John Corcoran's The Teacher Who Couldn T Read

“It [feels] as if I [have] been thrown off a cliff into deep water and I [don’t] know how to swim. All around me there are people who can help me, or teach me to swim. But I can’t get to them, and they don’t help me, and I know that eventually I will go under” (Unknown). Millions of illiterate children across the world have experienced, or continue to experience, the overwhelming hopelessness of being thrust into a society that demands reading skills. Sadly, though, too often this world does not give the tools needed to learn to read. As illustrated by author John Corcoran in The Teacher Who Couldn’t Read, children and adults with severe learning disabilities often feel misunderstood and trapped in an isolated prison of shame, anger, and despair. As Corcoran recounts his personal journey of shame due to his misunderstood and misdiagnosed illiteracy, a continual pattern emerges—time heals, but the scars will always remain. Corcoran

When I hear about a teacher who mistreats a reading disabled child—even if it is with the good intention of pushing them forward to new limits—my heart starts to break. I wish that all teachers could experience the real needs of their children. But sadly, too often I still fail in this same way! Too often I feel like I have got it all figured out, when actually, I am wrong. Too often I say things to a child that hurt him—that he could read if he just paid attention or simply tried harder. As a teacher I try hard to monitor the feelings of my students. Are they afraid of me? Are they scared to come to school? How are they handling the pressure that I am putting on them? But I am far from perfect—so my hope and prayer is that even while I make mistakes, my children will always know that I love them and want the best for them. And furthermore, I hope to continue to study and understand why some children in my classroom simply do not grasp on to the concept of