I want to be a resource teacher

You can ABSOLUTELY teach my child any day!!!!

The world needs passionate teachers more than it needs teachers who are good spellers.

I have to add since working with my son I have improved my own skills in a few areas. I can now visualize which is truely amazing and very helpful.

Lynda,

I too think it would be great. You just need to compensate by using spell check for worksheets and other papers you make up as parents don’t like to see teachers making spelling errors. But I think it would be great for the kids to have a teacher who can relate to their problems.

Janis

I happen to love it when teachers don’t obsess over my son’s many spelling errors. As a parent of a child with spelling problems, I have become much more tolerant and understanding of adults who have the same issues.

I know one excellent fifth-grade teacher who used to offer her students extra credit for any spelling errors they spotted in her work.

A resounding yes!!! I, as a parent, would be delighted to have a teacher who understood my child’s problems, know how to help her and could model a successful professional life for her. And if there were a few misspellings they would be nothing in that scenario - we could chuckle together

By the way, you wouldn’t believe how many teachers don’t spell well but don’t have the above skills. I see teacher’s writings every week and you won’t be lonely in that group.

The teaching profession needs you. The profession has too many who don’t like kids, don’t want to be there and are overwhelmed in the job. Seek the best training you can and come on down.

Much as the vote is unanimous, I had to chime in too: You are JUST the sort of person I’d want working with my son.

One of my biggest reasons for avoiding SPED help for my son was that the teachers in his school seem to believe that ‘some children just can’t learn to…’ and yet they only use ONE method for everyone. This is changing gradually, and I see improvements, but they are too late for my son. Luckily, he had great resource teachers outside the school system who BELIEVED HE COULD DO ANYTHING, and this belief was catching. They had the experience to realize that each child is an individual with limitless potential, and the skills and knowledge to help their students achieve.

Had we met YOU in second grade, instead of the horrible ‘I present a program, and if your child can’t take advantage of it, THAT’S NOT MY PROBLEM’ person we did get, life would have been alot easier.

I also have a ‘net friend’ who is severely dyslexic and severely CAPD — she excels as a teacher of deaf children. Although her LD still causes her frustration at times, she has come to know that her talents far outweigh her deficiencies. Yours will, too!

PLEASE — follow your heart!

I’m a teacher and not a parent but I have my comments as well. I think you should go for it as well. I think you can find ways around your disability. If you have trouble with spelling you might need not just a spell check, but I think there are some dictionaries of words which translate the word from common misspellings, these might be handy.

I have had to compensate as well as my organizational problems have proved the most problematic.

The math problems have been not a problem but an asset. I feel I am quite a good math teacher, not because I am *good* at math but because I have difficulties and now know what my difficulties are. OTOH , I am good at teaching reading because I like words and letters so much, I feel remediating it is sort of like a big scrabble game— so it can definitely work both ways. (I’m sure the great math lover on the forum, Virginia, is a great math tutor.) So it can be both ways, a good math person really really understands math, and a person with difficulty in math can understand why math is difficult for some kids, and help them go around it. Naturally I am not going to be tutoring past my own competence. I wouldnt’ dream of trying to assist someone with algebra. But I do have some empathy for kids who find things more difficult, and that is a good thing as well. Eventually the kids figure out I have a learning disability as well and far from being embarrassing or difficult, I just use this to help them accept their disability and not be ashamed of it. To them teachers are not dumb, and since they often think of themselves as dumb it can be a great asset.

I think you will find also that your skills might improve— just because they have to. It’s a great motivator and all that. You might enjoy reading the thread in the math section about how OCN helped me personally (can’t remember the wording). Some day you might be holding forth on the reading forum! :-) Organizing is also easier although keeping my room neat was a constant challenge.

As I said go with it.

BTW, I wouldn’t always say this. There was a severely dyslexic adult who wrote about special ed. I felt her own dyslexia was so severe she could not write literately. I think it would be nearly impossible under those circumstances.

—des

My son had a dyslexic teacher in 3rd grade. There were good and bad parts with that. The teacher was a lovely, energetic individual. He also was on the mild end of the spectrum as far as his dyslexia went. However, my son was not identified with LDs at the time (my son had learning disabilities related to written expression and written processing speed), and I wonder if a different teacher would have noted the problems that eventually became out of hand in 5th grade.

However, as a resource teacher, if you are working with already identified students, it would be great. My son’s tutor was also mildly dyslexic, and she was able to see things the way he did, and come up with ways to help him compensate. She was also wise enough to realize her issues with mathematics were enough to keep her from even tutoring that. So, if you learn to be wise enough to not attempt to teach beyond your limitations, it’ll work fine. My big complaint is with elementary and higher level teachers that are teaching math way beyond their limitations, and we’re seeing the problems with that when we get the kids in college mathematics.

Good luck in college!

Kay

As for the teaching of math by people who aren’t up to it (at least higher level), I think this is very likely to be people who do not have disabilities per se. I think I read somewhere that large numbers of teachers dislike teaching math. Maybe Victoria can comment on that?

I, OTOH, really like to teach math. Of course I wouldnt’ dream of trying to teach hs algebra or even pre-algebra, but many of the kids in needing math tutoring can’t remember even addition facts.

I’m sure there are hs kids out there right now who have problems because they don’t have the basics down well. I think I would work with someone like that, and then send them on to Victoria. :-) (This would be a long commute.)

Of course many kids in special ed have problems in one area and not another and you are more likely to be referred for reading than math I think.

—des

I’d want my LD child to be taught by any compassionate person. If your dyslexia has given you compassion for others and especially young children, then I’d think you’d make an excellent resource teacher - whether or not you spell well.

Good luck.

Every thing that you guys have been writing is very inspiring and helpful!! Thank you for all the encouragement. I know that it will be difficult but I think that I can offer kids a lot because I know what it is like to be in there shoes, I know how it feels to have no teacher understand why you are so far behind and cant keep up, and all the other issues with LD. I just wanted to let you all know how helpful all your advise is.
THANK YOU SOO MUCH!!