Teacher Appreciation

This week is teacher appreciation week. Rather then expecting anything from my students or my school, I've spent most of my week so far thinking about the teachers in my life. I knew I wanted to be a teacher from the time I was little, but it was really solidified for me in second grade. Mrs. Wecker was my teacher, and she has forever changed my life. I can't even begin to tell you how many times I have thought of her this year while teaching. There were so many reasons I loved Mrs Wecker!

• She wore an Elmer's Glue Halloween costume.
• We got to sew for art projects.
• We got to type our stories on the "fancy" computers.
• She would let us play 20 questions.
• We would wear an apron when talking about "Nouns," and I still remember the song we would sing with the words, "A Noun is a name of a person, place, thing, or idea!"
• She had a mailbox that would hold all of our assignments (I've tried this and haven't done quite as well...but whenever my students open my mailbox, I see Mrs. Wecker's face!)
• She knew I loved to write and would always ask to read my stories. Even after the school year was over she asked me to mail her my stories. She even wrote back. I have these precious letters saved at my parents house. I'm thinking I need to frame them and hang them in my classroom!
• She made me absolutely love school. I still can picture the leather (Grandma looking) shoes she wore with the ruffles on the toes. I would sit and play with those shoes while she read stories to us.

All of these amazing things happened in her classroom each and every day. One of the saddest memories of my life, even now, is when I sat on my bed reading "Little House on the Prairie" that summer after my second grade year and my sweet Mother walked in to tell me my favorite teacher, Mrs. Wecker, had cancer. Countless tears were shed. She wore her wig proudly the next year. And she fought bravely. I knew from that moment I would be a teacher some day like Mrs. Wecker. She passed away that year and I remember sitting around in Mrs. Brown's third grade classroom reading her obituary. I couldn't hold back the tears. As a school we planted a tree in memory of Mrs. Wecker, and it still grows at Hillview Elementary today.

Looking today online I tried to somehow find a picture of Mrs. Wecker, but I couldn't. And silly as it is, the tears almost started again. Mrs. Wecker forever changed me. She taught me that I can learn, love to learn, be silly while learning, enjoy learning, and laugh every day while learning. More importantly she taught me that every student or every person matters. And, when hard times come, don't give up. Put on that bold face. Because you never know which person is watching you whose future you can brighten forever. I love you to this day Mrs. Wecker, and I hope you sometimes look down on my classroom and smile, knowing I'm trying my hardest to be even half as amazing as you!