An Open Letter to My Third Grade Teacher

Dear Mrs. Wibbeler (and all the other truly fantastic elementary school teachers out there),

I took my eldest daughter, Emma, to the library this past weekend. She’s just finishing third grade and is becoming a voracious reader. After she blew through the entire Harry Potter series and finished The Mysterious Benedict Society on her Kindle over the course of only a couple months, I knew we needed to be pursuing some free reading options.  I watched her light up as we perused each new shelf chock-full of treasure waiting to be discovered—and I thought of you.

Suddenly I was back in third grade. I remember Wibby the Witch and Templeton the Rat, the puppets you used as teaching aids. I remember challenging neighboring classrooms, and even walking to the junior high, to compete in high speed games of Around the World to memorize our multiplication tables. I remember the sun-warmed, slightly gooey Jolly Ranchers in the giant bag you kept in your desk drawer to give as prizes. More than any of those things though, I remember the books.

I felt special, elated even, that you would choose a book off the sixth grade reading list for me: The Black Pearl by Scott O’Dell. You couldn’t have known then that I would look back to this act twenty years later as the moment I became a reader. I remember not recognizing a word I came across (onyx maybe?) and instead of you just telling me the definition, you walked me to the library at the beginning of recess and showed me how to look it up in the giant dictionary that sat raised on a special wooden platform. After The Black Pearl it was Island of the Blue Dolphins, and I don’t think I’ve stopped reading since.

Thank you, and rest of the wonderful teachers out there, for going the extra mile. Thank you for taking notice of your young students’ unique gifts and encouraging them. Thank you Mrs. Losberger, for not making me pull cards for every time I read ahead about Mr. Fox and lost track of when it was my turn to read aloud. Thank you Mrs. Weiss, for getting choked up going over gang prevention material when you told us how much you loved each of us. Thanks to Mr. Anderson for encouraging me to come out of my shell and try public speaking, and for the Peace Partners program that taught us about the connection between leadership and reconciliation. To Mrs. King for having the patience to teach thirty fifth graders how to do research for our state reports before the internet (and for letting me pick Alaska!). Thank you, thank you Ms. Crozier for writing prompts and poetry, for making the ancient world come alive through costume parties and real archaeological digs, for having us read The Egypt Game and The Mixed Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler (both on Emma’s list for this summer). Thank you Mrs. Brown for being a great principal who led with a global perspective and made us all sing “I Am Proud” every week at assembly.  And while I’m at it, thanks to the incredible PTA volunteers for that awesome Book Fair and Spaghetti Feed!

Teachers, it really is all the little ways, all the small things done with great love, that have added up to produce a sum greater than their parts (sorry, math never was my thing). You have influenced my life as a mom, as a writer, as a speaker and leader—and indirectly influenced the family and communities of which I am a part.

Thank you for working hard in a job where your best work is only witnessed by children and may not be appreciated until after your retirement. We remember more than you think, and the power you have to influence goes farther than you can see. Thank you for going the extra mile for your students who are too young to realize the sacrifices you make to teach. Because you never know what you could be starting when you put a good book in the hands of a young child.

May your summer be blessed and refreshing!

Aleah (Veikos) Marsden

Hey friends, feel free to shout out a thank you to the teachers who made an impact on your life in the comments!