Molding Minds

By John Grdina and Ryan Eubank

"Molding Minds" is a powerful and inspiring book that tells the story of Ryan Eubank, a young boy who grew up with dyslexia and faced numerous challenges throughout his school years. Despite struggling to fit in and facing constant criticism, Ryan's determination and hard work allowed him to overcome these obstacles and eventually graduate. This

• Language: English
• Publisher: John C Grdina
• Release date: Feb 19, 2024
• ISBN: 9781956353549

Book preview

CHAPTER 1

Little Dummy

Someone was in the hallway, crowing like a rooster. This noise was literally like hearing a rooster from a farm in the school. It wasn’t just once either, the noise of COCK-A-DOODLE-DOO echoed throughout the building. I went out to see which student was making such a boisterous sound—and it was the welding teacher!

Ryan introduced himself and told me that he recently came from the Lincoln Electric welding school as an instructor. He also explained that this is the first time that he was teaching high school students. During our conversation, he just exuded confidence and energy.

Have you ever met someone in your life who makes you step back and think, how can that person be so happy and see the good in people all the time? Ryan was and is that person. His attitude is the epitome of a positive outlook on life. I was drawn in by his personality. I didn’t see his learning disability at first. Many people learn to mask dyslexia, keeping it hidden from others.

In the first year we met and worked together, we built a strong relationship. During the time we worked together, as the special education teacher for his classroom, he started to ask me to type his lesson plans for him. He wasn’t asking me to create the lesson plans; he only wanted me to type them as he spoke them to me. I was a little taken aback by the request.

Why don’t you do it yourself? I asked.

I have dyslexia, he told me. I struggle to write what I mean to say. But if you don’t mind helping me, it would mean the world to me.

So, we worked together on his lesson plans. He spoke them; I typed. One day, he interrupted what he was saying to ask, How in the world do you do that?

Do what? I asked.

Type, without even looking at the keyboard. It was mind-blowing to him.

I did so much of this in college; it’s almost second nature, I said. I hardly had to think about what my fingers were doing, much less look at them.

"I would die to be able to do that, Ryan said. I use one finger, one jab at a time."

That’s when I began to understand that the life of Ryan Eubank is a marvel much greater than my typing.

Many people give up on their goals and dreams. They never accomplish their goals and let their dreams slide away because they think and say, I can’t do it. Through the years, Ryan had been told he couldn’t do things and he’d never amount to anything because of his disability. But as of this writing, he’s been a career and technical teacher for the past nineteen years, doing what everybody, except a select few people, thought was totally beyond the reach of a boy with severe dyslexia.

Ryan has used his experiences as a student with a learning disability to benefit his personal life and his professional life. That’s right. Benefit. His years as a student who struggled with reading and writing taught him to work harder than others. Those experiences gave him, as an educator, the ability to better connect with students and their discomforts. Memories of being told he couldn’t achieve are what now drive him to help his students persevere and achieve extraordinary outcomes.

As a result of his own experience, he knows that many of his students feel as though no one believes in them. Some educators give up on difficult students, saying, They won’t amount to anything. When Ryan’s students tell him about negative comments other teachers have made to them in the past, it lights a fire in his belly to help them strive to push themselves and prove those people wrong. Some students may think they can’t be helped because they can’t do a math problem, or they can’t write an essay, or they can’t read the chapter and answer the questions at the end of the chapter. When they come to Ryan’s class, he can show them how to do those math problems utilizing their hands, how to intelligently hold a conversation, how to interview for a job, how to get a job, and how to become successful upon completing high school. He’s been able to help his students achieve goals that everybody else thought would be