But there's one teacher, Mrs. Dunn, who rises above all of them. She was the best. She exemplified every single quality that a teacher should have, like patience, kindness, discipline, sternness and creativity. Also, she was beautiful. I can still picture her smile, her eyes and her Christmas ball earrings. That woman was ahead of her time as far as fashion went!
She and her husband went to Hawaii (in 1964!) and brought back little packages of macadamia nuts. I made a promise that I would go to Hawaii someday, too. (I did, but had to settle for large jars of macadamia nuts!)
There are three things about Mrs. Dunn that I'll never forget and I shared these with her when she retired.
First, she taught me that change is good. One day I arrived at Central School to my second grade classroom (in 1964 - I am not kidding. I'm that old.) thinking that this would be a regular school day, little did I know that Mrs. Dunn had big plans for our classroom. She moved her desk to the back of the room. THE BACK OF THE ROOM. I could not believe it. The teacher's desk belonged at the front of the room. Everyone knew that. Even the desk in my pretend classroom at home was at the front of the room. I wasn't sure about this big change. But, you know what? It worked. By 3:30, it was as if that desk had always been at the back of the classroom. Change is good.
Second, she taught me that the grass is not always greener on the other side of the fence. While I consider myself a quiet, unassuming, by the book kind of person, apparently there was a time, in the 2nd grade, when I asserted myself. Imagine that. When it was story time, the boys "got" to sit on the floor and the girls "got" to sit in chairs while Mrs. Dunn read to us. How was that fair? Shouldn't the girls get to sit on the floor just like the boys? (Keep in mind this was during the time when girls wore dresses to school. Not jeans. Not slacks. Not shorts. Dresses. Skirts. Jumpers.) I raised the point with Mrs. Dunn who agreed. So on that day, the girls got to sit on the floor. I'm here to tell you that the floor was cold and hard and uncomfortable. The chairs were much nicer. I try to remember that experience when I am jealous of what someone else has.
Third, Mrs. Dunn taught me that no task is too big. Even when it is. For the Christmas program, in 1964, Mrs. Dunn's second graders memorized the Christmas story from the Book of Luke, in the Bible.
Memorized it. By heart. No cue cards.
We all brought Bibles to school...mine was an old one, full of "thees" and "thous" and I really couldn't understand it.
(This was NOT the Bible I used....it's the Bible I could find tonight!)
We practiced day after day and we learned that story. We memorized those verses. All of us about 7 years old. It was hard. I am sure we complained. But, Mrs. Dunn said we were going to recite that story at the Christmas program. That was that. We did it. I remember feeling so proud to have accomplished that task. It was a long story and the words were not familiar to my 7 year old ears. But Mrs. Dunn knew that we could do it. For me, that's all it took. If Mrs. Dunn said I could do something, that's all I needed to hear. When I was a single parent, in law school, working 2 jobs, every now and then I'd think to myself "And it came to pass in those days that there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be taxed..." and I knew that if I could memorize that story, I could do anything.
For the record, I still know the Christmas story by heart. Forty seven years later.
Mrs. Dunn died this morning. But the lessons she taught me so many years ago have stayed with me. I like to think she would have been proud of me and my successes.
I was lucky to have had the best teacher in the world lead me through the second grade and impact my life forever.
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