My Teacher's Hall of Fame

There are many commercials these days both on the radio and on the television that praise teachers. Why? Aside from a child's parents, a teacher is the most important person in a child's life. They act as surrogate parents seven hours out of each day. Like parents, teacher's care, support, nurture, teach, and mentor a child while they are at school, and sometimes afterward. For professional sports players there is a Hall of Fame set up so that they may be recognized for their achievements. Teachers are professionals as well and deserve to be recognized in the same way. Although there is no such recognition for teachers, I am going to introduce the teachers that would be inducted into my Teacher's Hall of Fame.

The first inductee to be recognized would be my kindergarten teacher Mrs. Tijerina. At six years old the world is a very scary place. At the end of that school year I left kindergarten feeling like I always had someone to turn to. As the years went by there were many times that I reached out for my teacher, and she welcomed me with open arms. One day after school, I overheard Mrs. Tijerina talking to one child's father. She told him that she noticed bruises on the child's arm and that if he ever laid a hand on her again, she would have him arrested. Since that day forward I felt safe and protected. I knew that if anyone ever tried to hurt me I could turn to Mrs. Tijerina and she would support me. As I look back, I am thankful that I had my teacher by my side.

The next person to be inducted is my English teacher during my senior year. We called her Ms. G. She exhibited all of the qualities one needed to become a good educator. When assignments were done wrong, she would not criticize. Instead she would encourage a better way of completing that particular assignment. Praise was handed out unselfishly and on a daily basis. Walking into her class gave me the feeling that I was able to accomplish anything. Sadly, I had to switch schools at the end of the first semester.