I made my kid's teacher cry!

[The Great Sun Jester]

Well, she had it coming.

Ms. K.,

We would like to thank and congratulate you for a job well-done with respect to your first-grade class this past school year. Your consistently positive attitude has made you a pleasure to work with for your parent volunteers, and has fostered your students’ desire to learn and grow. These children and their parents will remember you fondly for the rest of their lives.

Your patience and professionalism have also had a tremendous impact on our son, T., and have enabled him to address significant academic and social challenges. When he transferred to [The School] at the beginning of the year his literacy skills were limited to knowing the alphabet and most of the sounds the different letters represented. His math skills were as yet unevaluated. As he leaves the first grade, he is reading well into, and possibly beyond, the second grade level and he continues to love to read on his own time at home. Similarly he has excelled in math and has made great strides in overcoming serious behavioral issues. It is regarding this last point that, in our opinion, you have played the most pivotal role in T’s academic future.

Never before have we witnessed in an educator the devotion and genuine compassion you showed to our son and to our family this year. When confronted with his particular challenges and often disruptive behavior, your actions were appropriately balanced with ensuring the welfare of his classmates as well as continuing to support his need to develop as a student and a person. So often this sort of child can be branded early on as a ‘problem child’ and simply have no hope of developing to his full potential. You have not allowed this to happen to our son.

We knew his temperament and personality going into this school year, and we were afraid for him. You have greatly exceeded our expectations. Because of your sensitivity to his needs, your ability to call upon the specialties of your peers and your initiative, we all look forward to next year with renewed hope for his personal and scholastic development. You are an asset to the school, and should be recognized as a model educator.

Respectfully,


Inigo Montoya

c.c.:
K., Principal
J., Superintendent

This summer T was diagnosed with childhood onset bipolar disorder, but as far as she knew he was just an incredibly moody and often violently disruptive little brat.

[silenus]

That's.....that's.....that's just........





nice.

Thank you, on behalf of teachers everywhere.

[Mindfield]

Public educators are consistently underappreciated. That a teacher would commit such time and effort to paying particular attention to children who appear to have special needs (and without any indication that there is a diagnosable problem at work) is a testament to that teacher's devotion to, and belief in the career path that s/he has chosen. Good on him/her for the good work, and on you Inigo for showing appreciation for it. I believe you're owed some good karma.

[SnakesCatLady]

Great letter, and a really great teacher! It was really good of you to cc the principal and the superintendent, so it goes in her personnel file. It's nice to hear of someone really going good work, especially in the education field, and good to know you appreciate it and show that appreciation.

[Unintentionally Blank]

Durn you Inigo! I did NOT see that plot twist coming!

(and good on ya, there's not enough people telling enough people they're doing a good job)

[tomndebb]

You do realize, I hope, that that sort of letter just encourages them?
Jus' sayin'.

[Strinka]

Originally Posted by Inigo Montoya

These children ... will remember you fondly for the rest of their lives.

I rather doubt that. I don't remember my first grade teacher. Or second.

[Johnny L.A.]

Originally Posted by Strinka

I rather doubt that. I don't remember my first grade teacher. Or second.

Mrs. Barton and Mrs. Bell. Followed by Mrs. Gordon (the bitch!), Mrs. Gower, Mr. Hyatt, and Mrs. Webb and Mr. Lamb.

[FaerieBeth]

Originally Posted by Strinka

I rather doubt that. I don't remember my first grade teacher. Or second.

Kindergarten was Mrs. Eubanks, and 1st grade was Mrs. Harris. Then Mrs. Browning(2nd), Mrs. Bunch(3rd), Mrs. Woods(4th), Ms. Sharpless(5th), and Mr. Williams to round out 6th grade. The elementary librarian was Mrs. Betts.

I remember nothing from 7th grade, very little from 8th or 9th. Then, I can name all my high school teachers (but I won't because I've already bored you).

Weird.

Anyway, thanks Inigo for seeing the good so often overshadowed by the problems with educational system.

[Skald the Rhymer]

I'm not Aslan. I'm not even Ramandu. But...

you have done well, Son of Adam. The Lion is pleased.

[Skald the Rhymer]

Originally Posted by Strinka

I rather doubt that. I don't remember my first grade teacher. Or second.

My teachers from kindergarten to sixth grade were named, in the order I had them, Young, Shaw, Foster, Byrne, Dolan, Cleaves, and Van Dyke.

People DO remember them.

[matt_mcl]

Kindergarten to Grade 11:
Mme. Sambury-Alleyne, Mme. Vanderwey, Mme. Laflèche, Mme. Buccini, Mme. Cadieux, Mme. Tanner, Mr. Stansfield, Mr. Waples, Mr. Timms, Ms. Gillies, Mme. Werbiski (IIRC), Ms. Biggs.

[matt_mcl]

BTW, a few months ago I was randomly googling and found Mme. Tanner (my fifth-grade teacher)'s e-mail address. I sent her a little note of appreciation and was responded to effusively - apparently I'm the only student of hers who has.

[Anaamika]

Inigo, your letter almost made me cry.

And I well remember my kindergarden teacher. It was she who taught me english, as I started school still speaking Hindi. My mother tells me when she took me in there, the teacher would ask me what a picture was, and I would rattle off lots of sentences - all in Hindi.

Her name was Mrs. Cook and she was a very large, plump woman, who was wonderful to hug and gave hugs often. She defended me often when the other kids made fun of me for my poor English.

I actually don't remember anything before that. Mrs. Cook is the first memory I have of my childhood.

[NicePete]

You did a good and kind thing. Kudos to you Inigo!

[Baker]

Originally Posted by Strinka

I rather doubt that. I don't remember my first grade teacher. Or second.

Kindergarten: Mrs. Danes
1st grade: Miss Grother
2nd grade: Mrs. Schrag, then we moved and it was Miss Aley
3rd grade: Mrs. Huffman, then she left to have a baby, and it was Mrs. Evans
4th grade: Mrs. Volkland
5th grade: Mrs. Gray
6th grade: Mr. Bradbury, the best damne teacher I ever had

I finished 6th grade in 1967, and did the above names without looking them up.

[Argent Towers]

I pictured Ed Harris yelling at Nick Nolte's French teacher in Rich Man, Poor Man when I saw this thread's title.

[Argent Towers]

I pictured Ed Asner yelling at Nick Nolte's French teacher in Rich Man, Poor Man when I saw this thread's title.

[appleciders]

Seriously... I expected to open this to find that Inigo had attacked the teacher or something. Good to see that it was complimentary. My mother's an elementary school teacher, and getting a letter like that would melt her heart.

[Rubystreak]

As a teacher, I have to say you freakin' ROCK for sending that letter. As you noted by the tears, a gesture like this is incredibly appreciated and makes us love our jobs even more. Thanks on behalf of the profession for recognizing Ms. K's extraordinary efforts on your son's behalf.

Oh yeah, and my teachers were, starting with 1st: Mrs. Wintonik, Mrs. Efron, Mrs. Baldassano, Ms. O'Sullivan, and Mrs. Daraugh. Long may they all run (assuming they all still do, which ain't a given at this late date).

[NinjaChick]

Originally Posted by Mindfield

Public educators are consistently underappreciated. That a teacher would commit such time and effort to paying particular attention to children who appear to have special needs (and without any indication that there is a diagnosable problem at work) is a testament to that teacher's devotion to, and belief in the career path that s/he has chosen. Good on him/her for the good work, and on you Inigo for showing appreciation for it. I believe you're owed some good karma.

What he said.

(My mother taught biology in an urban school for a few years decades ago; she still has a few letters from parents and students. These things mean a lot to teachers.)

[NinjaChick]

Oh, also: Mrs. Yoder, Mrs. Bednar, Ms. McDonald, Ms. Smith, Mrs. King, Miss Sheerin, Mrs. Gordon. (kindergarten through sixth)

If you wanted (and I had a minute to think) I could name every academic teacher I've ever had. how could you forget?

[Silver Fire]

Mrs. Manty (the wife of the police chief at the time), Mrs. Eskuri (who came into my home to tutor me and help with tests and such after a very severe case of pneumonia left me homebound for much of the school year), Mrs. Ausland, Mrs. Anderson, Mr. Caroline (who is the superintendent now, I believe), Mrs. Rodysill. And those are just my "home room" teachers. I could name all of my science, reading, and math teachers, as well as every teacher from every school in my junior high and high school years.

Nice letter, Inigo.

[Nava]

Originally Posted by Strinka

I rather doubt that. I don't remember my first grade teacher. Or second.

My first grade teacher suffered me thrice.

First in kindergarten-1.

Then in 1st grade (by which time she already knew enough to bring 3 newspapers to class every day to keep me off her hair)

Then in 4th grade (the year I missed half the classes because of tonsillitis and still managed to get an average of 7.something, pass being at 5 on a 0-10 scale).


My second grade teacher is still THE second grade teacher at the nuns. There are two second grade groups now and have been for over 20 years, always with the same two teachers, but everybody in town refers to the "newer" second grade teacher at "the nuns" as "the other one".



Inigo dear, you realize you're seriously damaging your reputation and that of parents the world over, right? Way I hear my teacher friends and my parent friends talk, you guys are supposed to be unappreciative assholes who think Their Precious can never do wrong and every evil under the sun (from failing grades to measles) is the teacher's fault. Bad Iñigo!

[rinni]

Originally Posted by Anaamika

Inigo, your letter almost made me cry.

Me too. Haha. I had to wipe my eyes to clear them.

By the way, Mrs. MacNeil (who said thank-youp! with a P on it for some reason, sometimes shortened to "kyoop!"), Mrs. MacLellan (who always called me Lynn Marie), Mrs. Nickelo (who always let us play with Lego), Sister Patricia (who was missing a pointer finger and always wrote 100 Very Good because she believed no one was excellent), Mrs. Fraser (who was just hilarious), Mrs. Kazmel (who scolded me for accidentally interrupting one day), and Mr. Murphy (who was kinda funny in a goofy way, but had horrible breath) I remember you all too, among others.

This was very nice to read. Thanks, Inigo.

[AngelicGemma]

That's a really sweet letter.

I made a teacher cry once.

But only because the entire class failed a VERY important exam.

[mnemosyne]

Kindergarten: Marilyn (English) and Lucie (French)
Grade 1: Woolerton ( Prah for French)
2: Ross (my mom for French)
3: Keeley (McKenzie - yes, for French, married name)
4: Haliday (don't remember the French teacher - this was in Germany and being from Québec and already bilingual, I spent most of the French classes in the library with another student, wasting time)
5: Arnason (Sylvestre)
6: Johnston (Sylvestre)
7-11: Multiple teachers, but homeroom was Smith, King, and 3 years of Marlin (Brain Cramp!) I probably could name most of them, though. Same with Cégep, though there are some university profs I've forgotten. I didn't like a lot of my uni profs.

[Carlyjay]

Inigo, you're wonderful.

[Khadaji]

Pretty cool. It is nice to see people offer praise when it is due - the good lord knows that too many are quick to offer critisism.

[Faruiza]

Now y'all have me thinking about my teachers. I only remember the really good ones or the really horrible ones.
Maybe I need to track down the ones I know aren't dead and send them an email or something. There's a big handful of the good ones I'd like to know of now, and a few REALLY superior teachers I'd like to make SURE they know I think of them twenty five years later.
There was only one really super bad evil one, and I didn't get him until high school. If I had known then what I know now, or was even close to the person I've become, I would have had him fired so hard, he wouldn't be able to get a snow shoveling job in Siberia.
His name was Mr. Vandermer, and he taught Algebra 2 at Cajon High School in San Bernardino. I tell you this, because if you ever have the displeasure of meeting this jackass in person, you need to know who your dealing with. He was a hardcore misogynist and spent countless hours telling the class how we girls didn't belong in there because we were all stupid, and none of us will ever be able to grasp the concept of higher math. We should all have stopped banging our heads against the mathematical wall and taken accounting so that we would know how to balance our checkbooks. We would need extra help with that, dont'cha know, because we were stupid, stupid, stupid. I shit you not, this guy would pontificate on our stupidity all. the. time. In class. Every day.

Unfortunately, I had to drop the class. I DID struggle with math, and no thanks to him, I didn't have anyone to help me see the light. I hope he dies. I hope he's dead.

Um, *cough* Sorry. Got off on a bit of a rant there, din't I?

[Faruiza]

Oh yes, and Inigo, you did a good thing

[ShibbOleth]

Originally Posted by Faruiza

Oh yes, and Inigo, you did a good thing

True, and I was coming in to give him shit. The sneaky bastard.

[Godfrey Daniels]

A terrific letter, for someone who really deserved it! Good on you.

[burundi]

Mrs. Davis; Mrs. Bridges; Mrs. Clyburn; Ms. Teague; Mrs. Bonner; Ms. Fountain; and Ms. Landon. Strinka, people do remember. I didn't even have to think hard.

Inigo, what a thoughtful gesture. You are so kind.

[eleanorigby]

Great letter-- I write to teachers that my kids have had and that have been great for them--I have written 3 or 4 to date.

Here are my teachers: Miss Champlain, Mrs Arvin, Mrs Walsh, Mrs Rial, Mrs Worthington, Mrs Schlay, Miss Masel. I won't bore you with the middle school and HS ones, but there were several who were fantastic to me.

Thank you, teachers.

[tomndebb]

Gee, didn't anyone go to Catholic school?
1 Sister Charles Loretta
2 Sister Grace Marian
3 Mrs. Gessinger
4 Sister Marie Josetta
5 Sister Marie Josetta (two years of grief)
6 Mrs. Dennis
7 Sister Dorita
8 Sister Frances Raymond

[burundi]

Charles Loretta?

[Draelin]

Nice job, Inigo. I have a friend with a "problem child", and that poor kid's teachers usually just make him sit in the corner. Ms. K. obviously knows what she's doing, and good on you for CCing her supervisors to make sure they know it, too.

Hmm, my teachers ... K: Mrs. Bernardi, 1: Mrs. Jaeger, 2: Ms. Baldwin, 3: Mrs. Dallavalle (who made me redo a book report for the sin of saying I didn't like the book), 4: Miss Williams (who once kept me after school for almost an hour with the door locked, berating me because she told me to pick a poem I liked and read it to the class, and I did--it just happened to be about kids playing hide and seek in a graveyard), 5: Miss Heilig, 6: Mrs. Edwards. After that, I had different teachers for every class. But I do remember most of their names.

[ShibbOleth]

Originally Posted by burundi

Charles Loretta?

I had Sister Sylvester in second grade.

Nuns take names of saints, iirc, and many saints are male.

[Cat Whisperer]

Originally Posted by Rubystreak

<snip>Mrs. Baldassano<snip>

Were kids kinder back then than they would be now?

Good for you, Inigo. That was a great thing for you to do.

[gigi]

Originally Posted by tomndebb

Gee, didn't anyone go to Catholic school?
1 Sister Charles Loretta
2 Sister Grace Marian
3 Mrs. Gessinger
4 Sister Marie Josetta
5 Sister Marie Josetta (two years of grief)
6 Mrs. Dennis
7 Sister Dorita
8 Sister Frances Raymond

1 Sr. Richard Marie
2 Mrs. Walsh ( I fell on a broken bottle and she told me not to cry )
3
4 Miss Sweeney
5 Sr. Rosamund
6 Sr. Jude
7 Mrs Mulcahy (she was the one who scared me about my college thesis )
9 Sr. Mary Eileen/Br. Henry/Sr. Betsy
10 Sr. Lucy/Mrs. Paisley
11
12 Sr. Catherine

[The Great Sun Jester]

K-Ms. Grieve
1-Ms. Loeche
2-Ms. Skogg
3-Ms. Fredikind
4-Ms. Schmarge (e-vil)
5-Mr. Lanscardi
6-Mr. Lanscardi
7-Mr. Blodgett (Catholic school for 1 semester. Was expelled & returned to public school)

[AngelicGemma]

Originally Posted by tomndebb

Gee, didn't anyone go to Catholic school?

My parents tried. But the school wouldn't let me in, because I wasn't catholic.

[BobLibDem]

How wonderful that your child was assigned to that great teacher. A heartwarming letter, thank you so much for sharing.

I started kindergarten in 1961 and can still name all my elementary school teachers:

Mrs. Hartzema, Mrs. Bancuk, Mrs. Strum, Mrs. Case, Mrs. Dobyns, Mrs. Taulbee, Mrs. Cook. (K-6 in order). I get a bit fuzzy with the names after that, too many teachers per year to recall.

[Strinka]

... Oh my. I wasn't expecting such a response. Never mind then. I stand corrected.

[Anaamika]

Originally Posted by tomndebb

Gee, didn't anyone go to Catholic school?

My parents wanted me to, but I think they changed their mind because of the cost. I found out years later they had applied to send me back to school in India, too. Now they're probably wishing they had.


(And the funny thing is, no way would I have wanted to go back then. But I'd love to spend a year in India now.)