Page 191 - From the Outhouse 4 -21

191 | P A T R I C I A R A E M E R R I T T W H A T L E Y

During my certification and special education classes, my professor taught from this perspective: “Teach in a certain rhythm of
excellent expectation!” In essence, she was training us to never accept that learning is not taking place. LOVE THEM ALL was

another key! Throughout my 30 years as an educator, I kept this objective in mind. When I presented a particular concept, it was

always done with high expectation, fun, and much enthusiasm. My constant mission was to search for new teaching techniques.

From the beginning of my teaching career until my retirement, I used the performing arts to accompany my lesson plans and the

assembly programs that I planned for the entire school. My classroom had brightly colored bulletin boards and cheerful centers for
student rotations to listening centers, puzzle centers, visual light centers, and manipulative centers of appropriate toys (teacher-made

and commercial). Individual goals and objectives were developed for each student. Sometimes they were written on tee-shirts and

hung on a clothesline. I would frequently have visitors from other schools that included Principals, Administrators, Supervisors in
Special Education, teachers, and parents. My lesson plans were always posted to be visible to anyone that visited my classroom. This

way, visitors could readily see the instruction taking place in my classroom as I continued to teach my students.

Twice in my teaching career I taught interns from the University of Central Florida in Orlando and Florida State in Tallahassee. I

wanted to emphasize the importance of a well-organized classroom. My classroom was always used as a place to learn teaching
techniques and classroom designs. I had the privilege of co-writing a Special Education Curriculum for the Profoundly Mentally

Challenged students in Seminole County. I make these points not so much to praise myself, but to acknowledge what the acceptance
of constructive criticism can mean to a person’s career. It can have many beneficial effects on your promotions, image, and overall

success in life.

It is suggested that the song “It Takes a Whole Village” is based on a proverb rooted in the African and Native-American cultures. It

has been my mantra in raising my own child. My experience as a single mother proved that I could not raise my child by myself. I

invited the Sanford community to assist me in the day-to-day challenges of developing a wholesome child. Yes, it took the church