For me, it was 4th grade, Miss Clark. It was a bumpy beginning. I didn't like her at first because she sent notes home to my parents saying I was misbehaving. How can a little girl not laugh when the boy beside her is pretending that his glue stick is lip gloss? No one can keep silent under such circumstances!
But once all of that unpleasantness was behind us, I discovered how amazing my teacher was. She introduced us to Tchaikovsky and Beethoven. She let us paint like Van Gogh. She created a class recipe book from our recipes. She had us be the parent for a day, which meant we had to wake mom up in the morning, make her breakfast, pack lunches, do laundry, clean, and cook dinner.
But more than all of the fun things she taught us, I remember that she loved us. Every week she gave out "Special People" awards to anyone who had done all their homework and not gotten their name on the board. I liked that. I liked feeling special. I liked the way she put stickers and smileys and told me she was proud of me. I still have all my awards.
Miss Clark is the reason that I am a teacher. One day while sitting in class, I noticed my own name on the special people list. It had been there consistently for several weeks. I felt encouraged. It was then that I told my nine-year-old self, "When I grow up I want to be a teacher so that I can make people feel special too."
Now, I am grown up....sort of....and this year I will complete 8 years of teaching.
Thank you, Miss Clark. You made a difference in my life!
Today I was sharing with someone about Miss Clark. My eyes got a little teary. Telling the story made me realize that what I do everyday IS important. I have this fear that somehow I will waste my life. That I will get to the end and find out that I have not spent it well. But today, as I remembered Miss Clark and as I thought about my students, I was reminded that it is never a waste to spend yourself on behalf of others.
1 comment:
this makes me smile :) I love that you have a picture of it :)
Post a Comment