Dana Brasher was recently named Teacher of the Year by the Calhoun County School District, but she says her greatest reward is every day when she walks into her classroom.
Brasher teaches special needs children at the Child Development Center at Bruce Upper Elementary School. It’s a position she’s held since 2006.
“I fell in love with the job my very first day and never looked back,” Brasher said.
She currently has six students in her class ranging in age from three to 13. Their needs and capabilities are equally varying. Three have to be fed, one is tubular fed, two are confined to wheelchairs and another is just learning to walk.
“I can’t picture myself doing anything other than what I’m doing,” Brasher said.
She recalled her first day on the job when she walked into the class and her teacher-assistant was out sick.
“Most of the kids were non-verbal, so they couldn’t tell me what they were supposed to do,” Brasher said. “It was a pretty day so I decided we should go outside and play. I had a substitute with me and she wasn’t sure we were supposed to go outside, but I decided we needed to.”
She had never seen kids so happy, she said. They came back inside, and she got down in the floor and continued to play and get to know each of them.
“It was an incredible day,” Brasher said.
Brasher’s family has roots in Bruce, but she is a native of California where she earned a psychology degree. She was working in a psychiatric hospital when she saw an opportunity to teach and returned to school to get a masters in education.
She ultimately landed in Calhoun where Linda White and Stephanie Langston gave her the opportunity to teach at BUES.
“I don’t think of my students’ disabilities or being handicapped,” Brasher said. “They’re just students eager to learn.”
Every day they go through the basic academic courses of language, math and science.
They have a reading time, play times and a social skills class.
“The social skills component is probably one of the most important things we do,” Brasher said. “We teach them to communicate and to interact with others without using their hands and making physical contact with people.”
She utilizes sign language to interact with some children and has even studied Spanish to try and connect with a new Hispanic student.
“We do whatever it takes,” Brasher said of the techniques she and her assistant, Kelly Lindley, who she described as “absolutely amazing,” employ to have an impact with their students.
“We have high expectations for our students,” Brasher said.
They’ve taught wheelchair-bound students to walk independently and encourage interaction with other students in school.
“Our middle school here and the high school have been great to include these kids in anything that’s going on,” Brasher said. “That’s critical. The more interaction they have the better they are. You just can’t isolate these kids.”
BUES?Principal Dallas Gore said Brasher’s patience is one of the many attributes that make her a great teacher.
“There are a lot of teachers in Mississippi, but there aren’t a lot of teachers that can do what she does,” Gore said. “It takes a special person to have the impact on these students that she does.”
Brasher’s students are often referred to as “special” because of their needs, but that’s not why she considers them special.
“They’re special because they make you grow as a human being,” she said. “They teach you not to take life for granted, not because of their disabilities, but because they have an incredible love for life.”
Brasher is married to Stephen Faddock of Calhoun City and they have four children – Brittney Sims, 20, she is married to Justin Sims and they have a 1-year-old son Brantley; Alexandrea, 13, Austin, 11, and Braeden, 8.
“I feel blessed to do what I do,” Brasher said. “I thank God for where I am.”