I started school when I was 3 years old; it was pre-school at a local church but it was structured education. I graduated from college at 22 years old. That’s 19 years of my life dedicated to formal education. In all those years, I have only had one teacher that I would honestly say was a bad teacher, and even saying that, she just wasn’t a good teacher for me. On the other hand, I have had many good teachers, and even a handful of teachers who have changed my life. Many of these life changing teachers I am still in contact with today. (Shout out to you Facebook.)
I was incredibly lucky in elementary school to have been taught by some extremely talented teachers, most of whom I will remember for the rest of my life. But there is one in particular who, to this day over 10 years later, I still talk about a lot. My 5th grade teacher, Mr. Czerniejewski, was one of the absolute best teachers I have ever had. He taught me so many things that year, but two of the biggest things had nothing to do will school.
The first one was always know what you’re being asked to volunteer for before volunteering. It makes perfect sense logically of course you should know what someone’s asking of you before you agree to it. But as a 5th grader it was kind of a mind-blowing thing that I have always remembered, because you never know what that person is capable of asking. I still always make sure I know what will be needed before I agree to volunteer. I don't understand why this isn't a more common teaching.
The second, and probably more important, thing I will always remember from his class was how he went about grading me. I was always a smart kid who didn't have to work very hard to get high grades. He saw this, and knew even though I was only 11 years old I was working the system to my advantage.
We were required to do weekly reading logs. Reading had always been my best subject, to the point I would get in trouble for reading in class. But I HATED reading logs. I loathed the idea of being forced to do something I was already doing for enjoyment. It took the fun out of reading so I just didn't do the logs.
Mr. Czerniejewski, had every right to lower my grade because of that. But that's not what he did. I still got A's. I actually got straight A's, but I wasn't on honor roll that year, because I was getting lower scores in the conduct portion because I wasn't doing the simple things. There is no doubt in my mind that Mr. Czerniejewski, knew how frustrating it would be for me to be kept off the honor roll. He was trying to teach me that I needed to do all the work, even the assignments that I disagreed with.
This is a lesson that has stuck with me throughout my entire education experience. I never was all that successful at finishing assignments that I didn't think were worth it but I did always understand the repercussions of not doing them. Mr. Czerniejewski made sure of that.
Now, thanks to Facebook, I know that Mr. Czerniejewski is still changing the lives of his students the same way he did mine. He is ensuring they grow to be outstanding kids, and eventually lead lives as successful adults. Teachers rarely get the credit they deserve but I'm hoping that this will go a little ways to show that teachers do matter, and they can and do make a life long impact on their students.
So, to all the teachers out there, and especially to you Mr. Czerniejeski, thank you!
