Log #6

Helen Keller got sick and became blind and deaf when she was a child. It’s clear that it’s hard for her to learn, but she never gave up, neither did her parents. Her parents tried their best to look for a blind school for their daughter. At last, Anne Mansfield Sullivan agreed to be Helen Keller’s teacher. Ms. Sullivan was once blind, so she had a better understanding of how to educate a blind and deaf girl. She didn’t resemble most of the teachers just teaching boring textbooks; instead, she used the teaching materials to create games, which did make Helen Keller learn well while having a lot of fun. In addition, Ms. Sullivan invented a useful method for Helen Keller to learn words and know the meanings of these words. For example, if Ms. Sullivan wanted to teach Helen “water”, she would let Helen touch her lip and write down this word on her hand first so that Helen could know the spelling and sound of water. Afterward, she would lead Helen to touch the water. This kind of teaching method could help Helen Keller a lot because she could combine all the senses at a time and have a better understanding about water. Little by little, Helen Keller knew more and more words. It was easier for her to communicate with other people.

Actually, Helen Keller’s story is a little bit similar to me. Although I didn’t suffer from a weird disease, I encountered a lot of problems like Helen Keller when it comes to learning. When I was an elementary school student, all of my classmates got good grades on their academic performance ( 90 or above 90); however, I only got 80. Once I heard that my teacher told my mother that I was not good at math. I was kind of disappointed because I had a high standard for myself. After overhearing my teacher’s words, I felt more disappointed because I thought I was the kind who lost the competition on the beginning line, and I couldn’t catch up with other classmates to make my parents proud of me. My academic performance didn’t improve until I was in fifth grade. My homeroom teacher knew I was a little bit pessimistic, so sometimes he would write down some inspiring words on my book to encourage me. He told me that Edison once said, “Genius is one percent inspiration, ninety-nine percent perspiration.”  He said that although I wasn’t as smart as others, I could study hardy than any other student. Gradually, I would make a great progress and be the first person to get to the finishing line. Ms. Sullivan is to Helen Keller what my fifth-grade teacher is to me.