A Favorite Teacher

On Easter Sunday at 9PM on CBS,there will be a Hallmark Hall of Fame movie, called, Beyond the Blackboard. I hope to watch it,because I am a big fan of Hallmark movies and the commercials. I decided to write about just one of my favorite teachers and how she inspired me. Here is the writing.

A Favorite Teacher

My first grade teacher was Mrs. Gifford at Pierpont Primary School in Clarksburg, West Virginia in 1957. She made learning fun! Reading about Dick, Jane, Sally, Spot and Boots in the cozy reading circle is a treasured memory. Mrs. Gifford kept an M & M candy dispenser in the front corner of the classroom. She would allow us to put a penny in the machine and turn the shiny knob and out would pour the multi-colored sweet treat. I guess Mrs. Gifford knew many secrets to winning over her young students, with candy being one great motivator. Yes, I know that food rewards are not encouraged as a major teaching tool nowadays, but hey, it works.
Even as a six year old, I could tell Mrs. Gifford loved her students. She smiled a lot. She encouraged us with reading contests, handwriting awards, and a fishing game at the school carnival. No, we didn’t catch fish, but throwing a fishing line over a sheet and having a prize hooked on and then reeling it over the sheet was something this former first grader will never forget.
Thanks to Mrs. Gifford’s example to me, my teacher dream began in her class. Four years ago, I retired from teaching after twenty-eight years. My last six years of teaching was in the first grade. My teacher dream began in her warm and welcoming first grade classroom. Mrs. Gifford has gone on to her heavenly home, or should I say heavenly classroom, and I will see her again one day. Thanks a bunch, Mrs. Gifford!