So really -- what do you think of me?

Well, I told you I was going to do it, and I did it. Yesterday, on the last day of school, I let my kids write whatever they wanted to about me. I even promised them that I would not look at their papers until they had gone home for the day. (And yes, I did keep that promise)

The writing prompt was: What do you think about Mister Teacher and Mrs. Educator? -- Be Honest!

Many of the responses shared a common theme for both Mrs. Educator and me. We are both mean sometimes, but we are very nice teachers. Oh, and that they didn't like it that much when we made them stand out at recess for not doing their homework.

Here are a few individual responses about yours truly:

“Mister Teacher is the greatest math teacher and funny a little bit.”

“I don't like the way you made us show our work on our work. I don't like the way you teach, Mister Teacher. PS you are nice.”

“Mister Teacher was nice and funny. But sometimes he gets mad and his face turns red.”
[It's true, when I flush and when I blush, I get beet red]

“I like when Mister Teacher shows us stuff like learn names of planets, science, fossils, rocks, materials, minerals, 3-dimensional shapes, but I don't like when his face turns red. No offense, Mister Teacher.”
[If only I turned green, I could say, "Don't make me angry -- you won't like me when I'm angry."]

“Mister Teacher, you really know how to play football.”
[During recess, I had tossed the pigskin around with some of the boys]

And now for a couple of comments about Mrs. Educator:

“I think that Mrs. Educator is a nice teacher and a smart one too. She teaches us how to read and write. She is very pretty. What I like about her is that she doesn't play around and even when she is not looking she can still hear and see you.”
[SO many of our kids did not seem to understand that ability]

“I still like you from my bottom of my heart to the top of my head. Just like a piece of a cake, just a big cake."
[Sweet and confusing, all rolled into one!]


And now for the comments that seemed to apply to both of us:

“What I like about Mister Teacher and Mrs. Educator is they are good teachers and they gave us ice cream and it good."
[This just makes me think of the old Bill Cosby routine –“ Dad is great, give us the chocolate cake…”]

“Mister Teacher is good at MATH. Mrs. Educator is nice, and is good at reading, social studies. Mister Teacher is funny nice hair style nice clothes.”
[FINALLY! Someone appreciates the cowlicks!!!]

“I think Mister Teacher is bad at math he really is bad at it. I think Mister Teacher is good at being nice. I think Mrs. Educator is good at being nice, reading, and writing neatly. I think she is bad at being mean and being funny. That's what I think about Mrs. Educator and Mister Teacher honestly.”
[Underneath this paragraph, she had written “hahaha,” so I hope she was joking, because I'm AWESOME at math -- 26 hours a day, 10 days a week.]

“About Mrs. Educator she's fun, outgoing, pretty, and hard-working. She's a great teacher but too tough on me. See people think I'm bad but they're wrong. Give me what I want and I'll give you what you want. About Mister Teacher he's fun, have good sportsmanship, down the earth, cool, but he's a great teacher he's nice to me and he's friendly. I'm going to miss them (cry).”
[I wish I had started this writing practice earlier in the year, because this kid was a behavior problem, and he frequently bugged the crap out of me, but I LOVED reading his stuff every day! He's the one who ended his first sample with, "have a great day.”]

“This year Mister Teacher and Mrs. Educator were very great because they decided on if I would pass or not and I did and my mom wanted me to pass very badly and I did pass and my mom is going to be very happy at me that I passed and I am glad that I passed too and I'm going to miss them and they were the best teacher I every had at this school they both was letting me pass and they were very nice to me and they were nicer to let me pass. Thank you Mister Teacher and Mrs. Educator."
[Awwwwww, I think she's happy she passed!]

And lastly, the piece de’resistance…

“I think Mrs. Educator is nice. She makes us do fun stuff, and it is easy. I like Mrs. Educator as a teacher. I wish I was in her homeroom.
I think Mister Teacher is mean sometimes. He make us do hard and boring stuff. But he still teaches us good. I don't like his class I'd never liked it I want to go to another class. He is so boring, I only enjoy science. I am happy that today is the last day of school so I won't have to come to this class again. Never. I hate math and Mister Teacher.”
[This actually stings, because I like this girl. Apparently, the feeling was not mutual.]

Thus endeth the lesson. I enjoyed reading what the kids had to say (well, except for that part about hating me), and hopefully they enjoyed it enough to practice some over the summer.

Some other people said they were going to use some of these prompts in their own class. I'd love to hear how things went for you!