Teacher gets recognition for helping our community!
Posted: Wed Mar 12, 2014 10:32 am
http://journalstar.com/news/local/educa ... 84d72.html
Lauren was born with a nerve injury that causes weakness in her right arm and hand. She played the clarinet in elementary school, but it was getting hard to hold it and she struggled to move her fingers from key to key.
Then she got to middle school, and Karas helped her find a solution.
“He never treated me as an injured person who couldn’t do stuff, he treated me as a normal person,” Lauren wrote in her nomination letter. "I have always known I had limitations, but most teachers end up making it more of a big deal than it has to be.”
Karas met Lauren when he visited fifth-graders at her elementary school and noticed she was having trouble. He didn’t make a big deal of it, but he did file it away, and when she got to Lefler he paid attention.
First, he gave her a neck strap to help her support the clarinet. Then he noticed she was having more trouble with the higher notes, so he rewrote the music an octave lower for her. Then he thought, if lower notes work better, a bass clarinet might be a better fit.
The instrument has larger holes, which are easier for her fingers to play, and it rests on the floor, so supporting it isn’t a problem. When one became available at school, he suggested she try it.
“I’ve grown to love the bass clarinet,” she said.
This year, she was selected for all-city band and will play three pieces at a districtwide event this week — opportunities she wouldn't have had without Karas.
Lauren was born with a nerve injury that causes weakness in her right arm and hand. She played the clarinet in elementary school, but it was getting hard to hold it and she struggled to move her fingers from key to key.
Then she got to middle school, and Karas helped her find a solution.
“He never treated me as an injured person who couldn’t do stuff, he treated me as a normal person,” Lauren wrote in her nomination letter. "I have always known I had limitations, but most teachers end up making it more of a big deal than it has to be.”
Karas met Lauren when he visited fifth-graders at her elementary school and noticed she was having trouble. He didn’t make a big deal of it, but he did file it away, and when she got to Lefler he paid attention.
First, he gave her a neck strap to help her support the clarinet. Then he noticed she was having more trouble with the higher notes, so he rewrote the music an octave lower for her. Then he thought, if lower notes work better, a bass clarinet might be a better fit.
The instrument has larger holes, which are easier for her fingers to play, and it rests on the floor, so supporting it isn’t a problem. When one became available at school, he suggested she try it.
“I’ve grown to love the bass clarinet,” she said.
This year, she was selected for all-city band and will play three pieces at a districtwide event this week — opportunities she wouldn't have had without Karas.