What Zachary taught me

It had been well over a decade teaching kindergarten children with disabilities, when it happened.  I had always been a particularly dedicated teacher; I truly loved the job, the kids, and the mission.   It was then, the second week of school; I had sixteen children on my roll, all with a variety of challenges. We were working all week on the letter “Mm”. On the walls, I had hung pictures of mice, moose and monkeys.  My plans included marble painting M’s, baking muffins and M&M cookies, and reading all those incredible books that start with “M”… like “If You Give a Mouse a Cookie” and “If you Give a Moose a Muffin”.  Yes, we made Mouse Masks and Moose antlers.  Boy, my kids sure looked adorable! It was two solid weeks of “Mm” says “mmmmm."

How could I miss?

So there I sat in front of the all kids  gathered criss-crossed- apple –sauce at the foot of my rocker, “Okay class, before we head home today, who can tell me “what says ‘mmm’?”

Bouncing on his little bum, speckled with freckles across the bridge of his nose, Zachary, could not have been more eager. He absolutely knew the answer. I knew it, he knew it. He was a bright boy diagnosed with PDD-NOS.  He has never let me down.  His hand shot up through the air. “Yes, Zachary! What says ‘M’?”

“Gorilla!”Proudly announces Zachary.

Gorilla? … Gorilla?

I sat stunned. It was one of the moments where as a teacher, you wonder, “what were they thinking when they gave me a teaching certificate?” It shook the concept that I held for years, that I knew EXACTLY how to teach. Then there it was:

Gorilla.

Ten minutes later at dismissal, darling Ashley could not discern which backpack was hers among the dozen hanging on hooks at the back of the room, who leaps up to her rescue?

Zachary.

Not only did he know which backpack and cubby was hers, but every single kid’s in the classroom. He knew that Ashley went home with mom, and that Justin got on bus 582…. And now thanks to my flawless teaching, “M” says gorilla.

And so here was the moment for me. It wasn’t Zachary at all ‘doing it wrong’. 

It was me.

So this was the birthing moment for Reading Rocks. The moment Zachary taught me to truly think out of the box. And that pictures of monkeys look a good deal like pictures of gorillas to kindergarteners.