It is hard for me to choose a specific teacher that has impacted my life. Academically I have had many amazing teachers. However when it comes to a teacher who I looked up to and saw as a friend, I would have to choose my second grade teacher who I called sister. Sister was my teacher at St. Helena’s in Philadelphia. Living in Philadelphia had a major impact on my life and Sister is the one person who I can say made my leaving feel right.
Being a second grader, I had a lot of new things starting in my life. School was still relatively new and I had only one good friend and it was my twin sister. Unfortunately my sister and I had to be put in separate classes so we wouldn’t be as dependent on each other as some twins tend to be. Sister welcomed me into the classroom with opened arms. She paid special attention to the fact that I was not the brightest in the class or the most liked. She spent individual time with me in and out of the classroom and truly became my best friend.
While in second grade in Sisters class my family was faced with my father’s death. On the morning of September 22nd, I woke up to the most horrifying news ever; my father was a Philadelphia mounted police officer that was killed in the line of duty as a victim of a drunk driver. My mom was left with us four kids and very little hope. At my father’s funeral there were people lined up around the block to pay their respects. To my surprise Sister was there in line. This made me look at her in a new way and feel as though she was there for me no matter what and wanted me to succeed no matter what.
It was an extremely hard time for my family and my performance in school worsened. As time passed sister continued to provide me with special help in and out of the classroom. I had a very hard time focusing on my work in class. And as you know second grade is when you begin to read and discover the world of books and literature. I fell way behind in my reading, and as a kid this creates a very segregated atmosphere and lowers a kids self esteem tremendously, or at least it did to me.
At the close of this hard year, my mom decided the family needed to move out of Philadelphia. My sisters and I complained and didn’t want to leave our only friends but my mom wanted to give us the best lives possible. Before the move we said goodbye to everyone including Sister. It was a hard time for me and leaving the only person who believed in me was very difficult. Sister told my mom that there might be a possibility that I would have to stay back a grade and repeat second grade. However, Sister told my mom with a little extra hard work that summer I would be ok.
Thanks to sister, I moved on with the rest of the kids my age and my sister to third grade. And soon enough I was back on track with them academically. Growing up it is difficult for children to have learning disabilities and be segregated from the rest of the class, which is why I am grateful for Sister and her support in helping me get back on track with my other classmates.
-- Nicole McCarthy, American University