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<\/a><\/p>\nMy first teaching position was a bit unusual. Because a full time teacher was not needed at either school in the district, I worked half-day at the high school and half-day at the elementary school. That was the nice thing about my special education degree; it encompassed grades kindergarten through twelfth. Oh wait \u2026 except I didn\u2019t actually have <\/i>my special education degree (yet). That is how scarce the supply of special education teachers was at the time. But with an elementary education degree in hand and a commitment to obtain my master's degree in special education, I was able to accept the position.<\/p>\n
So there I was, a teacher of big kids with learning and behavioral problems and a teacher of little kids with learning and behavioral problems. I wasn\u2019t quite sure what to do at either end of the spectrum. But despite my lack of training, I had worked with kids long enough to know I was good at one thing: listening. I knew from experience that if an adult acted the slightest bit interested, kids (no matter what age) generally liked to talk.<\/p>\n
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So I started asking questions. From those questions, I obtained quite a bit of information. At the high school I learned \u2026<\/p>\n
Eric* liked to repair cars. With incredible patience, I listened to him talk about active suspensions, air pumps, inhibitors, and injectors.<\/p>\n
Michael liked to farm with his dad. It took all my strength to stay focused when he described field crops, hilling, tillage, and sprigging.<\/p>\n
Carly liked to bake cakes and decorate them. Now this was one topic I could talk about all day. I managed to contain my drool when she told me about her buttercream icing, the Chiffon Method, figure piping, and fondant.<\/p>\n
At the elementary school I learned \u2026<\/p>\n
Max liked Pokemon. I would like to say I became educated on moves like subpuncher, sunnybeamer, trickbander, and boltbeam, but the more I learned the more confused I became.<\/p>\n
Tom liked dinosaurs. He taught me more about the Mesozoic Era than I ever wanted to know\u2014although he preferred to call it the \u201cAge of Reptiles\u201d which was a little more my speed. His enthusiasm for violent predators was definitely not contagious.<\/p>\n
Julie liked to read. When I got her to look up from her books long enough, she told me the plots to all her favorite books, like Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing<\/i> and Charlotte\u2019s Web<\/i>. Now that<\/b> was discussion I thoroughly enjoyed.<\/p>\n
It didn\u2019t take me long to realize that if I centered my lessons around each child\u2019s specific interests, things would go a lot better. Over time, there were less chairs being thrown, less curse words being said, less refusals to complete work, and less defiance overall.<\/p>\n
So I continued asking about car repair, farming, and cake decorating at the high school. I requested more information on Pokemon, dinosaurs, and literature from the \u201cexperts\u201d at the elementary school. Rarely did their interests waver and rarely did the kids not <\/i>want to talk about what so clearly excited them.<\/p>\n
About mid-school year, something amazing happened. One of the interests was unexpectedly brought to school. It was on my birthday. Carly walked into the classroom proudly carrying the most beautiful light pink cake. It had basket weave icing worthy of a royal wedding. Her cake tasted divine. I had to know how she made it so moist. She walked to the front of the classroom and whispered her pudding secret in my ear. When she did, I looked into her beautiful green eyes and said, \u201cCarly, you have a gift. You are a cake baker extraordinaire. Please don\u2019t ever stop baking and decorating!\u201d<\/p>\n
Shortly thereafter, Eric brought me some pictures. He wanted to show me how he refurbished an entire car. I am no auto expert, but I can tell the difference between a remarkable \u201cbefore\u201d and \u201cafter\u201d picture. I said, \u201cNow wait a minute, let me get this straight. No one taught you this? You just figured it out?\u201d<\/p>\n
Eric beamed and told me (again) the story of how he came to work on cars and how he used his granddad\u2019s tools for all his jobs. He knew it was easy to impress someone who admitted that she got a little baffled when it came time to check the oil, but he liked to hear my opinion. And my opinion was this: \u201cEric, this is your gift. You are going to make lots of people happy by fixing up their cars!\u201d<\/p>\n
Eventually I was able to hold each one of Michael\u2019s 4-H agriculture medals in my hand. He was a farmer through and through, and a darn good one. I knew he would grow delicious crops for his family and for the world. Farming was Michael\u2019s gift, so I told him so.<\/p>\n
Once these gifts were voiced, I noticed a remarkable change. When my students walked through the halls between classes, there was less cowering. Rather than clinging to the wall as if they were invisible, they walked along with at least one companion. They weren\u2019t afraid to talk. They had something to say. I even detected slight smiles on faces that I thought would never show much joy. The declared \u201cgift\u201d seemed to have created an invisible shield of confidence and self-assurance\u2014as if \u00a0knowing they had \u201cit\u201d made an impact in the way my students walked, talked, and carried themselves through life.<\/p>\n
I decided I must also voice the gifts of the little people.<\/p>\n
I told Max that I didn\u2019t know anyone in the world who knew so much about Pokemon. I said, \u201cDo you think we should let your classmates know about your gift? That way, if they have any questions about Pokemon, they can come to you.\u201d<\/p>\n
I will never forget when Max stood in front of his class and gave them a tutorial on Pokemon. One by one, they came forward asking questions. He knew all the answers. He quickly became the Pokeman Master. I reminded him that it was his gift, but he told me he already knew.<\/p>\n
Julie was asked if she would help some struggling readers in first grade. I said, \u201cYou know, reading is your gift. Not everyone has such a gift. Would you help some little kids with reading on Wednesdays at 10:00?\u201d<\/p>\n
Julie tried not to smile at the prospect, but she couldn\u2019t help it. Wednesdays became her favorite day. There were no behavior issues from Julie on Wednesday. She loved using her gift to help others.<\/p>\n
Tom got to make a dinosaur diorama to show the class. It was so good, he was asked to show many different classes.\u00a0 He confided in me that he always wished he was a dinosaur, or at least a lizard, so he didn\u2019t have to talk to anyone. But that day, he said he was glad he was Tom.<\/p>\n
\u201cI am glad you are Tom, too,\u201d I responded. \u201cBecause the world needs to know about these amazing creatures\u2014and no one knows them quite like you do.\u201d<\/p>\n
From that point, I became a big believer in voicing the gifts\u2014to acknowledge and celebrate a person\u2019s natural talents that are visible from an outside perspective. It saddened me to think about all the special abilities that were overlooked and minimized by being regarded merely as \u201cinterests.\u201d I vowed to always voice the gifts that I saw.<\/p>\n
Fast-forward nine years \u2026<\/b><\/p>\n
I was sitting side-by-side with my six-year-old as she practiced her ukulele and sang \u201cHappy Girl\u201d by Martina McBride. I thought she sounded lovely so I said, \u201cI love to hear you sing<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n
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