30 Days: "Dear Teacher"

"Dear Teacher" 

by Mary Ann Duke 

Dear Teacher,

I think you are a good teacher because you never give up on us. You make us think that we "CAN do it."

You say, “I will not go off and leave you. I will give you another example of how to do the problem, until you get it.”

I like that. Knowing that helps to calm me down. It helps my mind 

to be more clear.

Last year I feared, deep down inside, that all the students would "get it" before I did and that the teacher would move on to the next big, gigantic, huge, hard-to-understand problem and leave me in the dust. Chalk dust. Pencil shaving dust. Brain dust. But not this year.

Another reason I think you are a good teacher is because you have a sense of humor. You pull your glasses down on your nose and talk in a funny accent. That helps take the scariness out of math. We like it when you teach math the funny way.

You are nice to me…and to all the students. 

When a student is sick you keep an eye on him or her all day and ask them how they’re feeling. That makes us know you truly care---not just about just about the curriculum, but about the whole person, the real child. US!

You are a big part of my life.

Thank You.