Professional BIO
Lori Ann Bone

"I believe it is my privilege and responsibility to treat each of my students as if they were my own children. To me that means expecting excellence and having standards of behavior that do not change based on a child's abilities, disabilities, or circumstances."

"The word educate comes from the Latin educare, which means to nourish, to rear, to bring up, or bring forth."

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Many people begin their teaching careers with a false set of expectations. To the casual observer teaching appears to be an easy job complete with great hours, plenty of breaks, and paid summers off. I suffered no such illusions about the teaching profession. Both of my parents, as well as the majority of their friends, were teachers. On many occasions, I heard them talking about various aspects of their profession. I heard the frustration in their voices as they discussed students who were struggling or school procedures and curriculums that were not adequately meeting their students' needs. I noted the fact that the job never seemed to end, that there were always papers to grade, lesson plans to write, and students to tutor. At one point, I actually told a group of my parents' friends that I would never be a teacher, that any other career would be a preferable alternative.

Events, both accidental and fortuitous, led me to where I am today and have instilled me with a purpose that allows me to forge ahead, even though all of the challenges that my parents enumerated are still present in the profession. As a college student, I needed a job that allowed me to go to class during the day, have time to study, and paid enough to enable me to afford my expenses. To this end, I took a job as a respite care provider, working with people with disabilities on nights and weekends. This job was my education on the realities that face people, who, for whatever reasons, lacked the education and skills necessary to survive without assistance. The experience also opened my eyes to the fact that I was able to do things that other people could not or were not willing to do.

The catalyst for my ultimate decision to become a Special Education Teacher was the circumstances surrounding my first job within a school system. I was offered a paraprofessional position by a school, because I was the only person who was able to handle the behaviors of a particular child. This was an interesting situation to me, as I had neither a college education, nor did I have any particular experience managing children with special needs. During my work as a respite care provider, I accompanied a child to his first three weeks of school to help train the staff about ways to help him manage his day. The first day he attended school on his own, things did not go well. Ultimately, I was hired to work with the boy as a paraprofessional, and he was allowed to stay at his placement. To accept the position I had to withdraw from my current semester of college and forego my own education to secure the future of this little boy. Despite the obvious detriment to my own plans, the choice to leave school was an easy one for me. A child was in need. I had the means to help. Simply, it was the right thing to do. Later, when the same child lost his foster care placement I decided to take him into my home until his biological parents were able to regain custody. These experiences encapsulate a defining moment in my life, because through them, I realized that I was able to affect change where others could not. I understood that even though I did not have formal training, I had the perseverance and temperament that was necessary to successfully work with difficult children. Over the years, I have begun to understand how rarely these qualities are found in others. Through these experiences, I became aware of the fact that many people are simply unable to control their anger when a child slaps them in the face, spits at them, or has a forty-five minute tantrum in the middle of Wal-Mart. Almost daily, people ask me how I am able to handle the disrespect and aggression that many of my students exhibit. The answer is that I am too interested in changing the behavior, in finding the child inside the anger, to be angry myself or to take anything that they do personally.

My greatest contribution to my profession thus far has been my ability to show my colleagues and the parents of my students that there is a way to handle children with challenging behaviors. My peers have seen first hand that I will not quit on these kids. I hope that my example has inspired my fellow teachers to try that much harder with each difficult child that they encounter. I have also tried to educate others about what lies ahead for these children if each person involved in the student's life does not do his/her job to the best of his, her abilities. I try to assist other teachers by providing them with strategies that they can use in their classrooms to combat behavioral or academic difficulties. I also welcome students from other classrooms to come to my room if I feel I can provide additional support. I communicate openly with parents and have tried to help mitigate the difficulties that are inherent in raising a child with special needs. Through my actions, I believe that I have helped other professionals in my school enjoy a new measure of success with difficult students. I also feel that by openly advocating for my students I have garnered the respect and trust of my students' parents.