A teacher with class

There is something wonderful about the first day of school and as a child I always looked forward to that day. It meant a brand new crayon box, no. 2 yellow pencils, sharpened to the point of a needle, and in the early years a new lunch box with the latest Disney characters.

It was the day to organize that lift-top desk with every book, every supply in perfect parallel form. To see who would be sitting in the desks to either side of you. To meet your pals you hadn’t seen all summer and to see who the new kids in the class were.

It was also the day, the first real day you would have the teacher you’d only known of before as the one with the bird-whistle on the playground. The one the older kids told you if you got in her classroom you’d be lucky. The one you knew was the cool teacher who would do science experiments, paper maché projects, and post cards collections from around the world. And to top it off she had that amazing handwriting on the chalkboard, I believe only teachers are capable of having.

However, that’s not what made this teacher so wonderful. It wasn’t even that she was so kind. It was that she expected every student to do his best each day, to be respectful of the classroom and of each other, and to be willing to learn even with the tough subjects. She had a way of searching out each child’s uniqueness and felt that every student had something special to add to her classroom. She thrived on seeing us learn and she loved being our teacher.

There are many teachers in my family and many of my close friends who are teachers, and though I’m biased I know that each of them carries many of these same traits, but in their own unique style. So, to all the teachers out there who are starting another school year, thank you for being that amazing and special person who will stay in a child’s mind, long after they have spent this year with you. You are a special breed.