I think I always knew that I wanted to be a teacher. My mother thought that I would be good at it because I tended to be a bit “bossy”…. When my friends and I did role playing as young children, I always wanted to play school. I had everyone sit on the floor in a circle and “be quiet.”I am still playing school…I love being a teacher, especially being a special education teacher. And, I am still “bossy”…….
My very first teaching position was as a junior high Language Arts teacher in Idalou, Texas. I was the only L.A. teacher in the building, and I was also the “pep squad coach”. Wow! What an experience! I had been in the “pep squad” during high school, but it was extremely tame compared to what they were accustomed to doing. It worked out, as did the teaching job. I helped the students begin the very first library in the district, teaching the Dewey decimal system and taught them to write essays Before the year was over, each junior high student had written an entire novella. The writings were not what we might normally expect a novel to be, but they were special, and, more importantly, each student was extremely proud of this accomplishment.
After 1 year in Idalou, my husband and I moved to Bedford, Pennsylvania, where he had accepted a job as ranch foreman for a large cattle ranch and dairy cattle herd. I was a substitute teacher in Bedford, Pa. for a few months. I had many interesting experiences, most of them became hard lessons learned. I became very helpful around the ranch. I rode a horse, drove a tractor, fed and herded cattle, grew a very large garden, helped in many other ways. I also became a good cook. Then we moved back to Texas where my husband became ranch foreman for another cattle ranch. . I did not teach for 2 years during which time I became a mother. Our first child, a beautiful girl, was born in November of 1961. My husband was diagnosed with cancer just before Christmas in 1962. I was pregnant with our second daughter. My husband died in April of 1963. Our 2nd daughter was born in June, six weeks after my husband died. I suddenly had two beautiful daughters, and was a widow. I had to go to work. I applied in Richardson, which was where I grew up and graduated from high school. It’s hard to know how to begin and when to end. I want to preserve these special experiences that have occurred over the past 49 years. What better way than to use a new form of media, “the Blog”? My job description is a Homebound Teacher. That means that I go to homes , hospitals, or any other venue where my students are being treated at the time , and teach school age children who are unable for medical reasons to attend school. Some of these children need these services only part time; others will need them until they “age out”, at 22 years As you can imagine, there ahave been so many wonderful ,as well as sometimes alarming and frightening events. Most of the time, my going into these situations is quite satisfying and rewarding.This position is a learning process. Each situation is different and requires being able to adapt to whatever is needed to help the student.
I need to regress a bit here, as I have already described what I am doing now. My very first time going to a student’s home had occurred in Pennsylvania in 1961. I did not have a title, nor was there a category for what I was asked to do. Special Education did not exist. As I already mentioned, I was a substitute teacher for a small school district in the Bedford, PA. area. In fact, the principal called me almost every morning at 5:00 A.M.needing a sub. There was a young high school student who was unable to attend school due to an illness, and I was to help her keep up with school work. She lived in the mountains on a farm. I am a Texas girl, which means that a “mountain” to me was the height pointed out on a map. I had never seen mountains until I moved to this area shortly after college. This was an kAmith community. My first action was to go to her school and gather assignments that should be completed while she was out of school. I was also carrying a heavy load of textbooks. Off I go……in awe of the size of the mountains AND wondering how I could find any house in this remote part of the state. I finally did find the farmhouse, which was surrounded by an electric fence. I walked around the fence for a while wondering where the gate was located. I finally reached the conclusion that there was no gate; I had to carefully cross over or go under this extremely intimidating fence. (It was probably 3 feet off the ground). Due to the fact that it was during a time when women teachers’ required dress code was “DRESSES ONLY “, this was going to be a challenge. Having a load of books in my arms, I I realized that I had to also consider the size and weight of them. This sounds simple, I guess, but it took me a while to figure it out without being shocked or ELECTROCUTED? The thought actually did cross my mind during my lengthy deliberation as to how to cross the fence. Finally I decided to carefully shove the books under the fence. Then I thought maybe it would be easier to raise the skirt and step over than to crawl on the ground. Believe it or not….I was successful and began a long walk to the house. Suddenly, 2 very large dogs appeared out of nowhere, barking, and running toward me as though I was a enemy threatening their safety. In my mind, they were as big as horses. I did not have time to think about it. I threw the books onto the ground and ran back toward the fence, hoping that if I was able to get to the other side of it, the dogs would not jump over. I certainly went back over the fence a lot quicker than I entered the property. I was in another quandry, which did not last long. Apparently the dogs serve as a door bell to alert the residents that there is a visitor. The father came and rescued me from the harmless dogs (as it turned out), and I had many pleasant classes with a very nice girl. I even became friends with the dogs, and they would greet me whenever I arrived.
A few months later, I returned home to Texas, where my husband, who had majored at Texas Tech in Animal Husbandry, served as a ranch manager. For several months, I did a lot of cooking, riding horses, driving tractors, feeding livestock, helping with the dairy herd, and happily helped with any other chores that needed to be accomplished. After a while, I had a beautiful little girl, who required most of my time after that. I happily took care of her, too. Just before the baby had her first birthday, my husband was diagnosed with lymphoma and passed away in April of the next year. At that time, I was expecting a second child. I moved back to Richardson, where my second beautiful daughter was born. I had grown up and gone to school in Richardson, so I applied fora teaching job. Jones Pearce, the superintendent, interviewed me personally and said that the district needed to begin a program for helping the students who were ill and unable to come to the buildings. Richardson was still a small town, and Dr. Pearce had heard my story about the electric fence. That was when it first began in Richardson. I was quite nervous because there were no rules, no guidelines either at the local or state levels. This was a brand new program, and my only experience was that one in Pennsylvania. However, things went very well from the beginning. At one time, I remember having 18 students, clearly more than I could handle alone, if I was to provide the kind of help that any student might need. I was simply and picking up work from the buildings, delivering it to the student,and returning completed work to the classroom teachers. After one school year, the program had so many students that the district hired a second person. It was obvious that there needed to be some guidelines. I began to write guidelines as situations arose. By this time, I began working on my MA and got permission to compile a “Homebound Handbook” as my thesis. During my oral exam, the instructors did not even ask any questions. They were not familiar with what I was trying to do and approved quickly. The state and I were both working toward the same goals. We collaborated and after about 1more year, the state wrote guidelines, which made my job a lot easier. The first set of guideline was for 8 students per teacher and 3 hours per weekfor instrution time. About two years later, it was changed to 6 students and 4 hours per week–which is still the case. My first student was a young man in 10th grade from Richardson High School. He was paralyzed and in a wheelchair. He had polio,ffor which there was no treatment at the time. He also slept in an iron lung every night. It was kept in his bedroom. He was the delight of my days. Our classtimes provided me with numerous wonderful memories. I was only 29 years old and loved my job. He was one of the reasons. He was extremely brilliant. This was before computers, and he had only limited use of one han, so we did a lot of one on one discussions. He was a challenge, and he liked to challenge me. He would research some topic of his choice and then begin asking me questions about his topic. If I did not know all the answers, he became the teacher. I looked forward to our sessions. He also had a great sense of humor. We got through the 10th grade with all A’s in his courses. He always critiqued my clothing each day. He complimented the color, style, etc., if he liked it, he said so. If he did not, he also said so. One day, I remember I had pink bows in my hair. He began laughing and was so excited. I thought he really liked the bows. Then he got this mischiefious look on his face. He said, “You look like you are going to bloom!” His parents were wonderful, and the student’s attitude was extraordinary when you consider the situation. He expressed a wish that I come every single day but, of course, that did not happen. . He was confined to a wheelchair and had limited use of one arm. There is so much to say about him that I am moving on and coming back to him at a later time. At that time I will explain then why I am pausing this discussion. Another of my first students in RISD was a beautiful first grade girl who had leukemia. She was the leukemia poster child that year and died before school was out. She was the first student that I lost. It is very hard to remain strictly professional when that happens. I became emotional just like the members of her family and decided that in the future I had to try very hard not to become quite so involved with the families. That, by the way, still happens. It is impossible to stay detached. The beautiful child’s mother visited and called me for several years after that.I have had many students to pass away from various causes, and it is always very hard. I do attend funerals. I do it for me, as well as the families.
A homebound teacher becomes more than a teacher for the student. In most cases, caregiving parents need a lot of feedback and reassurance. It is difficult not to become involved. They have a heartbreaking situation and coped beautifully. The student had a terrific sense of humor; he was very bright; and loved to learn. We had a good relationship. I remember how he would try to challenge me when I arrived every time, asking me about something that he had researched since our last class. (That was before computers were available for research, so that shows how intelligent he was.) He also was frank about whether he liked what I was wearing. If he did not, he said so. If he did like it, he was then very complimentary. He also expressed his wish that I come every single day. This young man was confined to a wheelchair and had limited use of one arm. During the summer at the end of the 2nd year that he had been my student, I received a phone call that he had died. His parents had gone on a well-deserved vacation; his adult sister and her husband came to the house to stay with the student during this time. Apparently they were transferring him from his wheelchair into the lung and dropped him. He died a few hours later. His parents moved back to Baton Rouge, LA .We swapped Christmas cards for about 20 years. Then they stopped, and I assumed that his mom must have passed away.It is August of 2016. Mom just sent me a letter. She is 97 and still lives in Baton Rouge, LA. I will add more later.
As there have been so many students, this is harder than I thought. Which ones do I discuss? I suppose it should be the most memorable experiences. One that stands out any time that I think about “unusual circumstances” was when I was seeing a junior high age boy at home. Every time that I went there, we worked at the kitchen table on the first floor . Also, EVERY TIME THAT I WENT THERE the parents went upstairs to a bedroom just above the kitchen and had sex. It was quite obvious what they were doing. There were many sounds including the bed banging on the floor. Sometimes it would last for 20 minutes or so. My student just kept on working, and I tried to ignore it. One day, after class with this student, I went to his home school to talk with his counselor. I told her about what was going on. I needed to share!!! Her comment was, “Wow! Twenty minutes! I am impressed!” That somehow helped to relieve my discomfort about the situation. I guess it was funny!!!!! Sometimes laughter is the best medicine.
Another situation early on in my career involved a young man from Richardson High School who lived with his grandfather at Hamilton Park. He was recuperating from a gunshot wound to the stomach. Soon after we began having classes, I learned that his grandfather was the one who had shot him. That made me a little nervous. Then, every time I rang the doorbell for classes, the grandfather opened the door wearing nothing but his underpants. Shortly after we began having classes there, 2 older men began coming to the house during our classes. I was beginning to get really nervous now. One morning, they came in, sat down on a pull out bed in the living room and proceeded to smoke pot. I did not say anything to them. I was honestly too afraid to do anything. After I left the house that day, I called the Ad building, which was where the current homebound director was officed. I told him what happened. He then arranged for the district “truant officer” to meet me at the house for classes. That is what we did until the student was able to return to school.
For about 8 years, our district served day treatment centers, furnishing teachers, supplies, and maintaining classrooms in these situations. I was assigned to Brookhaven Psychiatric Unit for 2 days per week. They specialized in school age children. One of the first students I saw threw a book at me when I first walked into her room. After a short while, she and I became friends, and, in fact, I saw her several times after she was released from the hospital. There were many memorable students, but one of the most unusual things that happened at Brookhaven that was nonstudent related occurred one day when there was a fire drill. We were in a locked ward, and fire drills were common occurrences. Normally I stayed in the unit until the students returned. However, on this day, one of the staff members came running into the room where I was waiting and told me that this was THE REAL THING!!! I rushed to get out only to discover that the unit was already in lock-down. I finally found someone else still there and hurried out behind her.
At one time there were 18 homebound teachers. These treatment centers tended to keep students in their facilities until the insurance ran out. This went on for about 8 years. Then insurance companies got smart and started putting strict time limitsson their policies. I also had some students in the psychiatric ward at the Richardson Medical Center on Campbell Road in Richardson. The patients were not limited to young people. there were a lot of adults. Early one morning I was sitting at a table waiting for my student. One of the staff came over to me and very kindly asked, “Honey, have you had your meds yet? You look like you need them.” Wow! That was a surprise!
Several years ago, RISD began serving students who are new moms on homebound. These areschool age girls, usually from grades 8 – 12, a few 7th graders. I have had some extremely interesting experiences going into these kinds of situations. Most of the girls live in apartments or in houses where several families all share space. Most are either African American or Hispanic. This is not a racial issue; it just happens to be the way that it is. Cultures, as we know, have different ideas about certain aspects of life. Having children young is part of the lifestyle of some. That is just the situation in the world. One day, I pulled into an apartment parking lot, where a policeman asked what I was doing there. I showed him myRISD ID badge and explained what I was doing. He immediately told me that a drug bust was about to happen but he could not tell me the location, and he suggested that I leave immediately. I did as I was told! Later when I was telling the story to my family, my grandson said, ” Grandma, he probably thought you were a pimp because of the car that you drive.” It is great the way someone else’s point of view can take away the anxiety.
Another apartment where I was visiting always had a group of young men congregating in the parking lot. That bothers me personally that they have nothing better to do, such as working! All of them had on various types of baseball caps. One in particular had a bright red one. He seemed to be the leader. One day, after walking through a parking lot filled with loitering young men, I went to see the new mother; she opened the door, I pointed my thumb toward the lot, and I said, “Why don’t these men get a job?” She did not respond. I walked on into the living room and sitting on the sofa was the father of her baby….the man with the bright red cap! Oops!!!!! Another lesson learned? Probably not.
There are also problems that occur that are not related to students. When teachers visit apartments, we must be certain to park in acceptable or designated spaces. Otherwise, we will probably be towed. One towing cost me $40. 00 when I picked up the car plus the inconvenience of having to call someone to rescue me at the apartment. Another side effect is that a lot of time may be spent waiting for apartment gates to open. Most apartments do not have a way for non-residents to enter their areas. A few have codes that families can share, but most of the time I have to wait until someone leaves or returns to accessthe premises through the gate, and quickly enter before the gate closes.There are so many unexpected events that can happen during any day, that a homebound teacher has to be ready for the unexpected.
As I said, there are so many students… Another of the early students that I had on homebound in Richardson was a young lady who had scoliosis surgery. It was at a time when the patient was placed in a complete body cast for several (9 as I recall ) months. Wow! Talk about discomfort! This student had so many skin problems and was uncomfortable the entire time that she was in the cast. She happened to live in my neighborhood, so I knew her and her family. I felt so helpless that I was not able to help her be more comfortable. I can imagine how her parents felt. She went on to do very well, graduated with honors, and became an outstanding adult. (I was able to keep up with her, as her parents were still in the neighborhood).currently, these patients are home in 3 or 4 days and begin activity very shortly after surgery. What a change!!!!!!!
Of course, the students with the most severe medical problems are the ones who die, or the ones that I seem to recall most vividly. There have been hundreds of students. I wish that I had at least kept a list of the names of all of my students, just to be able to know how many there have been. I always try to keep up with them to see how they do in school as long as they are in RISD. Many times I receive mail, and/or emails from former students. I also receive a lot of graduation announcements. Being a homebound student for any student is a memorable experience, one that no student is going to forget, primarily because it is associated with some kind of traumatic event in that person’s life.
There is a teacher in Richardson ISD who is getting ready to retire. When she was a senior at Richardson High School, she was served by one of our homebound teachers, when the student had a leg amputation from a Cancerous tumor in her left leg. She could be the poster child for RISD. At the time of the surgery, etc., she was somewhat withdrawn and hard to reach, but she was still a good student and did well with her work. She has told me that because of this experience with homebound, she became a special ed teacher. She has been helping special needs children during her entire career. She now has a husband, a son, a daughter-in-law, and her first grandchild is on the way. This is a true success story that would not have happtned if the student experiencing this personal tragedy had not been a strong, committed, and loving person. I admire her for many reasons.
This school year (2014) has been unusual. We have had fewer homebound students than at any time in the past. However, the ones that we do have on homebound have very special needs. Most of them are PPCD kids. I teach one of these little ones. He is 3 years old and has many, many health issues. However, he is very bright and a real joy to be around. I have come to love him and his mom very much. He is eager to learn and especially likes his ipad. He is creative. He experiences slow speech and fine motor skills. We have been working on those two things, and he is doing much better. I think of him often, even when I am not with him. He recently spent a week at the Boston Children’s Hospital having a variety of tests. When you are faced in writing with all of his medical issues, it seems overwhelming, but when you see him, he is smiling and as eager as ever to go to work and learn as much as possible.
This student (2015-2016) was able to go though 2nd grade without being on homebound. This can be attributed to extraordinary parents and an absolutely wonderful teacher.
(2015-2016) My schedule this year included a young man (10th grade) from Lake Highlands HIgh School who was both deaf and blind. He, as I expected was an extraordinary young man, with an extraordinary family. I soon discovered, after being with him for a couple of weeks, that he could distinguish some sounds and could see some things if the lighting was “just right”. I discovered this with the use of an I-Pad. There was a light in the ceiling above where we worked. If I turned the I-Pad pointing at the light above, he could distinguish some movements, etc. Also, with a musical program that I used, he could “hear” or “feel”? the music. We had a good time. The Lake Highlands classroom were extremely helpful, by providing activities that he was already familiar with from being in school. This familiarity was good for him. He knew exactly what to do with certain items.
Life this year (2016), as a homebound teacher, has been wonderful.I completed year 50 of being a homebound teacher in RISD. The district acknowledged my years, and the years of many other teachers in the district at avery nice ceremony. then later I was contacted by the Dallas Morning News, and they did a long first page article about my career. It was very nice, but I was a bit embarrassed that I would receive this kind of attention for just doing my job. Others work just as hard and long as I. Then during the summer I was contacted by one of our State Senators. I was summoned to her office, where she gifted me with a copy of a Resolution that will be entered in the archives of the State capitol. I am in awe of all this attention. I have signed a contract for another year.
Grammas Scrapbook 