Theresa Mackiewicz

My father always told me to just keep on pushing - if you fall, pick yourself up, dust yourself off, and start all over again. He said that throughout my life. My mother was always loving and supportive. But I think what really pushed me was my own disability, my double vision. Having the support from my really awesome teacher, Mrs. Sperry, kind of pushed me to that next level and tried to make me keep pushing to figure out what I want to do. Before she passed, when Scribbles came out, she came to my book signing, and then she passed maybe a couple months later. I told her that I was going to try to keep these books going to teach the kids how we used to teach them - through love - and to make sure that these kids are understood and they don't feel bad about themselves, with their self-esteem. So I think it's a combination of your environment. You know how they talk about nature or nurture? I think it's a combination of all of it, a healthy balance.

Always just go with your heart. I try to make the kids learn correctly - teach them ways that they need to be taught, not just the way people tell you to teach them. I usually have just a tool bag, and it's like, oh, if that doesn't work, we can try this. If that doesn't work, try this. So always be flexible. My art teacher was great, and she always said to me, think before the other person thinks. That's where my books came from, because she used to say that to me in the art class. You have to think of the idea before others do. I think that's very crucial. I think now everybody's catching on to doing the same thing that I'm doing, but I did it before everybody else. And just be patient with these kids, because they don't even know that they struggle. Or if they do, I gotta pull up their self-esteem so they can move and keep going.

Be patient. There's always a reason why a behavior is coming out. When you're teaching, there's usually a reason why a kid's being the way they are. They might not have even eaten breakfast this morning, or you don't know what they're dealing with at home. So always be patient, because you don't know, and if you can help them get to their next level, their optimal development, then we're good.

We have a teacher shortage - nobody wants to do it anymore. The struggle is real. I have a vision problem where my eye and my brain do not talk together, and because of this, I actually do have one more teacher's test to pass in order to be certified as a teacher. Yet I've been in this field all these years because they know that I'm good at what I do, and I always get waivers and support from the administration wherever I go. They teach you in college that one test doesn't matter, it doesn't define who you are, but yet that's what the system is doing. I'm kind of frustrated with that. I still have to take this test again in July for my job to be completely certified. I'm certified in the early childhood piece, but I like high school, I like the kids at the high school level, and I like teaching them with their disabilities and showing that they still can do it. I like figuring out what's going on with a disability and how to make it work. A lot of people don't even know that you could just give ADHD kids a piece of gum - sometimes that's all they need to focus, and people won't do it.

Respect, honesty, always reaching to the top or trying to get there for the achievement. I try to get my kids to the achievement - my sons and my students. I try to move them to get up there. They're gonna kick and fight the whole way up, but maybe they won't. I think that's very important. If you don't try, you definitely won't get there - you just sit there and give up. We instilled that education and teachers are important. My son Alex actually just wrote to one of his professors saying, thank you for teaching the way you teach, and I was like, that's great! My other son was at Wentworth for electrical engineering to make the dollar, make the money, and then he just called me and said, Mama, I don't want to be in engineering, I want to help people. So now he's at Bridgewater State going for criminal justice. He realized that money isn't the whole picture of success - it's about giving back and helping people, helping others. Even when they were little boys, I brought them to Special Olympics, and my mother said, why are we here? I said, because this is way more important than 2 plus 2 right now. My parents were blown away by what they saw, and the boys understood and appreciate people who are different.