When Ms. Britty came into my school, my initial reaction was a negative one. English was a subject I had easily flown through in high school. Then she came, and I got my first paper of the year back with a lower grade than I would have expected. My initial reaction was one of slight anger. Then when she taught classes, I disliked her way of handling the classroom. All of my dislikes changed within two months. I realized that Ms. Britty had higher expectations for me than other teachers in the past had, and at first that had made me uncomfortable. She truly wanted for me to become the best version of myself that I could be.
I did not realize how much she came to mean to me until a few months before she left. I was fed up with school, having issues at home, and feeling trapped in the life I had created for myself. After a snappy comment that I made in her class, which was unusual for me, I felt too guilty to not apologize. Walking up to where she was, I felt my heartbeat start to beat faster and faster. As I apologized, tears began to swell in my eyes. I explained to her what had been going on and my conflicts at school. Instead of blowing it off and telling me it would all be okay, she sat down with me and talked. We talked until I could laugh again and the overwhelming pressing feeling on my chest had lifted just a little bit. It was that moment that I began to see teachers as people I could look up to and trust.
When she told us she was leaving, she had us all write down books we wanted to read or genres of books we liked. She told us it was to see if we could fit in a book of our choice before the end of the year, or maybe she could inform the next English teacher about our preferences. This turned out to be a facade, and on our last day of classes she appeared with a large box filled with books. Ms. Britty had selected and bought books for all of us in her class. Each one had a personal note written in the first blank page. That was the moment I realized that the love I felt for her, and that I knew my classmates felt as well, was truly returned. It wasn’t the books themselves, it was the notes. Each addressed to us, to the deeper parts of us she had accessed through our writing. The thought she put into her teaching and the care that went into her actions are aspects that I hope to take up within myself. She showed me what a great teacher can do.
Alexandra
Current Student Independent (Waldorf)
