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Monday, March 31, 2008

Playing favorites

Monday Monday, you know the rest...

But the good thing is that it's time for another INTERACTIVE MONDAY!!!

This is the last Interactive Monday for the March Monday Madness Contest. Next week, I will draw the two names for prizes from the pool of everyone who has submitted a witty rejoinder to an Interactive Monday question.

This week's question is, Who was your favorite student of all time, and why?

I know that lots of kids come through our doors that we enjoy, adore, and love. But most of us can pick one or two that stand out even from all the rest. For me, it was a little girl that I had my second year of teaching. I've made it a policy not to use names on my blog, so I'll continue that tradition by calling her A.

A was the sweetest, friendliest, brightest little girl I've ever known. And by brightest, I don't mean most intelligent. She was bright enough in that sense, but I mean brightest as in vibrant and joyous. She always had a smile on her face and was cheerful about everything. I can remember several times when I would be at the back of the classroom watching the kids do their independent work, and A would look up from her work, flash me a brilliant smile, and then get back to work. This would just make my day, even if I was already in a bad mood.

A moved to another state the next year, when she was in fourth grade, but the day she left, she stopped by my classroom to say goodbye. She gave me a big hug, her new address, and a cute little ceramic football bank.

I do miss that little girl.

Now let's hear from you! I want to hear all about your favorite student, or students, if you really can't choose just one.

4 comments:

Ms. Longhorn said...

My favorite student is L, she was one of my girls from last year. She was just one of those cheery, goofy, polite, respectful and happy students we all love to have. She was never in a bad mood, was friends with everyone, stood up for anyone who was being picked on, would offer to be in a group with the "weirder kids" so they wouldn't be alone, etc. Just an all around good kid. She would help me out in the mornings if I needed it, and one day she drew a picture and taped it to the inside of my desk.. it said "L's house, please don't throw me away! I'll be homeless!!" A total goofball!

She's in 8th grade now so I still see her almost every day, but knowing she's moving on to high school next year means that we are losing a great student.

Edna Lee said...

My favorite student was a third grader named "Louis." He was in my first class and ALWAYS had a smile on his face. He was the only one who laughed at my jokes and he really helped ease me into this career. At the end of the year, he gave me a plaque he had professionally engraved with the phrase: "Your the best teacher in the world". Clearly, from his use of "your," I was not.

He graduated from high school last year and came back to see me right before graduation. I still have the plaque up, and he never did notice the mistake on it. It was a relief to know that I was not the only teacher unable to drill that pronoun/contraction into his head. That makes the memory of him all the more sweet.

kath said...

My favorite student will be happy to tell you that if it were not for me, he never would have graduated high school.

At the beginning of his second year of 9th grade, he decided he wanted to become a ham radio operator so he looked up every teacher at my school in the call book (before the internet!) and found me.

He came to my room one morning and introduced himself and started coming by every day. We had good, intelligent conversations.

I was assigned to cover study shortly after and who do I run into but my morning friend, who was asleep. I kicked his desk and asked why he wasn't doing his homework so he wouldn't have to do it that evening and he just muttered. Come to find out, my morning friend wasn't as smart as he came across in the morning.

I agreed to teach Algebra I so he could finally pass it after his 3rd try, and he even tried computer math, yep it was a course in the day.... and computer science.

Mostly he hacked our Novell network, and my IBM Iquest computers.

He finally did graduate, the middle of his 5th year, and he's doing quite well. He comes by and shows off his first -- his first house, his first dog -- and in fact, I was his first guest in his first house to have dinner.

He's doing well.

Joel said...

I've had some great kids. I taught private lessons to a few for five years before (and after) I became a band director. One of them has become a really good friend. Two of them got married to each other. Crazy stuff.

But my favorite student of all time was a clarinet player I taught a few years ago. She has the sweetest attitude, and her sense of humor is right along the same lines as mine.

I use big words when I teach. This girl is smart, but she would always complain about my use of big words. One day, they announced that she had won first place in the Dictionary Skills competition over the weekend. I made sure to remind her that her victory was entirely my fault.

She came into school one morning all cheerful and everything. She told me that she had named a goat after me! An honor, that I have never had again since then. At least nobody has told me.

A year later, some of my friends found a dog in their yard and couldn't keep it. They called me up and asked me if I wanted a dog. I came over and looked at it, and she was the cutest stray mutt ever. I decided to name the dog after the girl who had named a goat after me!

One of the coolest things about band is that I get to watch the kids grow through the years. She's now in the high school band. I still stay in touch with her parents through MySpace and text messages and stuff.