Reading for Pleasure (and the Amazing Woman Who Taught It)

Last one on this topic for a while, I promise. :)

I know I've mentioned her briefly in an older post, and I mentioned her in the other posts in this "series," but today I'm going to dedicate an entire post to the amazing woman who taught me what a teacher is supposed to be. I haven't asked permission to use her name, but if you know her...you'll know.

When I met her, I was a timid sophomore entering my second semester at a new school, still learning the ropes and still meeting new friends. Initially I could tell she was kind and she had a very specific set of rules that she expected us to follow in order to make the class time flow more smoothly. Nothing out of the ordinary for a high school teacher. I had no idea how important of a person she would become in my life.

The first Friday of the semester, she stopped class a little early and explained to us that on Fridays, when she dismissed us, she would yell at us, and that she expected us to wait for her to finish yelling before leaving her class. At the time I don't think many of us thought much of it, but now, her Friday "yell" has become a mantra for every student who has ever had her class. There are posts on Facebook and Twitter of other students taking up her yell every Friday. It has become a part of us, and has forever tied us to the teacher who every week would yell above conversations and the sounds of students scurrying to their next class:

"Take care of yourself, take care of each other. Buckle up, hug a dad or a mother, and tell someone you love them!"

I'm certain that anyone who attended my high school could recite this from memory, like I just did.

This definitely wasn't the only thing that stood out to me about this amazing teacher. She was so passionate about each of her students and about providing them with not only a good education, but an enjoyable one. More times than not her desk was crowded at the end of class or during passing period with students asking for a new book to read, talking enthusiastically about the book they were currently reading, or about anything else. She met each student with a smile and eye contact and undivided attention. Each one of us was infinitely important to her. She genuinely cared about what was going on in our lives, and cared about what we cared about the most.

I feel like I really connected with her while doing my reading logs for her class. She read each page and made notes or circled things or put smiley faces, or most times all three. I opened up to her in these logs, and talked about how the things I was reading were relevant to my life and told her things I didn't tell a lot of other people, just because I knew that what I wrote in the pages of my reading log was sacred, and that it would actually be read and that she would write back. Like I mentioned in one of the other posts, I still have all of the reading logs from her class (and I took it twice just because I could!). They are still sacred to me

At the end of the year, she would remind all of the seniors that she had to have a senior picture for her boards. Her entire classroom (at least the part that wasn't covered with bookshelves) was covered with cork boards that were full to overflowing with pictures of seniors from her entire teaching career--and there were some pictures of people who had been her students with children of  their own, or wedding pictures, or graduation announcements from college. My picture is somewhere on one of her many boards, amidst many others from my graduating class and those before and after me. I consider that an incredible honor. Also at graduation, she strategically positioned herself among the faculty so when the students lined up to make their way up to the stage, she could "steal hugs" from them as they walked past her. To be completely honest, that was one of the highlights of my high school graduation.

I am so incredibly thankful that I got the chance to know this amazing woman, this amazing teacher. Not a day went by when I was in her class that I thought I was unimportant. Honestly, I'm tearing up as I write this (and I hardly ever cry!). She completely changed my perspective on what a teacher should be. Even though she's now retired, she still keeps everyone updated (especially if you follow her Facebook or Twitter) on what's happening for education in the Oklahoma legislature, and what needs to change, and how we can change it. She values the minds and the hearts of her kids so much. I could go on for hours about how amazing she is and how much she does for the sake of education and for the sake of her kids, but I'm going to turn now to a more personal note.

After I graduated, and before she retired, I went back to my high school a couple of times to see her. During one of these visits, I was still in Air Force ROTC and we were talking about that, and about how I still wasn't sure what I wanted to do, but that I honestly still wanted to be a teacher. I will never forget that conversation, because she told me that she was so proud of me, and that she had always hoped I would be a teacher, and that she thinks I would make an amazing teacher. Something like that coming from someone like her is worth millions. The fact that this superhero of a person, a teacher, a mother, a wife, a grandmother, a friend, a reader, thinks that I, just one of her thousands of kids over the years, could be an amazing teacher...Even now, it's difficult for me to articulate just how awesome and important that conversation was to me. That conversation renewed my faith in myself and in my dream to be a teacher. Over the years I have doubted my abilities should I end up teaching, but when I remember the fact that she thought I would make a great one, there's no room left for doubt.

Having someone so great have so much faith in you is so exhilarating. It kind of forces you to have faith in yourself. And I know I'm not alone, that she has encouraged and given hope and support to all of her kids at one time or another. She has given us all the faith in ourselves to be who we are meant to be, and has been an irreplaceable cheerleader while we're on our way there.

And for that, I just wanted to tell her thank you.

Love Always,

Kristin