Yesterday I found myself in tears as I watched a video showcasing both children and adults who, with the help of glasses see the world of color for the first time. Watching their reactions as their brains began to process what their eyes could now see made my heart happy. And broke it at the same time. One man, in his mid to late 60s put the glasses on and the emotions that at first slowly then more quickly took over were both exciting and heart wrenching. Eventually he took the glasses off, put his head in his hands and cried. Later in the video a 15 year old summed up what that man must have been thinking and feeling. He put the glasses on, looked around and said, “This is what the world looks like? This is what everyone else sees?” Then as the tears came he looked at his dad, fell into his arms and sobbed. “This is what I have been missing?”
At that moment I lost it, and started thinking about my students and how easy it is to take for granted the things that come naturally to us. For the people in the video they had no idea what the world really looks like, and how something that seems so small to us, color, could impact every aspect of life.
The same goes for learning. For some, registering, remembering and understanding new information is a constant struggle and that struggle becomes all the student knows. It is no wonder that there is so much frustration and discouragement in the life of a struggling student. Last week I worked through an exit evaluation with one of my 9th graders. When he came into the program a little less than a year ago he was struggling with sequencing and organization deficits. As we worked through the exit evaluation I asked if he had noticed any differences in his school and life. His response took me by surprise.
He said, “I think the biggest is I am not scared to start the day.” When I asked for a little more feedback he told me that because everything was confusing he would wake up and not know how to begin each day. He said, even remembering if he should brush his teeth before breakfast was confusing. Throughout the conversation he explained how the differences he noticed after the HOPE program were not just in school but in life. In school he went from reading at a 6th grade level to reading AND comprehending at a 10th grade level. But at home, and in life, his confidence is up and he is succeeding beyond the families expectations.
We don’t know what the person next to us is dealing with, what they are struggling with, or what they may be missing in life. And for some of us, we don’t even know something is missing until we experience that something and it changes our lives.
