People often say if you choose a job you love, you will never work a day in your life. When pondering a rewarding career, most people think of a job that generates wealth or acknowledgements, but for middle school special education teacher, Kelsey Lott, the rewards may not include wealth, and teachers like her aren’t often acknowledged.
Lott, 24, and a graduate of the University of Georgia, did not always know her calling would be working in special education. She originally went to college in hopes of becoming a doctor; however, once classes began, she decided that career wasn’t for her.
“I always knew that I wanted to work with people who were less fortunate than myself, whether that would be through medical field or elsewhere, I knew I wanted to do something to help people,” Lott recalls.
After taking an extensive aptitude exam provided by the university two separate times, Lott found that her results indicated she would be a great fit for a career within the world of special education. The suggestion came as a surprise to Lott, but she applied for the program nevertheless, hoping it would fulfil her goals of working with the underprivileged and specifically, special needs children.
Lott says she fell in love with the experience as soon as she was accepted into the program.
“I really can’t imagine doing anything else”, said Lott. “I thank that test all the time because I feel like this is truly my calling, and I’m so glad that I took it because now, I wake up every day loving my job.”
Lott graduated and immediately began working in an “inclusion” classroom, where she teaches middle schoolers with moderate to severe intellectual disabilities such as Down syndrome, cerebral palsy and autism. As far as training and learning how to work with the children, Lott credits much of her knowledge to hands-on experience. According to her, full-time student-teaching forces the teacher to come into real-life situations, and physically being in the classroom and able to interact with the children and their personalities gives a teacher the perspective they need.
It isn’t always flowers. This job requires a great amount of patience and determination. Lott emphasizes that she didn’t realize she had that trait until she began working with special needs children.
“You have to be patient with them, they have bad days just like the rest of us, and if they want to stand in the hallway for 45 minutes, you have to wait with them and work with them,” said Lott.
Despite having to display a different amount of delicacy and patience with the children, Lott also believes in holding them to a high standard and teaching them when they make mistakes. Special needs children are intelligent, and if they are constantly being babied, they will use that to their advantage and often get out of doing things because of it. Making sure they know when they did something wrong is important.
Lott also discusses that someone who works with children with cognitive disabilities must learn to never take things personally, and remember to come in every day with a positive attitude toward the students. Many children with special needs are able to sense when their peers or educators become frustrated with them.
“You have to be able to love them even when they act out,” said Lott. “I’ve been punched, bitten, and kicked, but every day, you still have to love them, every day I start over, brand new, you can’t hold a grudge from how they acted the day before”.
When discussing the hardest part of her job, Lott explains that it is especially difficult communicating with her non-verbal students. This year, the majority of her classroom consists of non-verbal students and it often requires a great deal of effort and creativity to understand their specific needs.
“I have some students who will pitch a fit and it is so hard for me to know what they want or what they’re feeling,” said Lott. “I truly believe they are trapped inside of their own minds, and I’m sitting there trying to understand, I don’t know if their stomach is hurting or if something happened at home; sometimes I can’t get through to them and it honestly breaks my heart.”
Unlike regular classrooms, Lott often develops caring friendships with her students and their parents. Many times she will get invited to their birthday parties and they take silly pictures together. After the children move onto other classrooms, parents strive to keep in touch with her because the students become attached to her and enjoy her company.
Lott explains that the best part of her job is the joy of seeing her students learn new things that they did not know how to do previous to her class. She says she cares deeply about, and believes it is important for them to learn functional things like washing their hands and communicating effectively, rather than just academic work.
“The best part for me is the little things, the growth that they show me each day is a major victory for myself and for them,” said Lott. “I worked with a young lady teaching her to type her name for three years, and now she can do it by herself, it is so rewarding to see their progress. Little things like that is what makes it worth while.”
Lott’s biggest goal and aspiration for her students is to be able to teach and influence them so that when they go out into the real world, they are able to function positively and contribute to society in a beneficial way.
“You are able to see their progress and see how you are affecting their lives in such a big way. Those kids are so genuine and have the kindest hearts, and when I’m not with them, I miss them, they become a huge part of your life,” said Lott.
