All I Ever Needed to Know

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All I Ever Needed to Know

As a teacher of students with developmental and intellectual disabilities, I always strive to find a way to teach important skills and ideas in a way that is easy to understand and fun to learn. Not only is it challenging, but it is also very rewarding.

How great it is to see a young mind grow and achieve, no matter how large or small the success. I am constantly humbled, however, when I realize that many of life’s greatest lessons I have learned from my students. I am talking about life lessons; about love, respect, compassion, joy, forgiveness, self-discipline, and faith, to name a few. One such lesson was taught to me by a most gracious and patient teacher, my student Gabriel.

Gabriel is a happy-go-lucky young man, always in a good mood and always willing to help others. One day as I was teaching my class, I told one of my students to put their backpack out of the way of others who were coming into our class…I guess I never realized that my instructions must have sounded more like orders, but after making the request, I heard a soft quiet voice say; “pleeease” from the back of our small classroom. It was Gabriel, and instantly I knew he was right. I should have said: “please” when asking the other student to retrieve their backpack. I quickly corrected my mistake and restated my request adding the word “please”. Instantly, Gabriel flashed a big smile in my direction.

Over the course of the next week (or two), Gabriel patiently reminded me to say: “please” when I was making requests of others. Each time I acknowledged that he was right, apologized to the class and quickly corrected my mistake while thinking to myself; "When will I learn?!"

Then one day, while making a request of a student in class, I remembered to precede the request with the word “please”. As soon as I had made the request, I looked at Gabriel; he smiled and triumphantly gave me the thumbs up.
My heart was warmed as I realized I had indeed learned a very important lesson; one that I have not forgotten.

Blessings,

Amy Campbell

P.S. Gabriel is a member of The Arc of Katy and holds down 2 jobs in our local community.

“To teach is to learn twice” ~ Joseph Joubert ~ French moralist and essayist