Lucy Martin - Retiree Tributes - McDonogh School

Lucy Martin

How do you capture the love of children, the gift of observation, and the energy to support hundreds of students in a few short paragraphs? Well, Lucy Martin has the talent and experience to teach us how to do just that. It is exactly what she has been doing for the last 19 years as McDonogh’s Middle School Learning Specialist. Lucy has and continues to find ways to teach students to write, to read, to organize, to grow more self-confident, and to become independent learners.  She has an uncanny knack of knowing what buttons to push with children so they can meet their greatest academic success.

When Lucy was hired in 1997 as McDonogh’s first “Learning Resource Person,” the name given her position at the time, she stated, “Teachers must be creative and responsive enough to prepare children to function capably and comfortably in their world. I believe childhood is a precious commodity; when I am with children I feel renewed by their gifts of curiosity, creativity, innocence and tenderness.  As trite as it may sound, I learn at least as much from my students as they do from me.”

Lucy, who is always on the lookout for the latest information on the brain or innovative ways of teaching, developed the habit of writing tips to the faculty in her almost daily “Lucy’s Notes” column.

These notes eventually led to a book, Strategies for Teaching Children with Learning Disabilities. Humble to a fault, Lucy credits her book to her students; they were her inspiration and her teacher.

Lucy, you have left a positive mark on children who needed support, but more importantly on the way our teachers teach and all our students learn. Thank you for continually learning about learning. Thank you for caring and lovingly working with children. Thank you for being the inspiration and driving force behind our Learning Specialists Program that is a treasure for McDonogh today.

Please join me in wishing Lucy all the best in her “retirement” where she plans to continue her research and write another book.

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