my elementary school teachers

I’m probably going to butcher the spelling of some of their last names, but I remember most of my elementary school teachers. With the exceptions of gym teacher Mister Madrazo and Social Studies teacher Mister Chicklas, I think they were all women addressed, at least by us students, as “Miss”.

In kindergarten, in the portable classroom outside of the actual school building, there was Miss MacMurtry. She was black, or primarily black if mixed, and probably between 30 and 60 years old. She wore her hair in a funny way. There were bangs sticking out at the top of her head or something. I remember me and my sister, a pupil a few years after me, making fun of it.

In first grade, my first class in the building, there was Miss Yarrows. She was white, old and wrinkly. She could’ve been as young as in her sixties, maybe even her fifties, but she seemed decrepit to me as a kid. She was nice though. If I’m not mistaken, it was her who used to play songs like That’s What Friends Are For and We Are The World via a classroom record player. I think it was also her who used to give us salty pretzels to snack on.

In second grade, there was Miss Ballou. She was a lot younger than Miss Yarrows, probably in her twenties or thirties, white and somewhat physically attractive in a Disney princess sort of way. She was also nice, even nicer than Miss Yarrows. The difference is that, in memory, the personality of Miss Yarrows, Miss MacMurtry also, come across as much more realistic. Miss Ballou’s personality, particularly the soft tone of her voice, seems totally contrived for the sake of the kids. I didn’t think that way at the time though. I just thought she was a really nice lady. I remember the time she took us to see an Alice In Wonderland play. I visited this same elementary school several years later, during my high school or college years, and actually got the chance to see her again, which was a nice nostalgic experience.

In third grade, there was Miss Potter. She was black, though it seems her hair was blonde, and older than Miss Ballou but younger than Miss Yarrows. She wasn’t as nice as either though. I think this is when I started to learn math, which takes us to Miss Shaw, a black heavyset grandmotherly type and one of my favorite teachers. She taught math in a separate classroom than what starting in third or fourth grade became referred to as my “homeroom” teachers. I had Miss Shaw all the way thru fifth grade. That’s part of why I became so close to her.

In fourth grade, there was Miss Porter, not to be confused with Miss Potter. She was a light-skinned black lady who I think wore glasses. Miss Yarrows is the only other one I remember wearing glasses. I don’t remember much else about Miss Porter aside from her being my homeroom teacher, though the only other teacher I remember having in fourth grade is Miss Shaw.

In fifth grade, there was Miss Porter again until she quit. The reason we were told was that we, her students, drove her to quit because we were so bad. I don’t think we were bad in terms of being mischievous or unruly so it probably meant we doing bad, depressingly bad, in terms of grades. I don’t know. I do know that her replacement, Miss Daniels, was a vast improvement. Miss Porter was relatively quiet and reserved, but Miss Daniels was cool and talkative. She was funny too, always making wisecracks, yet stern. She was the kind of teacher you had fun being around but knew not to disrespect. She used to take us across the hall to watch movies in another teacher’s classroom almost every Friday. It was also Miss Daniels who led us on our senior trip to Boblo.

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