Pam Talbert had three children before she was able to read above a third-grade reading level.
But that never stopped her from becoming an assistant principal in the school she once cleaned.
Talbert was working as a janitor cleaning schools and a nursing home in Baton Rouge, Louisana when she realized she had a learning disability.
“I only had a third-grade reading level and the reason I knew was they did a diagnostic test,” Talbert shared during an interview with Good Morning America.
Talbert’s reading deficiency became more apparent later on when she had trouble helping her kids with homework.
While she didn’t do well with reading, math was one of her strengths.
Talbert believes that she didn’t get the proper services in elementary school to help with reading since she was shy.
But Talbert wasn’t content living the rest of her life struggling to read and write.
So, her daughter and two sons helped her with reading while she enrolled in some classes.
“They’re my inspiration because they know how hard it was for me,” Talbert said. “I’d sit at the table crying because I couldn’t read the word ‘bear.'”
Talbert was working as a bus driver when she decided that she wanted to go to college.
She dreamed of helping kids to overcome the kinds of learning disabilities that she had.
She got a bachelor’s degree, then her master’s degree, and then started teaching the fourth grade in 2002.
She taught elementary and middle school students until 2017 when she wanted to grow her career even more.
She became a dean of students and then served as assistant principal.
Talbert said she never dreamed she would be a school administrator or that she would have the drive to get her there.
She said persistence and perseverance was the key to her success.
“It was important that I went to school — then kids wouldn’t go through what I went through if I had leadership to give them the education [they needed],” Talbert told GMA.
Talbert said it is a great joy for her to come to work every day and see how much the students and faculty want to learn and succeed.
Her next goal is to open a learning center for children and adults who struggle with literacy.
In order to do so, she plans to head back to school along with her oldest son to get her Ph.D.
“Despite where you’re coming from, or your background, your history, or where you live… It’s going to be alright if you persevere. If you try,” Talbert told WBRZ 2. “First you have to put forth the steps.”
Talbert says she is living proof that miracles can and do happen.
She says she is very blessed to be where she is today and to have gone from being someone who can’t read or right to an administrator helping others who can’t read or write.
Learn more about her inspiring story in the video below!
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