Chris Ulmer, who teaches at Mainspring Academy in Jacksonville, wants to let his students know how special they are, so he gives them each a compliment. He does this at the start of each class.
Ulmer said his students are the most human people he knows and that’s why he makes time to hang out with them, just as he does with his own friends. His classroom has eight students who have autism, and they range from 10 to 13 years old. They study everything from science to history.
The 26-year-old teacher has been working with the same students for three years, and for about seven months now the group have been blogging about their adventure together.
Before starting the blog, Ulmer spoke with the students’ parents because he said he reached a boiling point. Ulmer said he has students with various conditions, but one thing they all have in common is that they are pure, and they represent everything that is right in the world.
Ulmer was bothered by society. He said it seemed a lot of people couldn’t see how pure his students were, and one parent told him they were afraid of passing away and leaving their child homeless and being ignored.
That’s when the project was started and the blog was launched. The blog is where the children’s diagnoses are discussed and where the children can be heard and appreciated. Ulmer said the world can learn from them.
Ulmer has gained a lot of attention on Facebook. The blog’s Facebook page posted a video of Ulmer complimenting his studnets, and since being posted about a week ago, it has garnered millions of views and thousands of comments.
The blog Ulmer and his students run can be found here.
