Students in Yvonne Maryland's class at Vick Elementary School in Wilson are counting down the days until their classmate Joseph Pinner will compete in the Grades 4-5 Spelling Bee for Wilson County Schools.
Joseph, who is autistic, captured the spelling bee title at Vick earlier this month and earned the right to compete at the district level. The district bee for fourth- and fifth-graders will be held April 3 at 9 a.m. at Lucama Elementary School.
To win at Vick, Pinner had to correctly spell "millionaire".
Afterward, Joseph celebrated with his parents, Venus Pinner and Anthony May of Wilson, by eating one of his favorite treats -- cinnamon sticks from Burger King. His face lights up when he talks about winning the spelling bee.
"Joseph, Joseph is the winner," has become one of his frequent expressions over the past week.
At age 10, Joseph is in the fifth grade. He can read basically on grade level but his reading comprehension skills are still at a third-grade level. Joseph was the only student in Maryland's class to compete.
Maryland had a feeling it was the right year for Joseph to give the spelling bee a try. She has been his teacher for a total of three years. When she first met him, all Joseph did was repeat what was said to him, she said.
However, when the youngster returned to school after summer vacation, he was talking, and Maryland has tried to build on that change.
Maryland said she wanted Joseph to compete in the spelling bee the last two years. However, Maryland and her assistants, Carlette Atkinson and Beverly McMillion, didn't receive the list of practice words in time to prepare Joseph for the bee.
This year, Joseph practiced the words in a myriad of ways. He writes them down. He matches words to pictures. He unscrambles letters to create the words. He fills in missing vowels. Joseph has even done word searches and made sentences using the words, all in an effort to prepare for the upcoming bee.
Joseph's bee preparation also involved standing before his class and spelling words called out by his teachers. They taught Joseph how to repeat the given word and then spell it. The class also applauded for Joseph so he'd get used to having an audience. Joseph can be shy around people he doesn't know.
Joseph was confident going into the school-level bee. Maryland said Joseph arrived at school the day of the bee and told them, "I'm a winner."
Maryland hopes winning the school spelling bee will give Joseph something to think back on 50 years from now whenever he passes by the school. Joseph will move to middle school next year.
When Joseph is at home, he enjoys spending time on the computer and playing the keyboard at church. He does not read music, instead he plays by ear. His teachers think Joseph's ability to recognize and remember patterns and sounds helps his ability to spell.
A banner proclaiming Joseph as the spelling bee winner hangs on the wall outside of Maryland's class.
To help Joseph and his classmates understand when the next spelling bee will held, Maryland is creating a chart to count down to April 3. Joseph has problems with exercising patience and Maryland said she hopes this will help contain Joseph's excitement.
"This year was just the right time," Maryland said of Joseph competing in the bee. "It was a good year to do it. He's always been bright and has developed in all areas."
creech@wilsontimes.com | 265-7822