A legacy of putting ideas into action

When Lisa Whitaker is struck by an idea, she jumps right into action. So when she wondered earlier this year why American Sign Language classes weren’t more common in the district, she started working toward creating more opportunities to introduce students to ASL.

Whitaker said that two students have especially benefited from the program: a boy who is hard of hearing and a hearing girl whose mother is deaf.

“The joy that this child, who might be going deaf, has exuded during the program was magnificent,” Whitaker said. “We were in his world, understanding how he learns and experiences things, rather than him being in ours and having to explain why he’s different when we’re all literally the same—he just has a different way of speaking.”

Whitaker regards life as a big opportunity to learn and to impart knowledge to others, she said. Before she transitioned to her role as a director, she taught science at D.A. Hulcy STEAM Middle School and Wilmer-Hutchins High School and later worked as a campus instructional coach at Justin F. Kimball High School.

“My gift is taking something that’s super complex and making it digestible, making it something that’s practical, and that’s what I loved doing for my students,” she said.

Working with students who struggled to pass the STAAR science test, either because they had been historically marginalized or because they were new to the country was one of her greatest accomplishments as a teacher, she said.

“Having a student who’s never passed the STAAR test come to you and thank you is one of the best feelings,” Whitaker said.  

Whitaker said she believes that educators are part of a much greater story, and that even if their legacy amounts to no more than a page, it will at least be a page that others turn to. 

“We’re part of this bigger story—we have one page in a humongous book, not a chapter. If we get our page right, there are some students who are going to benefit from that information,” she said.