My Spanish teacher changed my life. I started taking Spanish 1A and 1B just because I needed electives for 7th and 8th grade and didn’t think I could suffer through anything else. I took Spanish 2 because I wanted another year with my favorite teacher. See, I’ve never really minded teachers. I always got along with them just fine. At the same time, I never really felt like I could relate to any of them either. They were friendly and they taught just fine. They just never really tried to level with their students. I feel like because of that, my grades weren’t exactly what they could’ve, should’ve, been.
I never saw a reason to do the work. If my teacher didn’t care enough about me to ask why things weren’t getting done, then why should I do them? There was no real reason besides a grade. The motivation just wasn’t high enough to make me care.
Then, I started taking a class with Mrs. Davis as my teacher. When I didn’t do the work, she asked why. She cared. She wanted to know me more than the other teachers seemed to. She wanted to see more than just another face in a desk everyday. She wanted that with all her students. She still does. So, I explained things to her. She listened. She paid attention. She remembered and always asked for a follow up. She still does. For the first time since I started school, one of my teachers really seemed to see something other than another face and another grade. I was important. I’d never felt like a teacher found me important.
So I started doing the work. I started wanting to make the grade. I started caring about what other teachers saw in me when they saw my grade. I wanted to be different, better somehow. Mrs. Davis found a way to make me see there was more to doing the work than making the grade. She always said, still says, your legacy is what you leave on paper. I wanted my legacy to be something more than bad grades and missed assignments. I wanted my grades to reflect a smarter individual, and I don’t think I would’ve reached that point without Mrs. Davis. She has done so much for me over the years that I’ve been a student of hers. I don’t think she’ll ever quite realize how much she changed things for me.
It’s not just me she does so much for though. She wants to make an impact on every student’s life. She tries so hard to reach her students. To connect with them on a level that’s not quite so superficial. She seems to really care about her students, their achievements, and their goals in life. She has taught so many lessons over the years, not just of Spanish but of life too. Mrs. Davis wants us to understand there are things out there past everyday school rules we are going to have to face. She wants us to be prepared for that. I don’t know that her words have reached everyone. I know they’ve reached me though.
One of the best grades I have, I have in her class, simply because of her teaching style and her pushing. All the time she is pushing her students to try harder and to be better. She doesn’t wait for them to show an interest, she makes them. I know she made me.
If I had never taken Spanish 1A, I don’t know where I’d be today. I don’t want to find out. Mrs. Della Davis is a Spanish teacher at El Dorado High School. Mrs. Della Davis changed my life.