Marcy Anderson

As with all professions, there are the individuals who are passionate about their job and are great at it. They love their students and for the average student, they give those children the tools they need to grow and succeed. For students with additional needs, they are supportive and help them move through the year. But for these children with additional needs and support, such as my son Ben, it’s the teacher that is willing to go above and beyond that allows that child to truly flourish and thrive in the classroom. My son Ben was in second grade this year. He has both dyslexia and ADHD. Finding the right medication to help him focus but that also doesn’t cause him to lose weight has been a struggle. He also is in speech therapy and this year, has also started wearing glasses. He never seems to catch a break but always remains a sweet caring boy who always has a hug ready for his teachers. We started the school year with the meet the teacher night and we met Mrs. Anderson. We were one of many students and parents that evening and as I’ve done each year, briefly told her about Ben’s learning issues. Shortly after, they had the parent information night and Mrs. Anderson walked the parents through the classroom schedule, etc. She had a slide in her presentation though that stuck out to me – my students are my kids. This has resonated in the back of my mind throughout the entire year as Mrs. Anderson repeatedly demonstrated this through her every day actions. Our first example was just a few weeks into the school year at Ben’s IEP meeting. Up until now, he has only had an IEP for his speech therapy. School had reached a point where he really needed additional accommodations – increased small group or individual instruction and possibly even additional reading help. Knowing how difficult it can be to get services, I reached out to the Kansas State disability services to talk to one of their representatives on how to prepare for the meeting and what to do to increase my chances of getting my son the services he needed. When we met with the team, they reviewed his updated speech goals and then asked about additional questions. I brought up Ben’s dyslexia and ADHD. Before I had time to ask for additional accommodations, Mrs. Anderson was already explaining to the team what my son’s needs were in the classroom and what she had already implemented with him. When the team said they would add small group instruction for reading to his IEP, Mrs. Anderson was the first to respond saying that he needed the accommodation for all subjects. I walked out of the meeting without needing to make a single request on behalf of my son because in just a few short weeks, Mrs. Anderson had taken the time to learn what my son needed from her and came into our meeting as honestly, my son’s biggest advocate. At the time of the fall parent/teacher conference, my one concern was his falling test scores in reading. We discussed the time it takes to complete his homework and the struggles we have at home. Mrs. Anderson came to that meeting with the same mindset and concerns. Once again, without needing to ask, she was proposing revisiting his IEP and evaluating the need for additional reading help. In the interim, she changed up some of the books for his reading homework so that he was still learning but picked books that she specifically thought he could get through independently with the primary goal of improving his confidence. It was important to her that Ben had something that was a little easier so that Ben could recognize his own improvement. Despite all the additional help and attempts to prioritize Ben’s confidence, in April he hit a point where it became too much for him. His focus in class rapidly declined and he didn’t seem to care about his work. The day that Mrs. Anderson sent a note home to us was the same day that Ben came home saying he hated himself and was hitting and biting himself. It’s hard as a parent to see your child work so hard but still struggle and know that the hurdles will continue, getting harder as he gets farther in school. We immediately contacted Mrs. Anderson letting her know what was going on and that we would be keeping him home for a day. She helped us set up a meeting with her and the school counselor for end of the next school day, a Friday afternoon of all days, to discuss what we could do to better support Ben. At that point, her only concern was his mental health. Whatever she could do to support him and build him up was what mattered to her. She wrote notes saying how proud she was when he did well on a test or had a good day paying attention. She worked it out with the counselor to meet with him, as well as give him breaks, because she recognized when Ben had reached his max for the day. Examples of Mrs. Anderson working with Ben to not only improve his learning but to accommodate his needs occurred regularly throughout the entire year. She set high expectations because she saw how smart Ben is but allowed him the grace and tools to get there in a way that worked for him. She saw and knew Ben. She saw his struggles and how hard he worked all day; she was engaged and just wanted to help. Even Ben recognized this when he reviewed Mrs. Anderson’s wish list to pick out some gifts for teacher appreciation week - Ben immediately recognized the urgent need items as things that could help him in the classroom. They were all things targeted towards helping children who have difficulty focusing or who struggle with reading. And with bright eyes and a huge smile, Ben’s response sums it all up… ”she’s the best because she’s so nice and she cares about me.” While Mrs. Anderson is an amazing teacher and we see all the growth Ben has had this year as a student, it is all the extra support and love she has shown that makes her stand out; advocating for her students as if they were her own child. She did whatever she could to help Ben every chance she had during the day, whether that was with learning or with a big hug to get through the harder days. She stayed in constant touch with us so we knew what was going on. You can see how much she cared about his success and more importantly, how much she wanted to help him increase his self-confidence and to see how smart he is. She was there to support him and be a resource for him in whatever way he needed at the given time. And for children like Ben, it is not just the ability to teach him that matters – it is the ability to support him in a way that builds him up and allows him to believe in himself that makes a difference.

Benjamin Parrott