Self Esteem

Self esteem is one of the most important things we teach our students. I covered a special education class one day. Rather than giving the kids the busy work that was left for them, I decided to just talk to them, find out what they were about. They then asked about me, about what I taught. I told them math, mostly calculus. They asked me to teach them calculus. After a couple of seconds thought I showed them how to do simple derivatives, using the power rule like the derivative of 6x^5. It just involves simple subtraction and multiplication. The kids had no idea of what they were doing or why they were doing it, but they felt good about themselves. They walked into their afternoon classes and showed the other teachers their newly acquired math skills--it was great.

Another term I developed a friendship with a severely mentally disabled young man, N. He was friends with one of my calculus kids. N came to tutoring sessions with my calculus kid. Although he couldn't possibly do any of the work, I handed him practice sheets and a calculator and he went through the motions of doing the work. He too felt really good about himself. He hated the stigma of special education and craved for the knowledge and companionship of the mainstream kids. Accepting N into the class hurt no one and helped him greatly.

I've taught special education students that thought they had big SPECIAL EDUCATION signs stamped on their foreheads. Self image was one of their biggest problems. Although I did nothing for these kids education, I know I helped them in more ways than one.