the simple questions she asked that made such a difference in my life. "How are you doing? How do you like school?" Isn't it amazing what a difference we can make each day in a child's life. I'm also reminded in The Blind Side where the teachers are talking in the faculty lounge and realize that Michael was learning and if they read the questions to him he knew the answers. One teacher made that difference for Michael and soon other teachers followed in her footsteps. Does every child need a 504 plan or to be in special education in order to get the attention they need to succeed in the classroom? All it really takes is a teacher that cares. Will we catch all students and connect with each of them? Maybe not, but I hazard a guess that Michael's story struck a cord in alot of teachers. Are we being a lightning bolt for students?

Teachers don't teach for the money or the awards or summer and winter break. Teachers teach because they love kids and love being able to make a difference in the life of kids. Many times we never realize what a difference we have made. Hopefully the differences we have made have been positive ones. Most importantly, I hope the biggest difference we can say that we made is that we showed students that we cared for them as individuals and wanted to help them succeed not only in the classroom but in life.