Teachers

At Back-to-School-Night, we meet Keaton's teachers: Mr. Davis(the P.E. drill sargeant from Hell), Mrs. Rannis (the second generation Los Osos math teacher), Ms. Visconti (who Kellan hated, and I loved as she is an extremely differential teacher, who greatly challenges her students, and as my husband said If I were teaching English, I would be exactly like her. ), Mrs. Fox (the small birdlike Spanish teacher), and Mrs. Koulkol (the highly quirky and somewhat ADD science teacher).

Knowing all of them (except P.E.), were handpicked by Keaton's counselor for him, gave me some peace of mind. However, when we got to science I wondered if this teacher was going to work. Keaton needs a teacher who is logical and organized in their approach, and Mrs. Koulkol looked scattered as she stammered her way through the presentation. Then, she pulled up the projector screen and in the front and center of her board was a huge poster that stated "If a child cannot learn how we teach, then why don't we teach how they learn." My worry instantly lessened, as this is one of my favorite quotes and, I believe, one that if followed would revolutionize the school system and allow all children to reach their full potential. As she explained the quote, you could tell her passion and knowledge of how this needed to occur, and knew she would be a good teacher for Keaton.

Six weeks later, as Keaton and I were discussing biology he brings up that his teacher has this great quote in her classroom "If a child cannot learn...," and that she often discusses different learning styles and has different ways for kids to do the same work, according to what works for them. He confides that he really likes this quote, and what it represents, and then he asks me to discuss the kind of learner he is and how it affects his learning.

Now, I know that having her as a teacher is priceless. Thank you, Mrs. Koulkol, for reaching my child in a way that I could not, and for allowing him to be proud of who he is and his amazing uniqueness.