Locating the Past by Caryn Coleman |
Back to the intro | |||
Teaching Special Education for sixteen years has been very rewarding for me. I often think about students I have had in the past, but I have no way of locating them. As a former military wife, I moved around a great deal. In 1992 my husband retired from the army and we settled in Bartow County, GA. I began teaching at an elementary school in the north end of the county. The county was moving towards inclusion, so the other Special Education Teacher and I decided that we would introduce the concept to the staff by implementing it for one period per day. After looking over my caseload I decided to implement inclusion in a Sixth Grade Math Class.
The class that I chose had five special education students in a class of 28 students. Two of the special education students were served under the exceptionality of Learning Disabled, students with IQ’s above 80. The other three students were Mild Intellectually Disabled, students that have IQ’s between 55-70. The regular education teacher and I decided that I would team teach with her in Math. Math is strength for me and a weakness for her, so I taught the lesson and she assisted the special education students and any other students that needed help during the lesson.
After the math lesson the three Mild Intellectually Disabled students would go to the resource class with me. There I would teach them reading, language arts and reinforce the math concepts taught earlier that morning. In the resource class I would have 3 students from fourth and 1 student from fifth grade that would participate in the lessons, too.
Since then I have often thought about that first group of sixth grade students that I had in 1992 who graduated from high school in May of 1999. I decided that I would see if I could locate them to find out how they have been doing since 1993. After months of research and searching I was able to locate three out of the five of them. The two Learning Disabled students moved away and I was unable to locate them. However, I did find the three Mild Intellectually Disabled. Tammy, Sean and Jennifer still live in the area.
The first person that I located was Tammy. She moved into the district in October of 1992. In her previous school system she had been placed in a self-contained setting. In 1992 Bartow County did not have self-contained at all the schools, so Tammy would have to be bussed to another school to be placed in self-contained. Her mother requested that we would serve her daughter in the resource program instead of moving her to the school across town. In sixth grade Tammy could read vocabulary words at a fifth grade, but her comprehension skills were on a third grade level. Her math skills were at a fourth grade level.
Tammy did not have many friends in her class. She appeared to be tall for her age and she was over weight. She tried to be accepted by her peers by selling candy at school. She would take her allowance to the store and purchase candy and sell if for a profit at school. Unfortunately, self-entrepreneurship is not encouraged by school administration, so her operation had to be closed down. Tammy’s mother thought that it was a very good way for her daughter to become business minded and wished that we would allow her to continue selling candy, but school rules prevailed. At home Tammy did not spend much time with friends because her mother relied on her to help out with her four-year-old brother.
Tammy freely admitted that she felt more comfortable talking with adults. When Tammy entered into middle school she was unable to continue with inclusion because she could not keep up with the demands of the classes. She was placed in a self-contained classroom for math, language arts, social studies, and science. She attended exploratories and lunch with her peers. Tammy tried to sell candy again in middle school, but was halted because of school rules and the administration.
When Tammy entered into high school she wanted to take College Prep Classes, but the teachers told her mother that those classes would be too difficult for her. Tammy agreed that they would be hard, but she had a desire to go that route. Tammy took part in a work-study program, taking a job in a fast food restaurant and enrolling in cosmetology classes. She enjoyed cosmetology, but she liked the restaurant business better. During her junior year she quit working at the fast food restaurant and began working in food preparation at a small restaurant in town. Tammy graduated from high school with a Special Education Diploma. She took a Vocational Placement Test before graduation. The test results indicated that Tammy should consider working in childcare. Tammy expressed to the examiner that she was interested in Culinary Arts. The examiner was concerned that being a chef may be too difficult for her and encouraged her to consider being an apprentice to a chef.
When I caught up to her, Tammy was still working in the small town restaurant. Tammy looked like she did eight years ago. She was still a little over weight, but it does not seem to bother her. Tammy has an outgoing personality and was able to talk freely with me. In her spare time she is taking classes at night school to learn how to work on a computer. She hopes that she will some day be able to open her own restaurant. She says that she enjoys working, going to school and driving in her Saturn.
After talking with several teachers in the high school I located Jennifer. She had not changed much from sixth grade. She is a happy go lucky girl that gets along with everyone. I remember her being shy in class, but when she was with her friends she fit right in. Unlike Tammy, Jennifer grew up in Adairsville. Jennifer is the youngest of five kids. When she was tested her reading skills were at a third grade level and her math skills were at a fourth grade level. She spent one hour a day in inclusion and two hours per day in a resource setting studying math, language arts, and reading. In April 1993 her family’s home was hit by a tornado. The community helped to get them back on the right road.
When Jennifer started middle school she was placed in a self-contained program due to her low IQ. She was in the same class as Tammy. She was mainstreamed for exploratories (electives) and lunch.
When Jennifer went to high school she was on the Special Education Diploma track. She participated in the work-study program and explored several different avenues for work. Jennifer continued to have a lot of friends. After graduation Jennifer started working at the Dollar General Store in Adairsville. She runs the register, stocks shelves, and keeps the store looking nice. Jennifer continues to live with her mother, and she will stop by the store to shop for them after she gets off from work.
Sean was the last student that I was able to locate. I called his dads house and Sean was there so I was able to talk with him on the phone. We talked for about a half hour and I asked if he would mind meeting me at Burger King to talk in person. He sounded very reluctant, but he said he would call me back. Several weeks past and I did not hear from him, so I figured he did not remember who I was.
In elementary school Sean was shy. He did not like to attend school. His dad had to bring him into school every day. If his step mom brought him to school Sean would start to cry and his step mom would take him back home. Sean was afraid to be away from his step mom. Sean wanted to be with his step mom, so he found her a job in the school cafeteria. His step mom said that this would not be a good job for her. Her family makes fun of her cooking, so she was wondering if Sean was trying to make the kids at school sick. He was a very family oriented boy at a young age. Sean had the same schedule as Tammy and Jennifer did in the sixth grade. He participated in the inclusion math and would go to the resource room for two hours. He would receive instruction in reading, language arts and reinforcement in math. Sean would ask questions in the resource room but would not ask anything in the regular classroom.
When Sean left the elementary school he went to a private school. The program did not give him enough support, so he went back to public schools. Sean was placed in the self-contained class with Tammy and Jennifer. He also went to exploratory classes and lunch with his peers.
When Sean turned 16 he dropped out of school. He did not like school, so he dropped out to work in his dad’s auto repair shop. In Sean’s spare time he drove in go-cart races, a sport that he had participated in since he was seven. He won many first place trophies and was the car to beat. Sean also liked to show off his racecars in the local parade. After the parades he would locate me in the crowd to say hello. That always made me feel good.
Sean regretted his decision to drop out of school and eventually got his GED. Sean and his nephew decided that they would open up their own garage to fix cars. Sean said that his nephew would read the books and he would fix the cars. Sean decided he to attend college for training on computer diagnostics for car repair.
After waiting weeks to hear from Sean I called his house on the evening of April 10, 2000. His stepmom told me that Sean had been in an accident and his life was tragically taken earlier that evening. He was driving home from work when a car moved into Sean’s lane and hit his car head on. Reports say that Sean was killed instantly from internal injuries. His step mom said that Sean had called her moments before the accident to check on her and let her know that he loved her. Sean continued to be family oriented all the way to the end. His family did not realize how many close friends that Sean had until his funeral. All of the guys he raced with for many years were there as well as kids he went to school with. Sean looked the same he did in high school. At the funeral I found out why Sean was so hesitant to meet with me. His fiancée thought he wanted to see another woman and he could not convince her that I was his former teacher. I had the opportunity to meet his fiancée at the funeral and I made sure that she knew I was the teacher that called Sean, so she would not ever worry about the devotion he had for her.
Back to the intro