Background Information on
Mrs. Batie
· My Personal Story for Becoming a Special Education Teacher
Born and raised in Benson, MN
Graduated from Benson High School in 1995
Attended Northern State University from Fall 1995-Spring 1999
Married Dale Batie in May 1998
Graduated from Northern State University in May of 1999 with majors in Elementary Education and Special Education and a minor in reading.
1999-2000 school year taught in Sisseton, SD as a 5th-6th grade learning disabilities teacher at the Sisseton Middle School.
2000-2003 I was the
K-12 special education teacher in Bowdle Public School in
April 20, 2002-The birth of our first child. Benjamin Benson Batie joined our family at 2:15 in the afternoon at Avera St. Lukes in Aberdeen, SD. Benjamin was 7 pounds 3 ounces and was 19 1/2 inches long. Benjamin was born 2 1/2 weeks early.
2003-2004-I
taught fifth grade at
In May 2005 I was
hired to teach kindergarten at the Eureka
Elementary School. I taught kindergarten for the 2005-2006 school year. During the summer of 2006 I was offered the
sixth grade position at
On October 27, 2005
a new addition joined our family. Anna Elizabeth Batie
was born at 7:27 a.m. at Avera St. Luke's Hospital in
On October 11, 2007
another new addition joined our family. Arriving over three weeks early
(and a week earlier than her scheduled C-section) we welcomed Ella Grace Batie into our family. She was born at 2:37 p.m. at Avera St. Luke's Hospital in
Our final addition arrived on July 10, 2009. Becca Claire Batie was born at Avera St. Luke's Hospital in Aberdeen a week ahead of her scheduled C-section. She was 7 pounds 8 ounces and was bigger than expected. I guess that is what you get after a month of bedrest! Benjamin threatened to run away to Grandma's if it was another sister but he has changed his mind and has decided to stay.
Meet My Other Babies
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Tootie |
Minnie Mouse |
Kirby |
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My Personal Story for Becoming a Special Education Teacher-
Mrs. Batie's Story
Many times
people ask me, “Why would you want to teach special education?” There is a simple answer to this
question. The reason: my brother Thomas. Tom was born on June 13, 1978 and our family
was changed forever. Our lives had been
touched in a special way that most would consider a nuisance. On the day Tom was born the doctor talked to
my parents and explained that Tom wasn’t normal. They were told that Tom was born with Down Syndrome and that he should immediately be placed in an
institution for people “like him”. At
that point my mother lost her cool, calm self and simply explained to the
doctor that she had not waited nine months for this baby so that she could give
him to someone else. Tom was not able to
come home right away. He was in the
hospital for the first few weeks of his life because he was not able to eat on
his own (eating continued to be a struggle for the first years of his
life). When it was time to come home I
was forced to go stay with Grandma and Grandpa because I had the Chicken
Pox. I had still not gotten to hold that
new brother that I was so excited to see.
I was only fifteen months old at the time. I didn’t know that there was anything
different about Tom.
I
never realized that there was anything different about Tom until I started
school. Then I began to meet new
kids. When these new friends saw me on
the street they would stop, point, and stare at Tom. They were afraid to come and say
"Hi" to me. I didn’t
understand why they only liked me at school.
I asked my mom and she told me it was because they didn’t understand how
special Tom was. I asked why he was
special and she never answered. Around
the end of my first year of school my youngest brother was born. I asked my mother why he looked so different
from Tom. My mom realized that I was
starting to realize that Tom did look different from other people even though I
thought it was other children who looked different from him. I remember that my mom sat down with me and
explained Down Syndrome. This was only the first of many discussions
about Down Syndrome that my mother and I have
had. At this time I didn’t understand
everything but I now had an answer to why Tom was so special.
During
my entire educational experiences I was an advocate for Tom (even before I knew
what an advocate was). I was always
sticking up for Tom and having my friends let him play with us. I took part in activities with Association
for Retarded Citizens (ARC). I did the
things that came natural. I even lost
friends over the fact that Tom was my brother.
The hardest of these losses was of my best friend in 7th
grade. It really hurt me that someone
would not want to be my friend because my brother acted different and looked
different from her idea of normal. To
me, Tom was normal, my family was normal, I didn’t know anything else. At this point I learned what true friends
were. I realized that if someone doesn’t
want to be your friend because your brother is different then they are not the
type of friend that you want to have.
I also realized the wonderful educational opportunities my brother had
experienced in
My
choice to go into special education is the reason that I am in
Today my brother Tom lives in a group
home in
Meet Tom