Finding My Voice

A person is a person, no matter what services that they require in school.

“He’s special ed and we’re supposed to be nice to special ed”. I heard this said by a random student in a school hallway once and turned me into a giant puddle in the middle of that germ infested hallway floor. Do you know how damaging the label of special education can be? There is a negative stigma that comes along with special education. The label often is usually thrown around as an insult to…

Teaching Makes You…

Aware. Patient. Compassionate. Crazy. Tired. Tough. It makes you want to pull all of your hair out. It makes you step back a few inches away from BITEY McGee, or Samuel SPIT-A-LOTS. It makes you think, rethink, and rethink that thing. Then, rethink that thought about that thing.   It makes your head hurt. It makes your feet hurt. It makes you listen. It makes you appreciate breaks. It makes you…

Teach the Important Things

Dear Parents and Teachers, Please teach children not to stare or point at those who look a little different than them. Please teach children to celebrate with a child who shows his excitement through hand-flapping.  Please teach children not to pity a person with a disability because this person’s life still has a meaningful quality of life. Please teach children to be patient with a child who is…

“Left foot, right foot. Feet. Feet. Feet. Oh, how many feet you meet!”

There are so many things a special education teacher experiences during her first year of teaching. A school year is comprised of 180 school days. And during those 180 school days, you should be prepared to cry a flood of tears, walk an average of 9,000 steps a day, read through stacks of papers that you have no idea how to complete, mediate about a million tantrums, question your career choice…

A Soulmate Is…

Someone you share an instant connection with. A person who shares similar interests. Your best friend. A dog, cat, or guinea pig. Someone you trust with your deepest, darkest secrets. The person that you want always in your corner. Someone who exists, but may never meet. I believe in soulmates, but not necessarily in a romantic way. I believe that everyone has a soulmate and my biggest hope is…

“Come on Barbie, Let’s Go Party”

Ken is selfish, I mean the way he keeps on persisting that Barbie go with him. First of all, he never asked. Second, Barbie has like 500 careers. So maybe all she wants to do is watch Netflix and then go to bed. Maybe instead of focusing on getting Barbie’s attention, he should focus on getting his own life together. Barbie has dreams. Barbie has goals. Barbie has a life of her own. Barbie is a…

Let’s talk about shyness. Shyness often gets a lot of flack. It often gets misinterpreted as being a bitch or a jerk. However, not all people who are shy are bitches. It is true that some are, but most are genuinely nice people. Shyness can be caused by a number of factors including, anxiety, fear, uncomfortableness, or past experiences. Some may argue that shyness is selfish. I have mixed…

Let’s Hang Out Soon

Am I he only who is tired of hearing the oh so sweet sentiment, “let’s hang out soon” or “let’s get coffee”. It seems to me that if you really wanted to hang out that you would try a little bit harder to do so. A coffee date last like 30 minutes to an hour, so what is your excuse not to get together and catch up. If you are really friends like all of the social networking websites say that you…

You begin with a tiny seed. A tiny seed full of hope, joy, flushed cheeks, and insurmountable possibilities. With the planting of this seed, you make promises to care for this new thing daily and vow to let it blossom into a beautiful flower. You decide to place it in the most perfect spot where it will get plenty of sunlight and will have plenty of space to develop naturally. You water it every…

I hate gyms. There are a number of reasons for my hatred of these stinky, air conditioned, sweaty death traps. Sure a lot of positive life-changing things can happen from regularly attending a gym, but alas there has to be a price to be paid. And I am not just speaking of the literal, and ridiculous, amount of money you are expected to fork over to be included in the members only club. Here are a…

Stand up straight. Chin up. Stiffen that upper lip. And never let them see you cry. Where did this notion of standing tall and strong originate? As someone who is still learning how to control all of her emotions, I hate this silly notion. There are times that I can’t help but to let out all of my tears to form a deep, wet puddle of emotions. If I am distraught enough to let everyone know how…

You are not perfect, and that is exactly how you should be. To always expect perfection is a horrible way to live. The average human makes about a million mistakes a day. That is what makes life so exciting, horrible, and utterly terrifying. Fact: There is not one single person in this world who was born perfect. Perfection always takes time. Even when it is achieved it isn’t actually achieved.…

#@$%… Bleeeep

Why do people cuss? I can’t speak for anyone else, I can only speak for myself. I cuss because it’s fun, exciting, and forbidden. And mostly because those short powerful words just slip out and roll off my slippery tongue. I can’t help it. I don’t see the harm in throwing around a few explicits from time to time as long as those words aren’t used in a way that harm a person’s character. Casual…

“Game, my ass. Some game. If you get on the side where all the hot-shots are, then it’s a game, all right—I’ll admit that. But if you get on the other side, where there aren’t any hot-shots, then what’s a game about it? Nothing, No game.” — J.D. Salinger, The Catcher in the Rye It’s sports season. Go sports! Whichever sport I am supposed to be rooting for. When one sport ends, another one begins.…

You’re My Best Friend

She turned to me and said, “Did you know that you are my best friend”? For someone of her young age to utter such words of honesty and vulnerability is an inspiring thing. There are so many people who can’t find the courage to be this real, myself included.

In this moment I felt like I was actually doing something of importance. I wasn’t just volunteering to be a mentor for a twelve-year-old…

Social Media Gives Me Social Anxiety

“This is hilarious, I think I’ll share it? No it’s stupid. Screw it, I’ll just post it. What hashtag should I use? Should I even hashtag it? What does tagging even do? So many filters. Rule of Thirds. Cropping. Captions. Can this be seen as offensive? Nevermind, I’m not posting this… Shit, it’s been published. Clumbsy thumbs. I didn’t notice that typo.” - My inner monologue while posting anything.