Ms.Jorgensen

Dear Ms.Jorgensen, when we first met in summer school, I was expecting to walk into the room with some cranky teacher who was upset that she had to stay at school for the summer to teach the kids who couldn’t pass. But you were so nice, right off the bat you were different from all the other teachers.

It was my first time taking classes at north campus, so I had no idea of what to expect from the teachers here. As soon as we walked into your class and the bell rang you introduced yourself. We just came from biology class, and needless to say the teacher was not happy about staying in school for the summer. And he really wasn’t happy that he was staying to teach a group of kids who couldn’t pass basic biology. But when we got to your room, you were super nice, and a lot different from the teacher we were just with. In our class there was only 5 of us, so we all got to know each other really quickly, I already knew Amber and Xander, and I already forgot the other kids names. But when we were in your class, we didn’t really care about how popular everyone was, or which groups we belonged to, we were all learning, and having a good time with it. 

On our first day there, we did the “My Name Means” poems, I thought it was kind of stupid at first, but it was pretty fun at the end of it. I couldn’t believe how calm you were about Xanders poem and how ridiculous it was, he showed me the poem before he read it outloud and I was just waiting for him to get in trouble, but you just laughed and somehow managed to compliment him on certains parts of the poem. I’ve never seen a teacher who was able to not only put up with something like that, but also see the good in it, that was insane to me. 

You made those few weeks of summer school really enjoyable and actually useful. As the summer school went on, I managed to learn a lot about writing, but also a lot about myself. I learned I really liked writing, and it's something I want to pursue as a possible career thanks to your help and encouragement. I don’t think any other teacher I’ve had would have actually motivated me like you did. While teachers have been nice, no one ever went out of their way like you did. In classes, when you turn in your piece, they just make the corrections and send it back, but you added your opinions.

 I was totally caught off-guard when you made your first comment on one of my documents. It was the first time I saw a comment on my work that wasn’t a correction, it was a compliment. You were actually acknowledging that something was good, it seems like a minute detail, something all teachers do. But just small compliments help a lot, I don’t think most teachers know how much just being nice can help. After that writing wasn’t a task I had to complete, it was something I couldn't even stop. As soon as I started typing or writing with my pencil, I didn’t even know when to end it, I just wanted to keep going until I ran out of space. Just being nice goes a long way for some people. 

And that’s why I chose you, because even if you didn’t really know it, you were making a huge difference. When a teacher takes off the mask of just being someone who teaches, and shows that they actually care and want you to succeed, it can change someone's entire outlook on the subject they teach and school in general.