Personal Advocacy Story

Growing up there was never anything that I wanted to do more than to become a teacher.  Even at a young age, I never looked at teaching as a job; instead I was teaching, educating the future lives and minds of America.  It was fun and interesting because each day would be different. I never truly looked at it as advocating until I started my reflection in these courses.  I always looked at the advocating aspect as being part of my duties as a teacher.
  One story that stands out to me comes from my fiance.  Growing up, he was not a typical child.  He had a lot of anger issues and problems coping with anger in school.  He was awkward in the sense that he was big; mostly because he was tall, but he did have some weight on him.  He would vent his frustrations in negative ways and part of that was due to his parenting.  Sadly the school felt the end of his anger.  Needless to say by the time he entered middle school he was placed into an alternative school where there were adults who could help him.  He always tells me the story of how the teachers at the alternative school were his best teachers.  Those teachers there genuinely cared for him and worked with him in developing ways to handle his anger and deal with it in a positive manner.  This was not an easy task, but over the years these teachers did not give up.  They did not give up when he threw chairs, shoved or cursed at them.  They resisted the urge to take it personally and kept saying it was my fiance who they were there for.  Over the course of four years these teachers were able to provide a stable foundation in his schooling to put him on the right track.  He developed appropriate coping strategies that he still uses today.  Personally, I am grateful for these teachers because they gave me the man I have today.  His face still lights up when he talks about these teachers.  I want to be the teacher or advocate that puts that smile on those children's faces.