From a Gazette.Net Article by Lindsay A. Powers
Staff Writer
Surrounded by five of her special education students on Friday, Joanna Linn handed them each a copy of the book “The Meat-Eating Plants Next Door” so they could start the reading lesson.
The students cracked open the books to each read a few sentences aloud.
Linn took a different approach as she followed along — she guided sheets of paper under a camera that magnified the print on a monitor.
Linn has Stargardt’s disease, which causes a loss of central vision and has left her significantly visually impaired.
The 22-year-old from Gaithersburg, however, has not let her disability hold her back.
At The Universities at Shady Grove graduation ceremony on Thursday where 714 students earned their degree, she served as the event’s student speaker and graduated from Towson University’s Elementary Education/Special Education program at the Shady Grove campus with a 4.0 grade point average.
This was the thirteenth class to graduate from University System of Maryland institutions at The Universities at Shady Grove. With graduation this spring, more than 5,400 students will have received bachelor’s degrees through programs offered on campus since the Universities at Shady Grove was established in 2000, according to Joe Bucci, director of marketing and communications for the school.
Linn, who was diagnosed with Stargardt’s disease while in the sixth grade, told her fellow graduates she had once thought college would be “next to impossible.”
At her mom’s prompting, however, Linn met with Montgomery College counselor Harry Zarin, who she said helped convince her she would receive the accommodations and support she needed to pursue a degree.
“I took a step of courage and faith and with the support of my parents, I decided to give the whole college thing a try,” she told the Shady Grove audience.
Linn said her decision to attend college meant continuous hard work, but that she was driven by the goal of becoming a teacher.
Zarin, who worked with Linn during her time at Montgomery College, helped pair her with technology she could use to magnify papers and classroom walls.
Linn had to figure out how to navigate courses and assignments in different ways than her fellow students, Zarin said, and was able to overcome those challenges.
“There was never a mountain that was too high for her to climb,” he said.
From Montgomery College, Linn decided to continue to the Shady Grove campus, where she continued to work harder than her peers to do the same amount of work.
“We’ve seen her up into all hours of the night just getting school work done,” said her dad Jim Linn. “But she hasn’t given up.”
As part of her program work, Linn has held a student teaching role this past school year at Ronald McNair Elementary School in Germantown, where she has worked with both general education and special education students.
Valerie Sharpe, program director of Towson’s Elementary Education/Special Education Dual Certification Program, described Linn as a creative teacher who intuitively understands different students’ needs.
“She’s a born teacher,” Sharpe said. “She has an innate ability that we can’t teach people.”
After her reading group finished on Friday, Linn said she has been especially drawn to the special education students at the school who she feels she can relate to based on her challenges with her vision.
“I think that the thing that I realized like with this group, [is] whenever it’s challenging, that’s okay. Let’s figure it out together,” she said.
Linn told her fellow graduates on Thursday she saw her disability made students feel more comfortable sharing their needs with her. It also helped her develop a teaching approach that involves her asking the students to explain and therefore think about what they’re working on rather than just looking over their shoulder, she said.
“My vision did not hold me back at all,” she said. “I realized that my disability was actually a benefit in the classroom environment.”
Christina Sinor, an 11-year-old fifth-grader at Ronald McNair who participates in one of Linn’s reading groups, said she thinks Linn is inspiring and “a really good teacher.”
“When I read the book and everything and I have so many ideas and everything, she always makes it fair and lets each person talk and I always get to talk so I really like that,” she said.
Linn, who hopes to work in Montgomery County Public Schools next school year, said one of her goals is to help her students understand that they can succeed through hard work, dedication and perseverance.
Fifth-grade teacher Channing Newman has co-taught with Linn for a couple months at Ronald McNair and said she has brought ideas into the classroom he plans to continue using.
“I think she’s going to be awesome,” he said.
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