Everybody has that one teacher that they’ll remember, the one that made school just that little bit easier, the one they were able to make a connection with on some level. Maybe not everybody, but most people at least. For me, that was my eight-grade ELA teacher, Mrs. Faccenda. Eight-grade isn’t always the easiest time; it can be very stressful for some kids while they wait for those high-school acceptance letters, write their essays, and take their multiple placement tests. It’s definitely a slap in the face for some of how the real life acceptance process works. Mrs. Faccenda truly helped with that, in many ways. She was completely encouraging of the decisions I chose to make, as long as they weren’t dumb, and she even helped with my essays (as well as many other kid’s.) In fact, she mentioned multiple times while that application process was going on that she wanted to proofread our essays; she wanted us to ask for her help. I, of course, took that offer, because I knew I would most likely need help. Besides all this, there are also many other things that she did.

With school and classes, it seems like there are two ways it can go. You either hate it, can’t wait for summer and freedom, or that class is what you look forward to each day, and it’s kind-of a let down when you leave. You know for sure that you’re going to miss it. For me, that mainly depends on multiple things: was class fun, was I able to understand and do all the work, and was I able to actually talk to the teacher; Mrs. Faccenda fit all those bills. It’s extremely hard to enjoy a class when you feel like a robot is talking to you. One thing that she really helped me improve was my writing skills. I remember her always telling us to use better words; not the same old boring ones. To stop repeating the same use of the same old words, it’s not interesting, and it’s not all that professional. This was something I took to mind, and while I’m still working on doing that exact thing, I can see the improvement from how I used to write. Another thing I remember is how she got me interested in poetry. I walked into that class, not really finding it the most interesting subject, honestly, finding it a bit dull. Then, we had our poetry unit. I was introduced to different forms of poetry, different pieces of writing, different authors, and something changed. I began to love it; I loved finding deeper meanings, and I loved hearing how easily it flowed together. It was like music, and essentially, music is poetry. It’s beautiful, flowing, and most of the time holding some deeper meaning. In fact, she even got me interested in Shakespearean sonnets, which are a fun challenge to sit down and analyze. Enough of the school stuff though, lets gets to the fun part.

Something I remember clearly is the birthday party we had for Shakespeare. It was right after our poetry/teaching unit, and our group was able to do a little extra, something to spice everything up a bit, and that was Shakespeare. Since Mrs. Faccenda knew my interest in him, and happened to have a large interest in him as well, we talked about him often. I’m not sure how exactly the conversation of Shakespeare’s birthday arose, but I do remember going on the computer and searching it and not being able to find an exact date, but that it was sometime around April 23. This struck up the idea of, ‘hey, why don’t we have a party?’ We were doing a unit where we were able to study him, as it was, so why not? So we did, and it was awesome. We considered it an “academic day”, because we were just celebrating Shakespeare birthday, and he is extremely famous for his literature and plays, so it is technically English. In reality, it was totally a free day, and it was near the end of the year, so it was well deserved. We got pizza, soda, some snacks here and there, and then a cake. Except, this cake was decorated as Shakespeare. The pizza was good, of course, and the cake was good (except for the fondant), but it was also a good time. We were able to talk to our friends and goof around and eat food, basically just not feel stressed, while still knowing we were doing something for English. It really was an extremely pleasant time. While this was happy and entertaining, there is one more thing that really felt special to me about Mrs. Faccenda, probably the most important thing.

It was the last day of school; we had gone through the eight-grade graduation. Most people were crying, and everyone was hugging the friends they may not see again. It was emotional for most people; it was our last year with some people we had been together with since pre-k. I remember walking back to Mrs. Faccenda’s classroom to get my things (she was my homeroom teacher as well), and walking up to Mrs. Faccenda to say the final goodbye. What I wasn’t expecting was for her to start crying. At the time, I was panicking; I had no idea what do to, what do say, how to handle it. Now, I think back and smile, maybe get a little emotional. It feels good to know that you’ll be missed, to know that you made an impact on someone’s life, even if it was in the smallest way. It feels good to know that, even if for a short period of time, you were important. You were that main person. That’s what if felt like, and it felt good. I was so happy to know that I had made that impact on her, however small, and I hope she knows she made that impact on me as well. I promised to visit when I had the time, which is hopefully soon, and I promised to read the Shakespeare book she had given me as a gift earlier in the year. I will miss that class, and I do miss her, and this is something that will probably stick with me for a long time. I think what made it even more special to me, was that I wasn’t feeling my best then. I wasn’t feeling like I was the most important, or that I would make an impact, I mainly felt like I was just sort of there, taking up space. Then, to find out that I wasn’t just there, that I was really important to someone, it felt amazing and it hit home.

I could go on and on, reminiscing on memories about Mrs. Faccenda and the eight-grade ELA class, but these are really the most important things to me. These are the things that I will keep with me as I go on through life. I would love to say a huge thank you to Mrs. Faccenda, to being an important, helpful, and supportive part of my eight-grade life. Also, for giving me these fantastic skills and memories that I will, without a doubt, keep with me throughout school and adulthood. These are a quality that an educator of the year should have, and Mrs. Faccenda has them all.