Back In My Day: Good Teachers Mattered Then and They Matter Now

I am using the privileges Wolf has given me as an author to bring a PSA. I will resume the HOH series real soon, hopefully this weekend.

Good teachers matter. We all know good, sincere teachers in schools. We also know teachers exist in every occupation as well as other areas of our existence. Teachers matter who have clearly been called to be teachers and have the qualities, abilities and fortitude to give their best efforts to the role. Receipt of paychecks for the purpose does not qualify people as teachers.

I hope this short story serves as inspiration for you or somebody you know to go the extra mile and do something positive for a child or others in need no matter your occupation or station in life.

I have made a number of posts in recent months about our 9 year old grandson and his on-going battles with being developmentally delayed from physical issues of a difficult, premature birth that has been complicated by a condition of absence seizures that developed in recent times. The seizures began in late 2020 when COVID hit and he was required to wear a mask all day in school. Up to that point no silent seizures were ever observed by anybody. The condition may have been present in waiting, just needed something to trigger it. Or the condition may never have occurred without the masking. It’s above my pay grade to know the answer.

I have kept folks informed on here as his journey progressed and in particular, with his response to chiropractic treatments that began three months ago. So, I will not rehash the past posts, just bring you up to date on his current progress.

If I had a full day to tell you all of the improvements this 9 year old has made in the past three months there would still not be enough time. We have taken all of your recommendations to heart. We monitor closely and log everything. He is within a few weeks of school starting, so we prepared a letter to his school to summarize the journey so they would be informed. We prepared a list that has now reached thirty one “before and after chiro treatments” positive changes. I repeat, thirty one significant positive changes. For example, he has gone from being unable to dribble a basketball more than once very awkwardly three months ago, to dribbling the ball up and down the street while also learning to use his non-dominant hand. He is now jumping well off the ground and made 5 layups consecutively at an age adjusted goal height of about 9′ a couple evenings ago. All in 3 months. FWIW his basketball sports idol is Zakai Zeigler on the UT Vols men’s basketball team. Look him up, his is an inspirational story. Our grandson wrote him a letter and Zakai texted him back. They plan to meet at a Vols game this next season.

There are literally dozens of these type physical improvements with his interests growing in other sports and physical activities. A child who could not run well at all, now flys all over and wants to run track one day. It has extended to the emotional and mental development as well. He is become more assertive and confident. He wears us out asking questions and analyzing. He sleeps more restfully and eats better. His previous sensory issues are steadily dissipating.

His chiro is a teaching professional to other chiros. She gives lectures nationwide and recently began using our grandson’s case as a pediatric example (with parental permission) of the methodology and its benefits. He has begun taking her recommended pediatric supplements this past week now that he is completely weaned off the prescription meds. The silent seizures are different now – they are momentary day dreams and anxiety reactions. Just this week as a family we realized he has a mindset we can use to help. He has always been obsessed with numbers involving everything imaginable. He has become adept at doing basic math in his head. So our daughter started using counting in all of his development and retraining activities successfully. As an example he learned to ride his bike better via counting while pedaling. We are now teaching him to count when he feels a seizure or daydream coming on. We noticed he was developing a habit relating to them with anxious moments, so this can be his counter move to help retrain his brain and reactions since he feels them coming much of the time.

The final step with his retracing and retraining process involves a family action plan, which we shared with his chiro and his IEP liaison at school. Both have been very helpful during this journey and are in positions where they can help so many others dealing with issues with their children. In addition we have his pediatrician fully informed and a new, more competent pediatric neuro specialist in the wings if more assistance is needed. All four of these professionals need to know what we know and have experienced in working through this with our grandson. People need to know there is hope, to look for things outside the box rather than depending on traditional medicine for answers all of the time. There is a time and place for both and they are not mutually exclusive of each other.

If that was not already enough, another confirmation that the Lord approves and is directing the path occurred this past week. We received word that a dedicated primary school teacher I will call Ms. M., who worked diligently with our grandson in kindergarten as a teacher’s aide (no job openings that year), had been assigned a 3rd grade class to replace a retiring teacher. This same gifted teacher of children was his teacher of record the next year after K since he did an intermediate grade called Junior Primary between K and first grade. JP is for kids similar to our grandson who are a bit delayed for various reasons and need a little extra time to prepare for first grade. His mother, our daughter, was in JP and we know how important it can be.

With budget cutting, JP had gone away for several years in our system. Knowing our grandson and others in our growing community needed it based on his situation and by statements made by teachers concerning other children they knew in need; I contacted a long term friend on the school board who has always been a gem and advocate for children in our schools. This was out of character for me, however, the Lord prompted my spirit to make the move. I made my case and reminded him of our daughter’s need from “back in my day”, whom he knew and cared much about. I told him about Ms. M, who was qualified to handle the role and would do excellent work. My friend got it done within 48 hours with the board and they literally found a large storage area in the school to make into a classroom for Ms. M to help eighteen children who qualified for JP. As a result, 18 kids were given a better start in school. It was Ms. M’s first full time teaching role since college graduation and having children of her own. It was a job she had hoped and prayed would come her way. And boy, did she ever deliver!

Over the next two school years after JP, unbeknownst to us, she followed our grandson’s progress including checking in with his assigned teachers. She witnessed what happened with him with the chiro treatments as the most recent great teacher and friend, Ms. A, helped and reported his progress to us and her before the school year ended. When it became time to assign students recently, Ms. M basically demanded that her supervisors assign our grandson to her classroom knowing full well about the absence seizures. She knows his triggers and how he responds best. The two of them click with each other. We were totally unaware of who would teach him and had no knowledge that Ms. M was even being promoted to third grade, which is perhaps the most important and difficult grade for a child to excel at a young age. We now have a highly competent advocate of a teacher, who is also a member of the church our grandson attends, taking care of and teaching him this school year. She will shoot straight with us and is now an official member of our team. If it turns out that homeschooling would be a better option for the grandson, she will tell us the truth and help us get it done.

Burden lifted.

God is SO good! Teachers who have received His call are SO important. In this story are a handful of good teachers who have been called to their occupations and are delivering. Many of you are teachers at home, at work, and in your communities. No matter what your gifting is or what occupation you have, please use it to help and teach others. You never know when the hand of God will use you to help someone. You may never even know it happened. But He does.

Good teachers matter.