A Life Changing Moment by Amina Zheng (G5) A Life Changing Moment By Amina Zheng Grade 5 Have you ever met or known anybody who was blind and deaf? Well, today, you will learn about a woman named Helen Keller. On June 27th, 1880, in Tuscumbia, Alabama, a girl named Helen Keller was born. She was a happy baby. She grew up on her family’s large farm called Ivy Green. Helen experienced challenges, but she accomplished a lot. Helen Keller was the first deaf-blind person to earn a bachelor’s degree. She wrote 14 books and became a prominent advocate for people with disabilities, women’s suffrage, and worker’s rights. When Helen was nineteen months old, she got a very high fever, a scarlet fever or rubella fever, and a bad headache for many days. Helen survived, but soon after her parents realized she had lost both her hearing and her sight. On March 3, 1887, Helen’s parents hired a teacher named Anne Sullivan. Anne Sullivan would be Helen Keler helper and companion for the next 50 years. Before Helen could understand words, she would sometimes throw tantrums, kicking, and hitting other people in anger and getting blamed. Helen Keller’s teacher, Anne Sullivan, was trying to teach Helen words. Anne Sullivan wrote words on her hand. At first, Helen didn’t understand. So, she started getting frustrated and throwing tantrums while Anne Sullivan was teaching Helen. Anne Sullivan’s feelings were a mixture of initial frustration and determination, evolving into immense joy and pride as Helen learned. But Anne never gave up on Helen, like many other teachers would have. Anne probably didn’t give up because Anne was also once blind. A moment that changed Helen’s life was when Anne Sullivan brought Helen Keller to the water pump and then put Helen’s right hand into the water. Then she took Helen’s left hand, and she wrote the letters w-a-t-e-r. I think at that moment, Helen was so happy that she finally knew a word. In the text, Anne Sullivan says, “She was with joy. Finally, Helen knew the letters I wrote in her hand meant water.” This shows Helen was happy because it was hard to learn words. Helen lived in four different places. Helen’s first house was in Tuscumbia, Alabama, where she lived until she was six. Then, her next house was in Wretham, Massachusetts, when she was twenty- three. Next, her third house was in Forest Hills, New York, when she was thirsty-six. Finally, Helen’s fourth house was in Westport, Connecticut was when she was fifty-six. In 1961, Helen Keller suffered several strokes, which led to her death in 1968. Another thing that led to her death was a final heart attack. She passed away on Saturday, June 1, 1968. Helen died in her sleep. Did you know Helen was holding Anne Sullivan’s hand when she died? A lesson from my passage is to be grateful for what you have. I thought of that because almost half of the people in the world are blind and 466 million people in the world are deaf. What are you grateful for?
