Autism Awareness and Acceptance

Roughly ten years ago, a friend put out a request on her blog.  She asked friends to wear blue on April 2nd in order to raise and spread awareness for Autism.  Every year after that she put out the same request for pictures of friends and family wearing blue on April 2nd.  And every year for the last decade, I've worn blue on April 2nd to raise awareness for and acceptance of those with autism.

She retired her (amazing) blog a few years back and has moved on to other adventures, and yet, I still wear blue every year on April 2nd.  No matter what is going on, my calendar has a perpetual reminder that wearing blue on April 2nd for Autism Awareness and Acceptance is a priority for me.  Even if it's my favorite, cozy blue hoody.

I am sharing this because as an educator, this is such a great example of internalizing a concept, skill, or lesson.  My friend no longer requests pictures of friends and family in blue, and yet I still wear blue every year.  This is what we hope our students do - they listen to us day after day, year after year, and eventually we hope that they automatically remember to capitalize and punctuate their sentences.  We hope they write with complete sentences, they remember the basic science concepts, the historical events... we hope that they take what they've learned and without teachers whispering reminders, they do it, just because it's the right thing to do.

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