“When One Speaks,
--Monique Avakian, Literacy Specialist, M.Ed., Javits-Frazier Scholar (Gifted & Talented Ed.)
12/9/08
Hours have passed. It’s early Sunday morning. I keep trying to make the technology work—I’ve got to figure out how to save and upload this kid’s video! I am beat and completely lost at the moment, but I keep going anyway. I don’t want to let this student (T.G.) down. He’s done so much to bring me up with this project--through the power of his message and through the strength of his effort to try to read what he dictated to me several days ago.
“What This Election Means to Me.” Copy here. Paste there. “Believe in Yourself.” Upload. Submit. As I work with formatting the web pages, uploading the video and attaching his power point text, the significance of his accomplishment begins to take shape. It is difficult to explain, even with the video clip as illustration. How do I convey the complexity of feeling, of thought, of meaning-making that T. G. and I wrestled with as he talked and I typed? How do I begin to convey the weight of the effort that it took for him to read a printed copy of his own words while I videotaped him live? As I worked, I recommitted myself to this child, and focused on properly framing his passion, his intelligence and his struggle.
As is common with students who have Learning Disabilities (LD), T.G.’s oral vocabulary and understanding far out-pace what he is comfortably able to read from the page. Despite his learning difficulties, which include dyslexia, T.G. embraced the first part of this project and orally delivered his analysis of President Obama’s ability to lead us through these trying times. T.G.’s dictated speech included multi-syllabic words and complex concepts relating to the economy, his own political analysis of the election and his perception of Obama’s solution to the war in Iraq. I was nervous that he would have great difficulty reading his own words, get frustrated and give up before completing the video. But when I asked him if he wanted to practice reading what he wrote before filming, T.G. simply stated: “No, I don’t have to practice. It’s OK if I make a mistake.”
I still pause for breath when I think of the courage it took for him to say that, to act upon that statement, to believe in that idea, and to put himself out there in this way.
For so many years, this student has had major problems at school and in life: communication and behavior issues with others, psychological and emotional turmoil, horrendous difficulty with reading and writing. When TG came to us at Trailblazers Academy to begin 6th grade, he was reading at a Kindergarten level. In one year, he moved up to a Grade 2 level, which meant that he had progressed three reading levels. Last week he took the QRI Reading Assessment again and scored at Grade Level 4! He is still far from reading at grade level--yet, taking the message of his chosen candidate to heart, he is now starting to believe in his own ability to face fear and doubt, to step up, and as you see here, to make and deliver something of importance that inspires others.
As you can see from the video, he still very much struggles with reading, despite his progress. You should know that he has been retained and is repeating the 6th grade at Trailblazers. But you should also know that he continues to make progress, not only in reading, but step-by-step, emotionally, too.
As you watch this clip, which is the last minute or so of the 13 minute video, please take care to see that he keeps going despite his fatigue and frustration. You’ll see him bang his fist on the table, shake his head, gesture and sigh. But he keeps going because he has started to develop some confidence and faith in himself as a reader. He keeps going because he is determined to bring this message of hope and change to his peers, even though he has already been reading hard for 12 long minutes. He knows his peers care about his message because he had already received admiration from some of them out in the hallway as he pointed out his work to them on the bulletin board.
“I’m asking you to believe in yourself.” How powerful is a quote from a president? To T.G. and to me, these few words are as powerful as the historic importance of Barack Obama’s victory. As you’ll see in this video clip, T.G. is the active embodiment of the urgent importance of our president’s message. After all, this message is at once the inspiration for and the mirror of this young man’s own deeply thoughtful outlook on life, as well as a reflection of his own budding identity as a reader, a leader and a successful human being.
(* quote passed on by my colleague, Verdis, last month at the National Association For Gifted Children conference)
video clip available by request
