Most Influential Educator

A couple of weeks ago I was assigned an essay, my first in about 10 years.  It was for my Ed 401 class, otherwise known as Elementary Methods.  It is a class that gets us thinking about what works and doesn't work in a classroom and how to make our classrooms successful, and also about our career as students and what impacted us the most.  The essay we were asked to write was a reflection on which of our teachers was most influential in our life.  This is what I wrote:

    Trying to pick one educator that has influenced me is a difficult task at best.  I’ve had so many people in my life that have “educated” me, not all of them professional teachers.  My grandfather lived with my family from the time I was 10 until I married and moved away at 19, and during those 9 years, he taught me truths that I will carry with me into eternity, and gave me personal lessons in American history.  My step dad taught me that love isn’t something than can be earned, only given and received, and that sharing blood has nothing to do with being family.  My kids have taught me diligence and patience and most of all, how to put others first.  These are all life lessons I‘ve learned, not taught by a professional.  But this paper is about a classroom teacher, and although I’ve had many through grade school, high school, and college that have impacted my quest for knowledge, there was one that truly impacted my life.  Her name was Mrs. Munger.
    Mrs. Munger was my third and fourth grade teacher.  I attended a very small elementary school located approximately a world away from town and smack dab in between two corn fields.  Of course, at the time I didn’t realize just how different our school was from town schools.  Forget about city schools, I didn’t even know they existed.  Our class was a combination classroom, third and fourth graders all together and there was no such thing as a “teacher’s aide.” During my third grade year I was in awe of Mrs. Munger.  She wasn’t mean or anything, she just demanded and held the respect of her students.  I tended to be somewhat of a social butterfly, something that hasn’t changed much, or so I’ve been told, and therefore had been moved as close to the teacher’s desk as possible.  I had also received countless “looks” and may have even been put into the hallway a time or two, but it was a long time ago, so who’s to say?  That was also the year my older sister was diagnosed with cancer.  My parents did the best they could to keep my life the same, but one or the other traveled across the country to be with her at the hospital in Seattle.  There were good days and sad days and days I wanted so badly to be with my sister.  Unfortunately, she passed away in April of that year and I didn’t have the chance to see her after Christmas.  Mrs. Munger helped me with my grief and some days she allowed me to stay inside her classroom during recess, she held me while I cried, and she loved me.
    My fourth grade year, well…things weren’t looking up.  My parents were talking about divorce and I asked Mrs. Munger what that was.  She called my parents and helped me understand.  Just before the year ended I had been packed up and moved to a new city, but I was allowed to finish out the year in Mrs. Munger’s class.  Somehow during those two years, despite the grief and the changes, she taught me.  She was able to prepare me with the knowledge I needed to succeed in school.  By the end of the year I was ready to move on to fifth grade in the city, I was able to laugh, I was excited for the adventure a new school would bring and ready to learn.  The last day I was in Mrs. Munger’s class she let me stay inside her classroom during recess, she held me while I cried, and she loved me.
    When I was in high school I went back to my old elementary school and Mrs. Munger was still in the same classroom.  She saw me pass her door and although it had been almost 8 years since I had last seen her she remembered me.  I will never forget the look on her face or the tears in her eyes.  Mrs. Munger wasn’t just a teacher that taught lessons about spelling or math.  She was a teacher that loved her students, including the social butterflies.