Success Stories

One Teacher's Inspiration

As an adult educator in Central Texas for 10 years, I have met many remarkable people. Many of my students have overcome challenges I can only imagine. My students inspire me to be a better teacher. They inspire me to do what I can to make my classroom a safe place - a place where they can grow. The source of inspiration this year is Darlene Woods Donoso. Here is her success in her own words.

As a child I had some rather bad experiences in my home that made it hard for me to concentrate. At school I fell behind in all my subjects. Not being able to read well made matters worse. So there was no way for me to catch up with the rest of the class. When you are that far behind the teacher gives up on you and passes you on to the next grade. This continued to happen to me.

By fourth grade I was so far behind that I couldn't catch up. I felt like something was wrong with me. When the kids called me stupid I started to believe it was true and acted stupid. I tried to stay away from all of them. I just stayed to myself and became a loner.

The older I got, the worse life became for me. The boys wouldn't leave me alone. I was careful how I dressed and what I did. No matter what I did to try to stop from being harassed, it didn't do any good. I hated school. The principal didn't believe me and blamed me for the way the other kids acted. My parents didn't ever do anything about it either. In the eight years I went to school only one teacher stood up for me. I will never forget him. He kept me from being suspended. I made good grades in his class. He was a math teacher. Math was my worst subject, but I was able to understand what he was teaching. He was the best.

But the following year my parents moved us from Illinois to Texas. I had hoped for a new start. I didn't think life could be worse than it was in Illinois, but it was. I was the new kid in school and was afraid to go to school because the kids wrote mean notes and followed me home. I never felt safe. I had no one to help me and no one to turn to, so I gave up and quit school at 14.

I stayed home and babysat. Then I worked cleaning apartments. At 17 I got married and had three children by the time I reached the age of 23. After my third child was born I was looking for something to do. I picked up a book and a dictionary and taught myself how to read.

It wasn't easy. Sometimes I felt I would never read well. But I didn't give up. I read all kinds of books: romances, mysteries, and westerns. I picked up any magazines that might have good stories. The books took me to a lot of places and I "met" a lot of people. I saw some pretty country and had so much fun - all through reading. I love to read now. I like to see where I will be going next and who I am going to meet next. I wonder what mysteries I am going to encounter. I remember one book about a woman who couldn't read. She taught herself to read the same way I learned, with a book in one hand and a dictionary in the other. She went to college and got a degree. I knew that, if she could do it, I could too. Now, I read every chance I get. My favorite books are mysteries. I try to figure out the ending before I get there.

I also decided to go back to school and get my GED. I had never thought it would be possible, especially because I was so bad in math. But after my reading improved, math got easy and I began to feel better about myself. I started a GED class two months ago. During that time I have been learning to write essays and learning even more math. Although I am still "stuck" in fractions, I have already taken three parts of the GED test and plan to finish to next month.

After that I want to go to college. I hope to become an attorney or an attorney's assistant or whatever life has in store for me. I don't care what anyone does to me; I am not going to give up. No one is going to stop me. I know now how important school is and how hard it is to get a good paying job. I want to be able to answer right when asked something and not be embarrassed by not knowing the answer. I know I have to work very hard to accomplish my goals. I intend to achieve them.