I teach teachers.

My years in this position has provided me with countless blessings, and at the top of that list, I would put the people that it has allowed me to meet, work with, and learn from.  Several years ago, in search of a new work site for several of my students, I approached a newly opened hotel that was affiliated with the community college that houses our Transition Program.  This hotel was built as a living, breathing, real life classroom for students pursuing careers in the world of hospitality careers...learning by doing, it was right up our alley.  I was put in contact with the gentleman who was in charge of housekeeping, and immediately we connected and began planning opportunities for both my students and his students, each of us so excited about the possibilities.  In the midst of our planning, he made a comment that changed me as a transition teacher, and as a person.  He told me that everyone was learning and growing from my students working in this hotel.  Not only were my students learning important work and social skills in a community environment, but his students, and members of the community were learning from my students as well.  They were learning understanding, tolerence, and acceptance.

I have taken that with me and applied it every day as I venture out into the community with my students.  As I sense someones frustration behind me in the grocery line, as my student struggles to count their money and make their purchase, I remind myself that I am teaching teachers.  As we board the bus and one of my students sits in the front seat bouncing and stemming throughout the ride, I remind myself that I am teaching teachers.  As I work through a melt down with an individual who is insisting on breaking because it is 2:45 on a clock that has not been changed for daylight saving time, I remind myself that I am teaching teachers.

My students, with all their quirks, routines, and struggles are better teachers than I could ever be to the world around them.  Just by being themselves and moving through their daily lives they teach each person they come in contact with acceptance.  That is pretty powerful stuff!  In those difficult moments, I must remind myself to resist the urge to step in and count the money for them, stop the stemming, and eliminate the melt down.  If I step in, no one learns.  My students do not learn to work through their struggles, and cannot be themselves in a community that is just as much theirs as it is yours and mine.  And those frustrated folks in the community do not learn either.  They do not learn to accept differences and be understanding.

I teach teachers; unique, determined, unaltered and kind-hearted teachers...and by teaching them, they teach you and me every day.

Come to the edge with me...