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MARY-ELLEN LANG:
Braveheart
CBC News Viewpoint | April 13, 2005 | More from Mary-Ellen Lang
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Mary-Ellen Lang delights in being a mom, grandma, writer, teacher,
gardener, and equestrian, usually in about that order. She has been
teaching since 1972, and writing since 1980. Two of her three (award
winning, Young Adult) novels are published in many languages in Europe,
the USA and Canada.
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In schools, there are people whose lives seem to be anointed by the
gods. They are attractive, well adjusted and finely balanced; success of
all sorts comes easily to them. The rivers of their lives flow along
without logjams or mudslides.
Then there's the rest of us, the majority of whom stumble and struggle
through mishaps and adventures, trials and tests, winning some, losing
some, holding the line on most things. We "fit in." We get by.
And there's "Special Ed." Special Ed is for the people who don't fit in
the mainstream. There is something wrong, something that doesn't work,
something that prevents them from being able to do what other people can
do.
It may be that when they look at a page of prose, their brain scrambles
it, they can make no sense of the words on the page. It may be that
their muscles will not allow them to hold a pen, or focus their eyes, or
say words clearly. It may be that ideas only briefly park inside their
minds, and then drive off into a fog.
Whatever's missing may be huge or small, easily observable or almost
undetectable. In any case, whatever it is has been tested, recorded,
evaluated, and is then addressed. Experts who understand the particular
problems that go with particular types of learning handicaps offer these
students opportunities to achieve successes within their range of
apparent possibilities.
One of the best students I ever had the privilege of teaching was in
Special Ed. She had been tested and diagnosed as learning disabled.
Reading was a problem. Processing language, putting it together, finding
the sense in prose was difficult. She was expected to get a "school
leaving" certificate, a recognition of her attendance, and work, but
also a clear indication that she couldn't achieve the minimal "norm" in
education.
She refused to accept this.
She was put in my first semester non-academic class and allowed to try
the course. She came to every class, attempted most of the work,
struggled and fumed. And failed. She did not pass the mandatory
government exam, and could not demonstrate a minimal standard of
achievement in class work.
She didn't accept this. She was absolutely sure that some small piece to
a difficult puzzle could be found and put in its proper place, and then
she would retain and improve learning.
And I had noticed something. The writing she did in January was better
than the writing she had done in September. "Try again," I said. "You're
getting there." She enrolled in the same course second semester.
She also teamed up with the educational assistant who was assigned to
the learning disabled students in my class. On her own time, in her own
home, and for no money, the educational assistant tutored this student.
The two of them would labour through sentence combining, letter formats,
story reading and comprehension.
To say that blood, sweat and tears were expended in this effort would be
an understatement. The frustration and grief this student experienced
because her brain had such trouble processing and retaining language
constructs were heartbreaking. Still, she would not give up. She
absolutely refused to be defeated.
It became a mission. The three of us, teacher, assistant, student, would
not accept anything but success. We would be stubborn. If not one way,
then another way would be found to get the necessary skills inside the
student's head.
There was progress. Capital letters started appearing at the beginning
of sentences, as did periods at the end. Furthermore, the sentences were
complete, and a logical progression from one to the next became more and
more regular.
Then there were paragraphs. Later, we got commas. Not only that, but the
fuzzy babble that was prose settled into recognizable chunks of
comprehensible language. Reading comprehension improved.
The day of the government exam, my student was ready. She was confident
she could pass it, and so was I. The day the results came in and she saw
she had scored a 60 per cent was one of the proudest of my entire
teaching career.
She passed the course. She achieved a regular graduation. She was
awarded the "Super Student" prize for my school. She is now a valued
employee getting promotions at a local business.
I have taught students who went on to top universities, with major
scholarships. My school has produced students who achieved the top
government exam scores in the province. These are students who put their
considerable skills to work to attain extraordinary results.
Their commitment to learning and excellence has carried them far from
the halls of this little school and the shores of this seaside town, and
their teachers are justly proud of them.
But I have never encountered anyone whose will to achieve their absolute
best was more strong, or whose triumph was more complete. She is a
remarkable young woman whose stubborn determination and overwhelming
courage humble people like me, who to this day has never met anyone with
more heart.
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