Teen Ink

Mrs. Bialecki the best grade 2 teacher

Second grade. The third year of school. I came to the school with a cap over my half-bald head. It was a month after my brain surgery for my epilepsy. This was the worst year of bullying as far as I could remember. People called me “Baldy” because half of my hair was missing. I also came to second grade with a poor attitude towards learning. And I hated school. Hated it just HATED it! I could tell my parents that I felt sick. If there was no fever of to school. I imagined the school year, a imperfect year, full of bullying and more failing grades. This year was not as bad as I thought,
A teacher named Mrs. Bialecki entered my dark door of troubles and pulled me out into a room of light. I can't quite recall my first few months of second grade. I could recall what Mrs. Bialecki has done to help me. One of the major things she has done for me is helping me tackle the bad habit of having a sloppy desk. My sloppy desk would have thousands of paper stuffed inside it, notebooks clattered about, and all my writing utensils spilling out on my lap. She would teach me that those with clean desks tend to be more successful then those that have a horrific looking desk. When my desk would get messy Mrs. Bialecki would make me clean it. My handwriting was awful. Looking at it today I would say it was so darn sloppy that it looks like a goat wrote it for me.
Mrs. Bialecki had the perfect solution for it. She would help me by writing a sentence and making me copy the sentence she wrote. Helping me have the confidence of writing neatly with a pencil. This was great practice for me. Of coarse I spent a lot of time with Mrs. Bialecki, and I knew it was about time to tell her about my problem with the hatred of schooling. I asked her to help me mid- January. She nodded and let me come into her classroom during lunch. As she gave me the pass I left into the hands of the winter winds. I was lucky enough to find a typical playground ball next to me. I started to fiddle around with it. Since I was bored it entertained me is some sort of way. The teacher blew her whistle to signal it's time for lunch. I walked into the building seeing the third graders contradicting on their assigned work.
As I entered the cafeteria I showed the lunch ladies my pass. They nodded and let me free from the noisy cafeteria. As I came into the classroom Mrs. Bialecki was on the phone. I entered quietly. Hanging my coat in the closet and taking my lunch. I sat down at my desk. She got of the phone, and said “Oh my Rachel you were as quiet as a mouse.”
“That's a metaphor right?” I questioned.
“No silly it's a simile. No whats wrong sweetie? It's as if you are easily giving up, hiding your feelings, and running away from learning.”
I thought someone came in and told Mrs. Bialecki everything I wanted together. I started to speak. “I HATE school, because I am bullied, I can't learn, and I am DUMB!” I started to sob. She handed me a tissue. As she started to speak her words soothed me to stop sobbing.
“Rachel sweetie. It's okay to hate school. But it's not okay to hide your feelings, and give up. Even if you are bullied. And learning. Well it's a rainbow. Somewhere along the rainbow is a “Golden gate” You will find it as you grow older. I promise.”
There was a short pause. “Rachel did you know I hated school when I was about your age?”
My head cocked and I started “But your... You are a teacher.” I heard a soft chuckle come from her.
“I know sweet heart. But you see. I kept going and going no matter how much I hated school. I learned that if there is a hard goal. You might not be able to accomplish it all the way. But it is better to put an effort and fail. Instead of not having any effort what so ever.” Class just started then. Before I knew it the year came to it's end.
I wish I would have the year last forever. Mrs. Bialecki touched me with great charm. I found that learning is magical. Many discoveries come from learning. It's fun to learn something you. Though when the year came to the last day. By the end of the last day of school every one charged out of the building exited for the summer ahead of them. Pool time. Staying up late. But I was angry. I wanted to stay with the most inspiring teacher. At the end of the day I left a small slip of paper on her desk. The paper had only two words printed neatly because of her. It said Thank you.