Everyone (hopefully) has had a few influential teachers in their lifetime. Some say a certain college professor, others a teacher from high school. While I did have a few professors in college that I admired and my AP English teacher will always have a special place in my heart (and his surname was borrowed for the book), the most influential teacher in my life was my third grade teacher, Miss K.
I was in her very first class and by now she's witnessed us graduate from high school AND college. I can remember being so sad when I graduated from elementary school because it was such a close-knit, adorable little school and even in the 10 years since I left, it has managed to stay almost the exact same (with the except of the gym in place of the blacktop where I had PE and more trailers). And maybe I'm strange because I still go back to visit. I went to Family Fun Night when I was in middle school, once I got my license and a car of my own I would stop by and visit every few months after school. Even in college, I went back to visit at least twice (I never went back to my middle school and stopped by my high school once during my fall break freshmen year). It's a little sad because all of my teachers are gone with the exception of a few, but Miss K luckily has remained (not just so I can easily stop by and see her but for the dozens of other kids that have gotten the privilege of having her as a teacher).
I moved away from my hometown two years ago (managing to stop by one afternoon randomly, catch Miss K as she was getting into her car to leave for the day and chat in the parking lot the week before my family left) but met with my friend RY on Monday since he was home for a few days for spring break. I told him I would come back so we wouldn't have to navigate a new city or try to find a halfway point. And then the bright idea dawned on me: If RY and I finish up by 2:30, I could pop on over and say hey to Miss K. So I emailed her and it all worked out. We got to have a lovely two hours of catching up. It's so funny cause I almost treat it like a therapy session. I remember one time in high school telling her about how my best friend and I were in a fight and then this visit, I talked about some boy problems. Miss K truly is the best. Haha and it probably is a little strange to talk about boys with a girl she can probably still sees as an eight year old clad in overalls and oversized glasses and used to think boys had cooties (Not really, I was never one of those. Fun fact: My first crush was in Kindergarten on a boy named Matthew).
But the true reason I wanted to go back and talk to Miss K was because she is one of the driving force behind me trying to write this book and get it published. At the end of each school year, there was an award ceremony where the much coveted subject awards were handed out. Miss K presented the Language Arts award and said she would be first in line at the book signing of the recipient one day. And I was the winner! We actually talked about this when I went to see her on Monday. She said I said "Really?" with a dubious look as she handed me the certificate. I also won the Spelling award that year ("Cause if you're gonna write, ya gotta know how to spell, right?" she explained). Clearly I didn't see any potential in my third grade self when I was still reading the Babysitter Club books and writing stories about Tommy Oliver and Kimberly Hart getting married after defeating Lord Zedd and Rita (Power Rangers for those who don't know. And yes I really did write a story on MS Word when we first got a computer. I didn't understand what "Save Changes?" meant so I said "no" and it was deleted. Too bad cause that was one epic tale that the world will never know). But apparently she saw something in me and that little speech has shaped what I hope to be the rest of my life/career. At the very least, it's had a huge impact on my life for the past eight months. It's amazing that my third grade teacher has had this much of an impact on my life. But she is an amazing, wonderful person so it's not too hard to believe. :)
She and I walked down the seemingly-slightly-smaller halls to see if one of my old teachers was still in her classroom (she wasn't) and Miss K stopped to see if another teacher and I had overlapped in our years (we hadn't). And Miss K explained the Language Arts award and her speech and how I really had written a book (not yet published was immediately explained by me) to the lady and I think it really hit me then how much this woman, who claims she had no idea what she was doing since it was her first year teaching, has essentially molded a good bit of my life. So thank you so much Miss K! I hope (and know) that you will continue to influence so many other students in the years to come.
Haha Miss K also shared with me the April's Fool Day prank she played on our class. She apparently wrote us a note saying she had to switch grades and was going to start teaching the fourth grade that very day and we were going to have a substitute. She had this note waiting for us on our desks when we got to school that morning along with the scary substitute Miss Wilham sitting at her desk. She told the sub to come get her twenty or thirty minutes later to let the joke set in and really seem real. Apparently our class only lasted about five or ten minutes. One girl broke out in hives, another was sobbing on the floor, I was crying, the boys were angry and pouting in the corner, and everyone was absolutely freaking out. But then our beloved Miss K came back and informed us it was all a joke making us laugh through our tears. And then we decided to take the notes home to our parents and play the same prank on them. I didn't remember this when she first brought it up (I thought she told us they lost our ITBS scores and we had to retake the test) but once she told the story, it came back to me. I think I probably blocked it out because I was so traumatized but once she mentioned the scary substitute teacher and the fact that a girl was sobbing on the ground, it all came back to me. And thank goodness it was just a joke or everything would be completely different for me right now. And the character named Dr. Kelly in the book would be someone completely different and probably not as cool and awesome.
