The Best Teacher in the Building

Until The Unexpected...

Issue 28 — The Best Teacher in the Building

Third period. Room 214. The bell rang four minutes ago and nobody is off task, because nobody is ever off task in her room. Then a sophomore in the back row says something under his breath. Quiet enough that you will never know exactly what. Loud enough that twenty-six students will remember what happened next for the rest of their lives.

She is the teacher you would clone if you could.

Twelve years you have known her. You sat on the committee that hired her. You stood in the back of her classroom on your worst days, because watching her teach reminded you why you took this job in the first place.

She runs the homecoming float. She mentors the student teachers. Parents request her by name in April for the following fall.

And she is your friend. Not work-friendly. A friend. Coffee in the parking lot before the buses roll in. Holidays at each other’s tables. The kind of colleague you stop calling a colleague.

Hold all of that in your thoughts.

It’s T…