Today we’d like to introduce you to Barb Horton.
Hi Barb, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work life, how can you bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
I am a retired Special Education teacher, teaching for over 40 years. My career began as the federal mandate for Special Education began, so I have been in the field since the beginning. I grew up in Minneapolis, Minnesota. While I liked school, I never intended to become a teacher. After graduating from high school, I planned to go to a small college in northern Minnesota to study Native American culture and language so I could work on an Indian Reservation. Once I saw how small the school and city were and realized that winters would be even harsher than in Minneapolis, I decided to go to the University of Minnesota instead. I had no clear career path and changed my majors several times before I began to volunteer at a private Special Education school, and I quickly realized this was my passion. Soon after, I transferred to St Cloud State University for its excellent 4-year Special Education program.
I taught in various school settings and with various types of disabilities and age groups – from 2-year-olds in preschool up to age 21 transition students, and from Learning Disabilities, to Emotional Disabilities, to Severely Handicapped. I began my career in Minneapolis (8 years), and then my husband and I moved to Germany, where I taught preschool handicapped students with the Department of Defense Schools for 4 years. When we returned to the US, we moved to Wisconsin, where I earned a double master’s degree and taught for 18 years. Then we moved to St Louis, where I taught for another 13 years. As my retirement approached, we moved to Florida and found our ideal place in St Augustine. Once I retired, I searched for new opportunities and organizations to become involved in, and I found ones that perfectly fit me. Special Education has always been a passion of mine, and it continues to be a motivating force in my life. I have also been involved in my church and various volunteer organizations, and this has also been a driving force in my life, which continues today.
One thing I always valued in my career was the opportunity to expand my skills by working with a diverse range of ages and disabilities. Learning new skills and expanding my skill set has always been important. I am very grateful that as a Special Education teacher, I was never locked into just one aspect of the broad educational spectrum. Each new year always brought new students with new and unique needs, which required me to look for new ways to teach; at the same time, the basic principles remained constant, applying those principles modifications and adaptions necessary to meet the new challenges. I was never bored. The last school that I taught at was a private school, and this school had a relatively large number of international students. My program overlapped with the English as a Second Language program, and I loved getting involved with this group of students. They all had good English skills when they came, but they often needed help with vocabulary (especially understanding idioms and expressions), navigating cultural differences, and writing papers. Little did I know that this new skill set would impact my post-teaching experience!
Alright, let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall, and if not, what challenges have you had to overcome?
Special Education is not a “smooth road” occupation. One of my biggest struggles was the size of my caseload and limited time and resources. My students had unique and very complex needs, and it was often difficult to accept that I did not have enough time to meet each of these needs. Another area for improvement was the required paperwork and extra meetings, which took time away from planning for specific lessons or even direct contact with students. I always felt that there was more that could be done. One of the most important requirements for optimizing student progress is building strong personal connections with each. Once you build a strong relationship, you can teach their needs while building on strengths and particular interests. The stronger the relationship with the student, the stronger their engagement leads to increased progress.
As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might need to become more familiar, what can you tell them about what you do?
Now that I am “retired” from full-time, professional work, I have become involved in several organizations and activities that keep me very busy. The agency I spend the most time with is Learn To Read, an adult literacy program in St Augustine. Most people who utilize the services of this organization are English Language Learners. I began tutoring there about two and a half years ago and love it. I currently work with several students, all very different and fun. One student is a St Augustine native who is learning to read. This has been very important to me because the education system failed him, and I am doing my best to make up for the poor teaching he received. I am also working with a woman from Cuba, a woman from Colombia, and a family from the Dominican Republic. I have also worked with a young man from Nicaragua, a young woman from Ukraine, a couple from Ukraine, and another woman from Colombia. Each person comes with their own unique set of skills and goals, but what they all have in common is a strong desire to learn. They all work so hard and inspire me to work hard too! I look forward to each class session I have with them. I can’t say enough about Learn to Read. They are ready to embrace and help anyone who wants to learn or increase their English skills. They also have classes for GED students and people working to become citizens. All of their services are free of charge, and the tutors are all volunteers. I am proud to be part of that organization!
I am also a private tutor, working primarily with elementary-aged students. Again, I love getting to know these students and teaching them specific skills based on their needs and interests. I charge for my services, but I spend time preparing before each lesson as I strive to give them the best help possible. I meet the students in their homes and find that to be a more relaxing atmosphere than in public place, and it is easier for their families that way too.
Another program I am involved in is St Gerard’s School. I taught an English class there last year, and this year I am teaching a Writer’s Workshop class once a week. I also act as a consultant for any student who may enroll with a background in Special Education services or with girls who may have been away from school for a significant amount of time. This is another setting where it is essential to meet the girls where they are academically and then build on their skills while addressing their social, emotional, and physical needs.
In addition to this, I am also a Guardian ad Litem and began this about 2 and a half years ago as well. This program also plays on skills I learned as a Special Education teacher, although quite different from my tutoring work. This program requires one to be a good listener, be attentive to individual needs, and think outside the box. One thing that surprised me with this program is that while my focus is on the safety and needs of the children involved in the case, I am also working very closely with the caregivers and parents and being attentive to their needs. This job requires you to see beyond initial first impressions and to see things through a different lens. I have learned so much already, and my respect for foster parents and the judicial system has grown by leaps and bounds.
Aside from these organizations, I am also very involved with my church, and this work also keeps me very busy each week. I love that being “retired,” I have more time to give to church work than when I was working full-time. Through my church, I am also on the board of a national organization that serves families that have a family member with special needs. We have online programs and meet with our “loved ones” in person several times yearly. This occupies less time in my weekly schedule than my other activities, but it is near and dear to my heart.
We love to hear about any fond memories you have from growing up.
This question instead – Who inspired you when you were young? I was blessed to grow up in a very nurturing and close-knit family. Unfortunately, my mother passed on when I was young, but my father did an amazing job fulfilling both mother and father roles. My dad was a very humble and quiet man, yet he was very strong in spiritual and moral qualities and very compassionate. He was always doing things for others, usually behind the scenes. He set a wonderful example for me on how to treat others and conduct my life. I was also blessed to have been in Girl Scouts and had a superb leader who was a major role model. She introduced me to two things – camping and volunteering – and these were the two main activities in our troop. The Girl Scout motto was “Do a good turn daily”; this is how she lived her life. She worked full-time and was very active in her church, as well as being our leader. In addition, she volunteered with a program where she read college-level textbooks into a tape recorder so that blind students could hear the entire book, not just selected portions. She definitely “practiced what she preached,” which greatly impacted my life, and I grew up valuing getting involved with volunteer organizations.
The most influential role model in my life was Louise Whitbeck Fraser. She was a pioneer and the founder and director of Fraser School in Minneapolis, a school for children with special needs established well before Special Education. After working with a young boy with special needs in the nursery at my church, someone recommended that I talk to her about how to support this boy best. I met with her one afternoon and immediately knew this was exactly what I wanted to do. Her outlook on children with special needs, her philosophy of education, and how she lived her life made a huge impression on me. I started volunteering at her school, then changed my course design and got my degree; the rest was history. After getting my degree, I was so grateful to be a teacher at her school for 6 years.
Another question – Tell us briefly about your family. My husband and I became friends in high school and started dating at the University of Minnesota. Mark went to law school and practiced law for several years and then made a huge career shift to become a full-time artist, and he has been an artist ever since. We have been married for 45 years and have a daughter, Claire, a teacher in St Petersburg. We love living in Florida, going to the beach and the state parks, and always traveling and exploring new places.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: bchorton31
- Facebook: BarbHorton
Image Credits
The individual photo and the first two group pictures are credited to Learn to Read. The 4th picture is when I was sworn in for the Guardian and Litem program – and the phone is credited to them. The last picture is with me and my husband Mark and daughter Claire.
