My favorite teacher of all time that sticks in my mind the most and that I remember the most would have to be one of my seventh through ninth grade teachers at Central Kitsap Alternative Junior High School. She was the best teacher in all my years of schooling because she was very understanding, she made learning fun, and because of her loving and caring ways.
Mrs. Faulkner is one of the best teachers in the world. I remember when I first got to the alternative school and I was so upset. I felt like crap because I couldn’t handle regular junior high school. I was angry and I acted like it was the teachers fault. I didn’t even know them and I was already taking stuff out on them. I wasn’t giving them a chance to teach me and I wasn’t giving myself a chance to figure out that this school was amazing and so were the teachers.
The school was a portable in the back of Central Kitsap Junior High school and it taught grades seven through nine. It had a morning session for the early birds and an afternoon session for kids like me who were there just for the fact that there was no getting them up in the morning.
I remember the first day that I really felt that I could go somewhere with this school and that maybe they weren’t so bad after all. I was sitting there stressing about a situation that was going on in my family and how I was supposed to tie school into that when Mrs. Faulkner walked up because she had noticed something was wrong with me. She asked me to come to the staff room with her. I immediately thought “Great. What did I do now?” I followed her into the staff room very suspiciously. She pulled out a chair, sat down and the look in her eye was of anguish. She started to speak softly. She knew something was up. She told me that she could feel that something was going on and informed me that if I ever needed to talk to someone about anything that she was all ears. I started to go on about the situation and I started crying. I looked up after a couple moments and it looked as if she had gotten a tear in her eye. She also informed me that if I needed time to get my schoolwork finished that that would be fine. Right then I knew that this lady was as compassionate as me. That I could bond with her and confide in her. From that moment on I knew things would be ok and it was all because of her.
A couple months passed by and we kept getting closer. There were several teachers at this school and she was the only one I would go to for any question or even to turn in my work. It was like I was still in grade school and she was my only teacher.
Mrs. Faulkner made the learning experience a very nice time for me and I’m sure a few hundred other students. She would bring candy to do math problems with. Now I know we were in Junior High and candy should not have excited us the way it did but hey whatever gets us to learn right. I remember this one day we were all so rowdy when she walked and she couldn’t get us to chill out so she told us all to go outside and she took us up to the field and made us run laps. There was no gym at our school and this was probably the reason for our rambunctiousness. When we got back to the class everybody was laid back and ready to start their school work. She was a very smart teacher and knew how to get our attention without us realizing what exactly she was doing.
I was in a very dark place for most of my Junior High years. There were times I would not come in to school for weeks on end and when I did it was just to eat and sleep. On days like these I would feel bad about coming back after being gone for so long without a phone call or anything but I knew that Mrs. Faulkner was worried and she would love to see my face and know that I am alright.
I can recall one day I came back after being gone for a while and it was really close to being time for our class to graduate on to high school. I had a feeling that I wasn’t going to be able to graduate since I had probably only been there a year and a half out of the three years of junior high. She wanted to talk to me so once again we went to the staff room and she sat me down again. She informed me that I was not on the track of graduating. I started crying. Although I knew it was coming. She then informed me that she had pulled some strings and if I followed her regulations I would graduate. I thought it was going to be some tremendous foot work that I would have to put it. She then said to me “Chelan, if you just come to school for two weeks everyday for both sessions and do all the work that you have missed, I will set back the due date for you.” I right then broke down and wanted to kiss her feet.
The next two weeks were hell and I wanted to quit so many times but she was right there by my side, encouraging me on and I knew I couldn’t let her down. Especially with all the strings that she pulled for me.
I have no idea how I made it to tenth grade but I know it had something to do with Mrs. Faulkner. I still to this day go back and visit her and I can see when I tell her how my life is going today that it lightens her face. I love Mrs. Faulkner and give her a lot of credit for the person she has helped make me into.
Nice start and good topic.
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