What a lifesaver! - reflections of a teacher for emotionally disturbed children

Instructor, August, 1998 by Christine Haymond

It was Monday morning, the third week of my job as a primary teacher for emotionally disturbed children. The preparation for my new position was as thorough as it could have been - new certification and 12 weeks of intense student teaching.

Why was I then feeling overwhelmed, underqualified, and physically and emotionally wrung out? How could I face the challenge of another week? What could I do to feel like I was accomplishing something and not just surviving?

A simple quotation by Mark Twain was the answer - "You cannot throw bad habits out the window.... You have to coax them down the stairs a step at a time." Our local radio station's "thought for the day" was like a lightning bolt of awareness.

I jotted down Twains words and began to heed their simple, yet profound, advice. I knew that "one step at a time" was a healthy approach, but I was daunted by the "big picture."

I adjusted my behavioral goals to be more manageable, choosing one behavior for each child. For example, there was Jeremy. He cried, swore, and ran around the room, creating chaos. We isolated a single behavior - running around - for a single hour at lunchtime. Focusing Jeremy's and my energy worked! The other children witnessed Jeremy's success and we all began to rejoice in small victories.

As the weeks passed, other bits of timely wisdom miraculously appeared as I needed them. There was the reminder from Montessori that "A child's work is to create the man he will become." Aha! The big picture was also important. Balancing long-term vision with short-term goals makes for good common sense and great teaching.

"There is a definite difference between putting your nose in other people's business and putting your heart in their problems." This offered me the confidence and strength to work with families as part of a team, and in unique circumstances, to reach out into a child's life beyond school.

During a particularly trying time with a student I was reminded that "Children need the most love when they are least lovable." What a lifesaver! I thought. From that day on, all the scribbled inspirations buried in a pile on my desk began to transform into their current state - a display of doughnut-shaped paper versions of these "Lifesavers" in all the candy colors. On each construction-paper Lifesaver I hand-lettered an inspirational quote that I wanted or needed to see every day.

Every two years or so my most tried-and-true Lifesavers grow faded and tattered. It took me years to finally laminate them. Somehow finding new quotations and rewriting old ones on freshly cut Lifesavers affirms their importance and is a labor of love.

In the center of the wall of Lifesavers remains my anchor, the heart of everything I do, from Trouble and Troubling Children by Nicholas Hobbs: "In growing up, a child should know some joy in each day and look forward to some joyous event for the morrow."

Christine Haymond has taught children of all ages for more than 20 years. She currently teaches at Plains Township Middle School and writes an education column for the local newspaper, The Repository, in Canton, Ohio.