Annie Beats the Odds
Manage episode 301786935 series 2978633
Good morning, good afternoon, good evening – whatever the time of day it is always a good time for learning. This is Educate This, the podcast for Teachers, Trainers, Coaches, Mentors and Students – Anybody in the world of education and beyond which lets face it – should be all of us all the time. We learn to teach and we teach to learn.
My name is Nate Hamon and Educate This is sponsored by TAE Specialists, RTO Qualify Now. Check them out for all of your TAE questions and needs. Link in the description.
The intro and outro music is provided by Dragon Chromatic & Anthem Fox. Check them out of Facebook etc.
The story of Helen Keller and her teacher and friend Anne Sullivan is one of the most endearing, enduring and life affirming stories around. It has particular lessons and inspiration for Teachers, Trainers, Mentors, Coaches – anyone that finds themselves in a position of having to guide and direct learning.
Helen Keller said that the most significant day of her life was the one in which Anne Sullivan came to her.
As a kid our family used to have on the bookshelf a collection of picture book biographies called “The Value of” series. They would take a historical figure that displayed a certain attribute worth learning from and tell their story. For Helen and Anne’s story it was called the Value of Determination.
I recently rediscovered some of these books at a Garage Sale and theirs was among the ones I found so I bought them and brought them home for our kids.
Before talking about the teacher student relationship I just want to talk a little about Anne’s biography because it is blood fascinating and shows a powerful example of someone rising through intense trials and tribulations and finding success by helping others to be successful. Which to my mind is a good Trainer’s goal. A Trainer, Teacher, Mentor etc. success can be measured by how well they help improve their student’s existence.
Anne, sometimes called Annie Sullivan was Born on April 14, 1866 in Feeding Hills, Massachusetts, to Irish immigrant parents, Alice and Thomas Sullivan. Anne was a nickname that stuck. It was derived from her given name, Johanna. She was the oldest of five kids. 2 of her siblings died during infancy.
At the tender age of five, Anne contracted Trachoma. This was an eye disease that would left her partially blind and had to be treated to ward off full blown blindness. At the same time her brother Jimmie became disabled with a Tubercular hip.
Then when Anne was 8 her mother died from Tuberculosis complications.
Not long after that the kids were abandoned by their Dad.
They had no other family who would adopt them and so, Anne and Jimmie were sent to live at the Tewksbury Almshouse. This is said to have been a disgusting, horrible place for a child. Jimmie wouldn’t last long and soon died from diseases that spread in the decrepit, deplorable alms house.
In the novel Devil May Cry, author Sherrilyn Kenyon writes ““Strength through adversity. The strongest steel is forged by the fires of hell. It is pounded and struck repeatedly before it’s plunged back into the molten fire. The fire gives it power and flexibility, and the blows give it strength. Those two things make the metal pliable and able to withstand every battle it’s called upon to fight.”
The fires of hell could have reduced Anne to ashes but she was made of tougher stuff. Instead these fires refined her and strengthened her.
In a time where being a woman was a heavy challenge on it’s own and the burden of a disability plus the lack of social status made it even more so, Anne became fiercely strong and driven to beat the odds that were stacked against her.
She not only became one of history’s most renowned Teachers due to her work with Helen Keller, but she fought for others, particularly the disabled, who were oppressed and discriminated against.
As for the story of this famous teacher student powerhouse, Many know a little of the story that spanned the late 1800s into the 1900s which contains characters including Kings and Queens, Presidents and Celebrities, and even people like Alexander Graham Bell and Mark Twain!
But I’ll do a quick retell.
Due to an illness, Helen Keller lost her sight and hearing before she reached the age of 2!
She struggled to find her equilibrium in the world, in the community and even at home despite having patient and loving parents.
In 1887, a 20-year-old Anne Sullivan, had recently graduated from the Perkins Institution for the Blind, was commissioned to teach Helen in the young girl’s Alabama home.
When Anne arrived Helen was at first super angry, threw explosive tantrums and fought against any help. Many teachers would have thrown their hands up and walked away in exasperation.
Sullivan persisted and used innovative methods to reach what every Teacher hopes for with a difficult student, a “breakthrough.”
Once that catalyst was achieved, learning, while still a tough road, became more enjoyable for Helen as did the teaching for Anne.
Anne would remain with Helen as a friend and guide for life and they would experience higher education, world travel, fame and more together.
Here’s the really heart-tugging part of the story that wraps everything in a nice bow. Eventually Anne’s partial blindness became a complete blindness in her older years. It was now the younger Helen’s turn to guide her teacher and friend.
So Why Was Anne Such an Effective Teacher and what qualities did she possess that we can apply to our own teaching and training efforts?
1. She was a Strong and adaptable Communicator.
When Helen was initially acting obstinate and refusing to take lessons from Anne, Anne considered her students issues and adapted the traditional methods she had been taught to reach through to the young firecracker. She of course couldn’t talk or use sign language. One day Anne grabbed Helen’s hand and put it under flowing water. Then she spelled out the letters WATER on Helen’s hand. She kept doing this until eventually Helen had a moment of revelation. The sensation of WATER being written on her palm was related to the feeling of literal water on her palm.
This moment was the unlocking of Helen’s abilities.
Every person, even those “old dogs who can’t be taught new tricks” has a lock that can be opened. A good Teacher is one who either discovers or creates the key that fits.
Some teachers will testify that breakthroughs came by communicating to students how certain subjects and lessons that don’t seem applicable, can actually transfer into aspects of the student’s life that they are passionate about.
It’s about helping students to see a bigger picture – beyond the short window of hard study time. It is about communicating opportunities whether that is personal development, professional development, job upskilling, employment opportunities…
She nourished a trusting relationship
Trust is rarely at automatic give. It has to be earned. For a child who lived in a world of darkness and absolute silence to give trust must have been an even harder ask. Anne had to work hard for it but by becoming a friend she made that pathway easier. Trust follows com...
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