For any of those who have been positively influenced by a teacher, many will say they are the unsung heroes.
Teacher Teaches Children To Let Go Of Emotional Baggage
When kids are hurting, they are masters at keeping this a secret.
This middle school teacher decided it was time for the kids in her classroom to let go of the baggage.
Ms. Lowe asked the children what it meant to have baggage. Most of the kids had the right answer responding that it was hurtful stuff that you carry around on your shoulders.
Letting Go
After writing what was bothering them on a piece of paper, they balled the papers up and tossed them across the room
Then each student picked up one of the pieces of paper and read it out loud.
An Invitation To Share
The teacher would then ask who wrote the note and if they cared to share
What the teacher heard then moved her to tears, as well as some of those who read the notes.
A heavy load of baggage was laid down that day
Baggage ranging from parents being in prison, drugs in the family, cancer and even death, to mourning the loss of a pet.
The Lesson To Be Learned
A great lesson was learned this day
A lesson to be a little less judgemental, forgive easier, and love a little more.
A Lasting Reminder
A bag full of baggage hangs on the classroom door
The notes that were written that day have been gathered and placed in a bag. A daily reminder to leave the baggage at the door.
Leave it at the door
A lesson in not letting the baggage define who you are are. According to Ms. Lowe,” Leaving it at the door means don’t let that past define you..it happened, it makes you who you are, but don’t dwell on it forever and forever, you’ve got to move past it”.
The Real Story of Teddy Stallard
Teachers have such a powerful impact in the lives of students, and this often gets overlooked. This is a lesson that the story of Teddy Stallard taught.
Teddy’s School Years
Teddy’s first years of schools are one as a happy, bright student like so many of the kids.
Then Teddy becomes a quiet sullen boy. He comes to school, always looking like he needed a bath.
His fifth-grade teacher, Mrs. Thomson on the first day of class, told her students she loved them all the same.
Throughout the year, she had trouble relating to Teddy. It had become a lie when she said she loved her students all the same.
Looking Back
She reviewed Teddy’s past year’s records and discovered….
His first-grade teacher found him to be a bright, happy student.
His second grade teacher the same but that Teddy was struggling because his mom was going through a terminal illness.
His third-grade teacher wrote the death of Teddy’s mother has been hard on him.
His fourth-grade teacher writes Teddy is withdrawn.
A Critical Error
His fifth-grade teacher Mrs. Thompson realized her judgment of Teddy had been all wrong.
A Christmas To Remember
That Christmas, the kids all brought brightly wrapped gifts to Mrs. Thompson, but Teddy’s gift was wrapped in a brown bag.
The gift was a worn bracelet of his Mother’s with missing stones and a used bottle of perfume.
The other children laughed, but Mrs. Thompson immediately put on both the bracelet and the perfume. After school that day, Teddy told Mrs. Thompson that she smelled just like his mother used to.
Teaching Children
This was the day that this teacher stopped teaching reading, writing, and Arithmetic and started teaching children.
From this day forward Mrs. Thompson worked with Teddy and encouraged him as his mind became alive again.
Years of Notes
Over the following years, Teddy wrote several notes to Ms. Thompson
One year later, a note left by Teddy said she was the best teacher he ever had.
Six years later, another note from Teddy said he finished high school, and she was still the best teacher he ever had.
Four years later another note from Teddy that he was graduating college with high honors, again telling her she was the best teacher.
Four years passed again and another note from Teddy. He had got his bachelors degree and gone further, and she was still the best and favorite teacher he had ever had… signed Theodore F. Stallard M.D..
A Special Wedding Invitation
The next spring, Teddy invited Mrs. Thompson to his wedding and asked if she would take the seat that the Mother of the groom would usually take.
Which she did while wearing the rhinestone bracelet with the missing stones, and the perfume that Teddy had given her so many years earlier.
A Revelation
The story of Teddy Stallard touches the hearts of many. However, one individual who was a pastor looked deeper into the story.
A Story of Fiction
The story of Teddy Stallard was written in Home Life Magazine in 1976 as a work of fiction. This is according to a story written in Christianity Today.
The Reality of the Story Is a Non-Fiction
While Teddy Stallard may be fictional and Mrs. Thompson may be fictional, the story itself is anything but. It is a story about baggage and one that has similarities to some of those found in the bag that hangs on Ms. Lowe’s classroom door
Teachers Can Make a Difference and Teachers Do Make a Difference
There is nothing fictional about this.
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