It might sound strange to use Teacher Appreciation Week to celebrate a teacher I never had. But just because I wasn’t in her class doesn’t mean she never taught me anything.
My sister, Paula, has been a teacher in Mesquite ISD since, well… I dearly love her so I’m going to stop short of giving the exact year. Let’s just say when she started teaching at Florence Black Elementary, floral dresses with wide, lacy collars were in style and overhead projectors were about as high-tech as classrooms could get.
Through the years, Paula has taught second grade and fifth grade, and she’s currently Black Elementary’s English as a Second Language, or ESL, teacher.
I don’t know if it’s possible to count the number of students she’s taught. But given what I know about her class sizes and the years she’s been doing it – 1,000 students would be a modest estimate. That’s 1,000 lives directly touched.
If you have teachers in your family, you know how much of themselves they give to their schools and their students. But some people might not realize that teachers like my sister concern themselves with each child’s whole being. Paula is keenly aware of each student’s individual battles, and she provides comfort and counsel.
Most every holiday season, my sister leads the charge to adopt at least one family of a Black Elementary student – families that could not afford Christmas presents on their own. Paula and her husband wake up ridiculously early on Black Friday and brave the crowds to shop for gifts she will ultimately give away. She’s a teacher. But, in my opinion, she’s an angel.
I like to think I was Paula’s first student. She knew she wanted to be a teacher when she was a young girl, so she would line me up in the middle of our stuffed animals and Barbies in a make-believe classroom and teach.
I probably couldn’t grasp the reading or writing or arithmetic lessons back when I was eight months old, but here’s what I did learn from my first teacher: compassion, generosity, kindness, and empathy. These are lessons Paula and I were lucky enough to be taught by our parents. And I saw them, and continue to see them, in action every day through my sister.
I modeled myself after her when I was growing up. I still do.
Happy Teacher Appreciation Week to all the teachers changing lives each day.
Paula, you are at the top of my list.
