I heart teachers

As summer draws to a close and a new school year begins I tend to reflect on a few teachers who really made a difference in Jay and Nick's education (thus far).  The first teacher I think of every time for Jay and Nick is Miss Christy.  I'm not even sure I can put into words how she impacted the boys, especially Nick.  I had just moved to a new community and Jay started going to her home for daycare and preschool at age 3.  She was warm, fun, full of energy and she knew my kids.  In fact, looking back, she was one of those few people who just knew kids, what made them tick, how to calm them and how to relate to them.  She was truly gifted.  I loved her instantly and so did Jay.  Then Nick came along and he bonded with Christy and Christy's daughter, Holly.  When Nick was 3, Christy transitioned into a new job with more opportunity for her.  I cried over the news and Nick started going to public daycare.  It feels like a life time ago but I can still hear Nick's cries when he started at that new daycare.  It wasn't the atmosphere that he was use to with Miss Christy.  The next teacher I think of is Mrs. Stroud, Jay's kindergarten teacher.  She was the kind of kindergarten teacher whose picture should be in an encloypedia (if they made those anymore) next to, "Best kindergarten teacher ever."  I remember fretting over Jay's transition into kindergarten.  Mrs. Stroud approached communications with the "sandwich approach."  She would focus on the focus, point out things that needed to be worked on and end with another positive.  Jay isn't my "hey let's go up and hug someone" kind of kid but I remember when he started first grade.  On the first day of school Mrs. Stroud was in the hallway and Jay walked right up to her and wrapped his arms around her.  Jay moved onto first grade and first grade was hard for me.  You know how people can say things to you and they just stick with you and those people probably have no idea how they impacted you?   This can be positive and negative remarks.  Towards the end of first grade Jay was struggling with grasping the concept of counting money (like mother, like son).  I was stressing over it and one night Mrs. Sexton called me at home.  She calmed me and told me that in her opinion first graders were not mature enough to learn the concepts of money but she had to teach it.  She told me not to stress, Jay would eventually learn to count money, it just wouldn't be in first grade.  Then moving on to third grade and Mrs. Westerfield.  Talk about an impactful and positive teacher.  Jay and Nick both had her and Jay is going into 8th grade and he still says she was his favorite teacher of all time.  At the end of third grade for Nick he was actually disappointed that Mrs. Westerfield had promoted him to fourth grade.  Mrs. Westerfield turned things around for Nick.  She helped turn Nick on to the things he loves and she told me at the end of the year that Nick, in turn, helped her discover new ways to teach.  Moving on to sixth grade and Mrs. Griffin.  Mrs. Griffin was one of those teachers I hadn't heard good things about but she loved Jay.  It's always nice to hear positive things about your child and she never held back when it came to Jay.  I have sat through many IEP meetings for both my boys but I remember the IEP meeting I had for Jay in sixth grade with Mrs. Griffin.  She sang his praises and when she was done, everyone in the room looked around in amazement and told me that Mrs. Griffin rarely said the kinds of things she said in that IEP meeting. 
So as my kids begin a new school year I am so thankful for their school district, their principles and most especially their teachers.  I am confident another great school year is ahead.