One of my cherished memory of that school was a teacher that was so special. Her name was Yvonne Boudreau. She was a beautiful, sweet young lady and stayed at my grandmother to be closer to the school as I remember. Even though I was only 5, she allowed me to come to school and sat me on a pile of books at her desk because there was no available seat for me and I was obviously too small for her chair and couldn't reach her desk... It was a one room school heated with a furnace in the basement with a big square grill in the floor.
My beloved teacher gave me a page with alphabets written in red pencil and a margin also done in red and I practiced my printing very seriously. How I love those perfect red alphabets at the top the page. It was so special. She was the first teacher to give us star and cherub stickers on the top of the page after our work was done. That little gesture was so very important to me, it made me feel so smart and I love that teacher.
In 2006 I went to visit my special teacher for the first time since my childhood and she no longer looked like I remembered as a child but our reunion was sweet indeed.
Great story. Every child should be so lucky to have a teacher that impacted their lives so positively. I had a giggle about you remembering the school-house as larger. I often feel that way going back to a childhood place, but then I remember - it wasn't larger, I was just smaller!
ReplyDeleteYou're right Kim, I was lucky . All our childhood memories are kid size... lol.
ReplyDeleteThanks for stopping by. JB
Hi Julia,
ReplyDeleteWasn't it a great gift to have gone to school at a time when a teacher could take individual time to bring out the best in each child. I am so glad you got to visit with her as an adult and tell her how inspiring she had been.
I don't tinnk kids nowdays will ever be able to look back with the same kind of fond memories. Too much has changed!
Pat, you're probably right about that. Although I'm sure that there are still some teachers who still can make a difference in a child's life but they are rarer now a day.
ReplyDeleteIt was really special to visit her after all these years and she remembered me as it was her very first teaching class after graduating from the normal school as they used to call it in those days. Thanks for stopping by. JB
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteNice memory Julia. I had 3-4 teachers throughout my school days that were special above the others. I was a "character" I'm afraid and probably made most of them wish they could quit teaching or at least quit me. Ms. McCarson in the first grade would put me in the corner, but my laughing would spread throughou the class and even to her. In the 7th grade, Ms. Timblin would sort of scold me with words, but I could see the twinkle in her eye that she was a kind person and really thought I was special.
ReplyDeleteSpeaking of smaller than we remember - I went back to a house I grew up in. The hallway was so tiny and short and the backyard was nowhere near as big as I remembered. It's wierd how that is.
Thanks for bringing back the memories.
/Deb
It good to go back to those special moments in our childhood Deb. Thanks for your comment. JB
ReplyDelete