Here We Go!

It's been a long time since I've written.  Growing up, I thought that writing was what I was meant to do.  My parents and teachers told me I was good at it, and doing it made me feel great (most of the time).  But time went by, I got a husband, house, and two kids, and now here I am up to my knees in motherhood forgetting the last time I wrote anything longer than a grocery list.  And do you know what's been brewing in my mind all this time?  Ideas.  Ideas that are really hard to share when shouted over the demanding screams of a toddler and the relentless musings of a three-year old.  Ideas that need to get out or they will either drive me to the brink or dissolve in a sea of diapers and recipes.  So here we go!

I'm a former teacher.  I have a master's in Special Education and spent my working years before motherhood teaching reading, writing, and math to elementary-age kids with dyslexia, along with ADD, ADHD, executive functioning difficulties, communication disorders, autism, Tourette's, nonverbal learning disabilities... the list goes on.  I learned a lot about education during my time in grad school and in my time as a public school teacher, but I've learned just as much about education, if not more, during my time as a teacher-turned-full time mama.  Unfortunately, there isn't much of an outlet (or much time, for that matter) for a teacher-turned-full time mama to express her musings on education.  Thus is the origin of all those aforementioned ideas!

I was inspired to start Let Them Shine by three basic beliefs:

• Everyone has strengths (and weaknesses).  Kids need to be taught how to recognize their strengths, especially when there is the potential for their strengths to become overshadowed by their weaknesses.  We all bring something to the table, but sometimes that something is hard to see if it's different from what everyone else brings.  
• The world is a better place when we recognize everyone else's strengths (and weaknesses).  Kids need to be taught to see what everyone else is uniquely good at.  Sometimes it's obvious--the star athlete, the class comedian, the kid you go to when you don't understand your math homework.  But sometimes it's really hard to see, and not recognizing another person's awesomeness leads to bad things. 
• Everyone's strengths (and weaknesses) deserve to be treated equally.  Despite our best intentions, schools, and society, recognize a few specific strengths and tend to dismiss or negatively label the rest.  In my opinion, we drown would-be genius in negativity by doing so, and therefore really miss out on what they have to offer.

It is my opinion that our educational system, as it stands, isn't equipped to honor these beliefs, which I hope are shared by many of my fellow teachers and parents.  It's time to start a conversation.  It's time to let our kids (and for that matter, friends, co-workers, family members...) shine!

Check out Momastery's inspiring thoughts on the subject: http://momastery.com/blog/2012/01/13/on-gifts-and-talents-2/