People who work in the field of education often get a bad rap. Others complain we get too many holidays. To those people I ask, “If you think it’s so great, why don’t you do it?”. Most give many excuses but the bottom line is that most people don’t have the dedication and patience to be educators. I’m not bragging in any way because I’m an Educational Asssistant and would never be a teacher. Now, that’s a hard job! 

I love working with my students and that’s why I do this work but often we are not appreciated or valued. That’s part of the frustrations of working in this field. There were a series of articles written on this topic by a social worker who was quite shocked at what our job entails and how we are disrespected. You can read about that here.

We do get summers off and that’s a huge perk, I’ll admit. We need it and more importantly our students need a break from us. We work very closely, often one-to-one for several hours in a row every day. This is to maintain a sense of continuity and consistency which is extremely important for autistic students. The kids need to be away from us and take what we have taught them and use it in their day-to-day life, without any prompting from us. It’s how they grow and mature.

Today is graduation and it will be a bittersweet day. Seeing the students that came in scared and nervous just four years ago leave as confident men and women. Many will go on to University and Colleges. Some will go into the badly needed Trades industry and a few will get part-time or full-time jobs, waiting to find out what they really want to do with their lives. Off I go to the graduation ceremony and my last day of this school year.