Friday, February 6, 2009

Lexi's list

In honor of my friend Jenn's recent post, I too have some Lexi musings to share.  Last year my parents and I went out to dinner with Jenn and her family in Iowa City.  After Lexi took a poll on whether or not the adults at the table liked Miller Lite or not (smart girl), she started peppering me with questions about whether or not I was going to get married and have kids of my own.  Lexi, very astutely, has figured out that she and her sister are the kids in my life, and she seemed a little worried that any rugrats I might have in the future would usurp her position.  "Miss Marie," she told me very seriously, "if you had kids ... it would be weird."  After agreeing with her on the weirdness of my potential procreating, and pointing out that she would be my go-to babysitter should I ever drop some shorties, Lexi came up with the following list.  It's ten questions she gets to ask any possible co-baby makers.  I think she covered all the bases. 

1) Do you like basketball?
2) Do you like kids?
3) Do you like books?
4) Do you like shopping?
5) Are you tall?
6) Do you like yoga?
7) What's your favorite movie?
8) What's your favorite ice cream?
9) Do you like me?
10) Do you love Mrs. Marie?

While having my husband call me "Mrs. Marie" might be a little kinky, I'll let it slide if he's a tall, child-loving basketball player who likes to read books.  Is all I'm saying.

~Marie

Tuesday, February 3, 2009

Things That Keep Me Up At Night: 3

Aside from my unshakable cough, the Twilight series, my pending on-line math course, mankind's inability to live in harmony with the Timber Wolf, and my decision to grow my hair out until I shave my head in July, the number one thing that HAD been keeping me up at night was my graduate school application essay.  Two double-spaced pages on why I want to be a teacher; a task I was struggling with to a ridiculous degree, mostly because I could write a fricking book about why I want to be a teacher, and the path I've taken to finally reach this decision. 

BUT!! The application was due last Friday and, true to form, I cranked out my essay, over-nighted my application, and am now waiting to hear back from the University of Minnesota's early childhood education and early child special education program. Here's the essay for your reading pleasure. Cross your fingers, folks, this is where I want to be!!

Application Essay

The first time I met Andy, he wouldn’t look me in the eye.  “Talk to him,” his mom told me, “he’s listening.”  So I talked, about anything and everything.  While I talked, Andy spun in circles and flapped his arms.  He never made eye contact, but his circles would occasionally bring him close enough so that he could brush his hand against my arm.  At the end of our meeting, as my words dwindled, Andy began to screech and hit his head.  His mom smiled.  “He likes you,” she told me.  We arranged to meet again the next day.

Working with Andy and his family for the next three years changed my life.  Diagnosed with Autism at an early age, Andy had been neglected by his birth parents and abused in foster care.  When I met him he was eight years old, living with his adoptive family, and just beginning to move past the traumas of his early childhood. Doctors had predicted that Andy would never be able to communicate, and early evaluations had labeled him profoundly retarded.  Working with a team of caregivers assembled by his parents, I helped Andy find ways to successfully interact with his community. Time and time again I saw him struggle against the limitations detailed in his initial prognosis.   I read to Andy, and watched him emerge into language and begin to write poetry; together we practiced facilitated communication, and I saw him type love notes to his first crush.  I witnessed Andy’s parents fight to prove that their child belonged in a “regular” classroom, and I saw first hand how a misdiagnosis, a label, could be overcome with passionate advocacy and tireless effort.  I learned how teachers and parents, therapists and respite care providers, could come together to provide a child with the tools and opportunities that he needed to succeed, in the classroom and beyond.

I took the lessons that I learned from Andy and his family with me as I worked with a variety of children in a number of different roles.  As a special education assistant teacher, I saw how special-needs children, lacking the advocacy and support Andy received, could slip through the cracks of public education. As a para-educator in a behavior disorder classroom, I learned how simple things, like patience and consistency, were sometimes the only tools I needed to connect with a child.  As lead teacher at a private preschool, I worked to prove that a small group of typically functioning children could successfully be educated along side their special-needs peers.

I have worked with children in various ways throughout my life.  I have been everything from teacher to nanny, from soccer coach to respite worker.  No matter what my title, however, I have always been an educator.  A child’s education is a process comprised of innumerable influences and countless opportunities.  I want to provide children with the tools they need to take advantage of these opportunities at an early age, and I believe that your M.Ed/Initial Licensure Program in Early Childhood and Early Childhood Special Education can help me achieve that goal.  I want to anchor the hands-on experiences I have accumulated over the past ten years in the research based methodology and best practices that I will learn through your program.  After completing your program I will be able to provide special-needs children with the opportunities and tools that Andy never had as a young child.

** names have been changed