Thirty-four years ago, I began my teaching career in a small Wisconsin school district along the Lake Michigan shoreline. I rattled into town driving an old black Ford pickup looking for the school administration office. It was August 1974 - the year of the Watergate scandal. The newspaper headlines that Monday morning read, "President Nixon Resigns." It was a time of change in our country and a time of change in my life.

I nervously signed my first teaching contract which read, "to be paid an annual salary of $7,850.00....as a teacher of the deaf and hard of hearing."

I was assigned to teach in a K-5 elementary school which was also a regional center for deaf and hard of hearing students. We embraced a total communication philosophy which incorporated the use of sign language in all instruction.

My class of 10 students ranged in ages from 5 - 9 years. All had severe to profound hearing losses. Many of them were "rubella babies" - children of mothers who had contracted German measles in their first trimester.

The children, their families and I began a journey that school year. There were many struggles and challenges, successes and celebrations! We grew together. We became family — a community with common goals, expectations and shared responsibility. We developed trust. I learned the power that words of kindness, encouragement, and support can carry. It made all the difference then and continues to do so today.

Children become empowered as they gain skills and knowledge. Attitudes toward life-long learning develop. Individuals learn to maneuver in a social world based on successes or failures of early relationships. Each child will develop a sense of self worth based, in part, on the climate that is created in classrooms.

Recently, I received an e-mail from Indonesia. It came from a Tsani, a former student. We had lost contact with her family when they moved overseas 20 years ago. It simply read, "Ms. Marilyn, I have been trying to find you for many years. I write to thank you. You made a difference in my life."

Teaching has offered me the opportunity to make a difference in a child's life. I have treasured that privilege.