Helen Keller Goals

Helen Keller has taught the entire nation that it is possible to overcome obstacles and obtain goals. At the age of nineteen months, she was stricken by an illness called “brain fever”, that left her blind and deaf. It is evident that Keller lived a strenuous life, but along the way she managed to establish the American Civil Liberties Union and received many honors in recognition of her accomplishments. The fact that a blind and deaf woman accomplished so many achievements over the course of her lifetime and is known as one of the most memorable women alive, simply amazes me. Although our lives do not necessarily alline, I hope to be as successful as Helen Keller was and overcome any obstacles that come my way.

Helen Keller was born on June 27, 1880, in Tuscumbia, Alabama. When she was a small child, Helen was struck with a terrible brain fever. She could hardly sleep, she tossed and turned, hot and hurting. The doctor could offer a little help or hope, but she was one and a half years old, and the doctor did not expect her to live through the fever. Finally her fever let up, and her mother was grateful that she survived. As the author says, “ No one, not even the doctors, knew yet what the fever had done to Helen.” (Garrett 10).

Anne took her out to a well and put Helen’s hands under running water, spelling out the word in sign language into her little hand. From that point on Helen was taught the words for everything and how to sign them herself. She became educated and attended lectures with Anne signing the words into her hand. Keller was a fast learner and, “at the end of their first year together Sullivan was spelling into Keller's nine-year-old hand the works of Homer, Shakespeare, and the Bible.” She eventually graduated a prestigious college with

“I [Annie Sullivan] know the education of this child [Helen Keller] will be the distinguishing event of my life, if I have the brains and perseverance to accomplish it”. Annie Sullivan was at first looked down upon by her student, Helen Keller’s family. They would tell Sullivan that there was no hope in teaching Keller—a blind and deaf child—to properly behave and communicate. Although Sullivan faced many obstacles while attempting to teach Keller the meaning of language, she was able to triumph over Keller’s handicaps. The non-fiction drama titled The Miracle Worker written by William Gibson depicted the methods that Sullivan utilized to educate Helen on how to behave and converse with others. The drama expressed that for one to succeed in

For Helen Keller, the hardest thing in her life was being blind and deaf, but she didn’t let that stop

First off Helen Keller obstacles were being deaf and blind “Miss Sullivan had tried to impress it upon me that ‘m-u-g’ is mug and that ‘w-a-t-e-r’ is water, but I persisted in confounding the two. this quote shows that she kept combining the two. That it was very difficult to figure out which was which even though the teacher and showed her what is

Perkins School was in fact the first school that Anne ever went into. She lacked the social grace that her peers had which didn’t allow her to fit in very well. She loved to challenge the rules which led her into a lot of trouble. She was very intelligent however, which allowed her to advance academically. The school’s director, Michael Anagnos, helped Anne find a job after graduating from Perkins. Anagnos received a letter from the Keller family who was writing about their blind and deaf daughter, Helen.

“The sign of a great teacher is that the accomplishments of her students exceed her own.” stated by Aristotle, a Greek philosopher and scientist. Anne Sullivan Macy was a great teacher, because her student Helen Keller’s achievements were outstanding. She has influenced and helped hundreds and thousands of people around the globe, due to the Sullivan’s guidance. Anne Sullivan dedicated her entire life on the education of people with disadvantages. She grew up mostly independent and experienced various problems without any advices,but her impact on people similar to her is enormous.

Helen Keller was born with the ability to see and hear. At 19 months she had an illness that the doctors thought was Scarlet Fever, this resulted in Helen becoming deaf and blind. Five years later, her parents had hired a teacher, Anne Mansfield Sullivan. Keller learned to understand and communicate to the world around her. Helen Keller stood up against

Annie Sullivan was more than just a teacher to Helen Keller. Annie was Helen's eyes an ears. Without Annie, Helen never would have learned that things have names, or been able to communicate with the outside world. Some people say that teaching Helen was impossible, as none had ever done it before. Annie was a very good teacher for Helen, as Annie was once blind herself, so she understands what it is like not being able to see. Annie uses three things to teach Helen how to communicate with everyone else. Annie has youth, persuasion, and patience.

Helen's achievements were achieved only through her obstacles that she went through while learning. Helen Keller got a teacher, Annie Sullivan, who taught her many things. Annie, Helen's teacher, came to Tuscumbia on March 3, 1887 (Feeny). After six months of working together, Helen had learned the manual alphabet, could read brittle and raised type, and was writing letters (Feeny). Within six months Helen learned many things from Annie and they continue to work together throughout their lifetimes. Helen went to college and became a writer. She went to Radcliffe college because Harvard did not accept women. She was the first deaf-blind person who went through college (Feeny). Annie Sullivan was always by her side except when she took the tests (Feeny). Helen Keller finished college with the help of Annie. Helen was accused of plagiarism. She was accused because she wrote a book just like a book that was read to her three years prior (Feeny). After that, sometimes people often wondered if she was just restating things that she heard over the years (Feeny). At 11 years old Helen Keller was accused of plagiarism because she wrote a similar story that was read to before. Even though Helen Keller had many amazing accomplishments, she also had many obstacles she had to overcome in order to accomplish

Helen went to other schools and got help and she knew what many things were and she wrote books and essays. Helen attended the Cambridge School for Young Ladies in 1896. It was a prep school. During this time she met Mark Twain and became friends with him. Mark Twain introduced Helen to Henry H. Rogers, an executive at Standard Oil. He was so impressed by Helen that he agreed to pay for her education at Radcliffe College. Helen attended these schools to get help and to help other people out also. Helen was a inspiration and impressed many people throughout her life. Helen Keller was a founding member of the Massachusetts Commission for the Blind. This was the first agency to provide services to the blind. Helen was a member of Massachusetts it was the first blind agency. Helen made many accomplishments in her life. She helped many people and that only happen because her mom Kate got the help she

After pulling Keller away from her family to better educate her, Anne started to teach Keller to communicate with things outside the world. During a lesson Anne finger spelled the word “water” on one of Keller's hands as she put water on one of her students other hands. Keller finally learned how to connect sign language with objects around her. Because of Anne's help Keller learned nearly 600 words. Keller also learned how to multiply and read braille within a matter of months. Anne left Tewksbury to go to Perkin's school for blind people in 1880, and did surgery to help improve her limited vision. Sullivan experienced great challenges while at perkins. Anne had never been to school before and she lacked social grace. Anne was humiliated by her own ignorance and had a short temper. Anne was tremendously bright and advanced

After a long search for teachers with the ability to help Keller, her parents found Anna Sullivan:“Sullivan went to Keller's home in Alabama...She began by teaching six year-old Helen finger spelling, starting with the word "doll,"...When Keller did cooperate, Sullivan could tell that she wasn't making the connection between the objects and the letters spelled”(“Helen”). When Sullivan first arrived she tried to teach Keller her first method of fluent communication, but not understanding what Sullivan tried teaching to her made the situation frustrating for both of them. Sullivan created a revolutionary new path in education, because no teacher had ever tried to educate a blind and deaf individual. Sullivan and Keller moved to a cottage on the plantation, so Keller could concentrate on learning: “Sullivan moved the lever to flush cool water over Keller's hand, she spelled out the word w-a-t-e-r on Helen's other hand”(“Helen”). Learning the word water through Sullivan’s exquisite guidance was the start to Keller’s extraordinary life, and the incredible relationship between teacher and student. Sullivan’s brilliant teaching methods allowed Keller to grow and become an incredible epic hero.

Helen Keller was a woman who impacted American history. She was known for many quotes, books, and speeches. Many people have heard of the illness she had but many people also know that the illness did not stop her from doing anything. Helen could not hear or see. Helen once said “The only thing worse than being blind is having sight without a vision.” Helen sure had a vison but no sight, she lead out her vison until she died.