-Ms. Weiss, sixth grade, who taught Markus how to analyze literature when they read “Kingdom Keepers.” She sat down and wrote him a letter and put it in his memory book. I am amazed at the time she took, because Markus is at the top of the class, and it would have been so easy to ignore him and his needs. But she did not; She challenged him and expected great things from him. I credit his innate aversion to “your” instead of “you’re” and “it’s” instead of “its” to Mrs. Weiss. And, more importantly, I credit his initial interest in writing to her as well. She is a sweet lady and listened to Markus tell her all about hockey. She even bought him a statue of a hockey player. She was so kind to let him know she was thinking of him and she did what I believe the best teachers do: created a community from the class. They read journals aloud to each other, the sixth graders had second grade buddies to help with their cursive letters and times tables, they worked on group projects, and at the end of the year Markus felt so at home there, like he had twenty-five friends.
But his years in elementary school have come to an end, so all my fantasies about giving her a thank you letter evaporated. I got all emotional on my already emotional son. “She was a really good teacher,” I sniffled. I handed him a tissue and we stood in the doorway and hugged.
She was a really good teacher. And I have plenty more from earlier years of school, and my older sons have been blessed with wonderful teachers as well. But this week my heart turned to the teacher who helped my youngest love school when he was small and eager. In this season of spring, I am so thankful for her.
Tell me about your favorite teachers. Have you ever had a teacher you learned so much from?
