A Life Driven by PurposeDr. Seuss wrote in his book Happy Birthday to You: “Today you are yourself, this is truer than true. There is no one alive who is more Yours than You.” Every essence of our being, from our personality to our DNA, is different from everyone else in this world. Many of these distinctions are evident in the classroom context and can sometimes prove challenging for a teacher. Some students may learn lessons very quickly while others may take longer and may need help outside of class. These differences will affect their ability to learn and grow as a student, and the strategies I implement in my classroom will affect their ability to succeed. When teaching a lesson to a student with a special need such as cerebral palsy, you need to use certain tactics as outlined in an article by Frank Ricci, an intensive care unit nurse at a children's hospital in Pittsburgh. In this article Ricci describes how to develop an educational program for a unique group of students. This group of students consisted of 12 members each of whom had cerebral palsy and of these 12, 7 were wheelchair users and 8 had mild visual impairments. The goal of this educational program was to teach these students about safety restraint systems and how important seat belts are. Although this program was not related to math or science, the techniques used by the teacher are applicable to any classroom setting with diverse students. To start the session a short safety story was read. The story included animated characters and was entertaining. Next, posters were presented with bright colors and large slogans saying “Be smart, buckle up.” After the presentation of the posters, the teacher showed the students how to properly fasten the seat belt and gave them the opportunity to ... middle of paper ... al of Trauma Nursing 6.4 (2000): 129 -32. ScienceDirect. Network. November 21, 2013Stevenson, Andrew, ed. “Poor Students Lose Teaching Strategies.” Sydney MorningHerald (n.d.): 8. Academic OneFile. Network. November 21, 2013McAllister, Lesley S. “Positive Teaching: Strategies for Optimal Learning with ADHD and Hyperactive Students.” American Music Teacher 61.4 (2012): 18. Academic OneFile. Web. November 21, 2013 Cerebral Palsy." National Outreach Center for Children with Disabilities. U.S. Department of Education Office of Special Education Programs, June 2010. Web. November 21, 2013. Wu, Yungan. Teaching Literature for young adults to ESL students: An experiment. University of Oklahoma Dissertation, 2008. Np: UMI Dissertations, 2008. Print.Brewster, Dorothy PB Teaching Mathematics to ESL Students California State University, 2000. Dominguez Hills: UMI Dissertations, 2000..