By Cindy Adams

Doug Puckett is a fisher. Well, sort of. He casts his line every day, and his results are excellent. His catch is just not what you would expect. Instead of fish, he is scouting for hidden abilities within a student. He knows that what lies beneath the surface requires the right bait, the right moment and, above all, the willingness to wait.

Mr. Puckett hasn't had to wait long, though. The students in Bristol Minnick's Adapted program have been quick to bite. There is something about him and his team that draws their talents and gifts to the surface. And when it happens, there is no finer catch.

"I don't know what Doug Puckett has, but he approaches his students with no bias whatsoever. No preconceived notions," said Terri Webber, Vice President of Educational Services at enCircle. "He doesn’t see a student with a disability. He sees a student who needs a particular type of support."

Mr. Puckett has worked with all age groups during his time at Minnick Schools, but when he was asked to lead the adapted classroom, he was nervous. He hadn’t yet discovered his niche. He now says he wouldn’t want to be anywhere else.

His students love him. Saad calls him "Mr. Joe." Mr. Puckett has no idea where that came from, but he answers as if it were his birth name. Kendrick has made more progress over the last few months with Mr. Puckett than he did in the last few years. It’s confounding. Rylan wouldn’t do his work before, but he’ll do it for Mr. Puckett. Why? It’s a mystery. And Joshua is their newest student. He is just settling in, but already the connection with Mr. Puckett is tight.

"When people say these kids can’t do something, I say bologna! They may not do it the same way or catch on the same way, but they can do it," Mr. Puckett said. "You have to fish. There is capability there. You just have to find it."

He found it in Saad whose educational plan goal was to count from 1-14. Saad isn't always eager to do his work, but for Mr. Puckett, it's somehow different. Once he started counting, he was well up into his twenties. Mr. Puckett was right. He could, indeed, do it!

It's the same for Kendrick who now reads easy books on his own because he can identify four times as many words as last year, and he is adding more every day. This kind of growth doesn't just happen. It requires an environment where a child's unique way of learning is understood and honored.

"They know we care about them and they trust us," Mr. Puckett said. "Each student needs something different, and we all work together to help them with that need. If they get hung up on something, we stay with them until they catch it."

That's the thing about fishing and teaching. You stay with it. And in Mr. Puckett's classroom, that "stick-to-itiveness" matters because every little catch is priceless.