It's The Little Things

"We cannot all do great things, but we can do small things with great love.”
~Mother Teresa of Calcutta.

Today somebody sent me this quotation during an email exchange and it reminded me of something I used to say to my students when they were frustrated. "You can't save the world but if you try, you'll end up saving some kids."

This was usually said in reference to a student telling me about some education professional who advised them to quit spending so much time with kids who are "lost causes" or "just like their parents". The one that would really get me was "you'll learn not to be so idealistic."

I love it when a teacher is idealistic! It means they are going to keep trying. And while they won't save every child they will help many that others have written off. So keep doing those small things for the kids and think of Mother Teresa's words when the bastards get you down.

That Time Of The Year

Starting tomorrow, I'll be neck-deep in my student's final manuscripts. I'll spend the week reading the five chapters of their research competencies and I'll be meeting with those same students to review their work with them. I'm trying my best to have these suckers read before I meet with the authors so by Monday evening I'll be ready to pull my hair out, by Tuesday I'll be a bit grumpy (apologies in advance), and by Wednesday I'll be downright delirious (again, apologies).

Despite this grind, I secretly love this time of the year. Everything will be worth it when I see them Friday at the graduate hooding ceremony. Some kick-ass special educators are going to be crossing that stage. They're going to be teaching kids that a lot of people think are unteachable, getting to know kids thought to be unreachable and advocating for kids that have nobody else to care about them.

I love working with my students and will miss them, but on the other hand I can't wait for them get out of here so they can be more focused on fighting the good fight.

To Laugh, Or Not To Laugh

A colleague and I watched the video below from The Onion and thought it was hilarious. It features a reporter with autism reporting from the site of a train crash in which one person was killed. The reporter is completely focused on information about the train and is oblivious to the fact that his interview comes across as rude since he ignores the human drama of the situation. 

We think this is funny because we know people with autism who might see something like this and have the same reaction, not recognizing that this is a story about people not a train. It's not that they would be behaving rudely on purpose; it's just that some people with autism have trouble recognizing emotion and responding in a manner that society deems as appropriate.

We didn't just blindly forward the video to other friends in the field. We actually took a minute to discuss who we could send this to and who might be insulted, which led me to thinking -- when is something about special education just funny and when does it cross the line to insulting?

Watch the video and let us know what you think.


Autistic Reporter: Train Thankfully Unharmed In Crash That Killed One Man