Most of my experience in the classroom has been in special needs schools so I greatly enjoyed the Swoger article. For a long time I considered concentrating on special education but found that it would be too painful. The summer that I worked as a one-on-one aid with a boy who had downs syndrome I found myself growing extremely attached to the students but I found it heart breaking how little some of the parents seemed to care and how often they were moved from one school to another. However, most important lesson that I learned was to never give up on a student and this is an attitude that I believe that Swoger possesses. Often times parents, teachers and administrators set the bar too low for the learning disabled students. I am not saying that they do not need different accommodations, but don't we agree for the most part that every student learns different? Swoger never set the bar too low Scott, she had faith in his ability to learn and he accomplished a great deal in a short time. I think this story, and others like it, should be shared with all teachers, but especially those who feel burnt out.

As for Spandel, the more I read of her book then more I find myself saying "no duh!" So much of what she says is obvious but clearly there must be teachers out there not doing the things she describes or else she wouldn't have felt the need to write this book. I just hope those type of teachers are becoming the minority.