Find Yourself...

oh my god

(via @gabwiiela)

Finding Dory (2016)

TW (via misjudgments)

(3/3) “I had one student who came to my school as an ‘emergency transfer.’ He was fourteen when he came into my class. He’d kick, bite, scream. He’d even pee his pants just to take them off and throw them at you. I taught him for several years. Recently he graduated, and to celebrate I took him to see The Minions. He stood in line to get his popcorn. He sat still through the entire movie. He was able to ‘be there.’ And that’s what gives me the most satisfaction. Getting my students to the point where they can be in this world.”

(2/3) “Even in special education, our curriculum is based on Common Core standards. I’ll have to teach about seasons to a child who doesn’t know his own name. I’m expected to teach To Kill A Mockingbird to a classroom full of nonverbal students, some of whom may be wearing diapers and haven’t learned their ABCs. I think it’s insulting to tell students what they’re going to learn, regardless of their abilities and needs. But I try to work some magic and design a lesson plan where everyone in the class can take something away from the story. For the least advanced students, we just use To Kill A Mockingbird to practice the alphabet. Then I’m also expected to teach Algebra. I try my best using lots of velcro and lamination, but I can’t say that many of my students have ever learned how to solve for x. We spend so much energy on learning how to sit still. I think special populations should be focused more on vocational training like filling out forms and budgeting money—things that will give them confidence and prepare them for independence. But I keep my mouth shut and do my best to work within the system. When I first began teaching, my mentor told me: ‘If there’s anything about the system that you want to fight, just make sure it’s the hill you want to die on.’”

(1/3) “I got my first classroom when I was twenty-two. I was so young at the time. I think I first went into special education imagining that I’d be hanging out with kids all day. I’ve been teaching for ten years now. Special education is a lot more exhausting than I imagined. It’s like a performance. You need to be ‘on’ the entire day. You need to be strict. You need to always say the right thing and respond in just the right way. I do enjoy it, but in a different way than I imagined. Many of my students come from broken places. Some are homeless or live in foster homes. So the gains come slowly and can be difficult to track. But I get joy from seeing my students want to learn. It’s very fulfilling for me if I can inspire my students to want to read a little better, or get a job, or be kinder to their classmate. It can be very tough sometimes to feel like you’re making a difference. I remember during one of my first years, I was teaching a group of nonverbal students how to take turns, and everything went to hell and the students started screaming and beating their heads against the table. Then my best-behaved student turned and bit me. I thought: ‘I failed. I made things worse.’ But anytime I feel myself burning out, or losing patience, or not giving it my all, I pull back and do some meditation. Because if I’m not fully present and trying my hardest to make a difference, I should just quit.”

One thing I like about Pixar films is how the happy ending isn’t always what you think it’ll be. The toys don’t go with Andy to college, Gusteau’s restaurant gets closed down, Mike and Sully get kicked out of university, Carl never gets Ellie to Paradise Falls. But they find out that what they wanted isn’t necessarily what they needed, and I really like the fact that kids get to learn that life doesn’t always turn out the way they dreamed and that’s okay.

Danielle Steele (via onlinecounsellingcollege)

In case you are sad here is a picture of ducklings wearing paper dresses