School Daze: I never want a child to feel they're not good enough

Angela O'Connor is an ASD teacher and has a master's in education.

Angela O'Connor is an ASD teacher and has a master's in education.

I went to St Brigid’s National School, in Palmerstown, in Dublin. I remember my first day so clearly: I was wearing my mam’s pearl necklace! 

I was a bit of a magpie as a child and loved wearing her things. 

I think she clocked me wearing the pearls on the way out and thought, ‘I’m not having that battle right now’.

I remember feeling quite overwhelmed by secondary school: I attended Palmerstown Community School and it was extremely busy. It was easy to feel lost in the crowd.

Throughout school, I really enjoyed physics and maths and I was terrible when it comes to spelling. 

All these years later, I find myself feeling the same way!

I know now, in my career today, as an ASD teacher, how a teacher communicates with her students is paramount. 

I suffered with confidence in my academic ability throughout school, never feeling as though I was good enough, or that it was possible to achieve the results needed to go to college. 

I didn’t do as well as I wanted in my Inter Cert and it rocked me. 

That all changed in fifth year, thanks to my English teacher, Mrs Clancy.

She instilled a sense of self-belief in me. I got my first A in her class, for an English essay. 

I had never gotten an A before, and it changed the way I thought about myself. She was the kind of teacher who really cared about us and motivated us. 

She pushed us hard — I mean, I definitely questioned whether I was able to achieve some of the things she asked of us. 

Her approach had a major impact on how I felt about myself and I began to have more confidence in other subjects and, as a consequence, believe that I could do well enough to get into college.

I had a difficult time in school up until that point, and it has driven me in my role as a teacher — I never want any child to ever feel like they are not good enough in school.

I learned lots of lessons throughout my school years that I apply to my life today. The greatest one, I think, is trying to be organised every day. 

As a teacher, planning is so important, so I try to be as prepared as possible going into each school day. 

I also learned during my school years that it is important to enjoy, and make the most of, every break and holiday. 

This is something that I often remind myself.

As I prepare my class for the return of our students in a few weeks' time, I am trying to make things as normal as possible for them. 

I have kept in touch with all of my students during lockdown and recently I have made videos of our classroom, and what it looks like now, for them and videos of me talking to the children individually, without any PPE on. 

I think there is a lot of fear surrounding the return to school for lots of students. 

I want to tell all students that are returning for the new school year that it is OK to feel scared and a little bit nervous. 

But know that the teachers, and the principal, and the special needs assistants in the schools are all there to support them, and that they care about their students so much.

In my class, the first few weeks are going to be a lot of fun, because we have to make up for all the fun things that we didn’t get to do at the end of last year. 

That is going to help the children settle in and start to feel comfortable again in the classroom environment.

I think, for parents of children with any additional needs, the advice I would give is that any fear we can take away is a good thing. 

So, I recommend any contact with the school beforehand  — even a photograph of how the class will look like  — will make a huge difference to how a child perceives the return to school. 

It is very important that a child has a visual roadmap for going back to school.

It has been a difficult time for everyone, but all of the teachers across the country are looking forward to coming back to school and seeing their students. 

This year will be a little bit different, but we’ll still be able to enjoy our school days, just like we did last year.

Angela qualified as a primary teacher in 1998 and has taught in many schools. She is an ASD teacher in St Ultan's primary school, in Cherry Orchard, having completed a master's degree in education at NUI Galway. She is studying for a master's in autism at Dublin City University.