The time for me to enter the first grade rolled around, and I was so excited! That year was one that I still look back on as one of the best and most challenging years of my life. My teacher, Miss Audrey, was the absolute best teacher a kid could ask for! She made learning so much fun that it really did not seem like work anymore.
She taught us Writing Road to Reading (a phonics approach to learning to read and spell)…and we created bulletin boards for every class. She taught me to love self expression in any form–whether it be art, discussion, or just thinking and writing. We read The Courage of Sarah Noble and The Shining Sword and learned all about slavery in the US and the Underground Railroad. She taught me to love to read and through books, enter a whole new and unexplored world. I remember reading for hours, totally submerged in the story. (This allowed me to momentarily escape the realisty of domestic violence all around me.)
Miss Audrey also took an unpopular stand against child abuse. one day I came into class as a 1st grader with a bruise pattern on my face in the shape of a large hand. It completely covered the whole side of my face. She asked me what happened to cause that, and when I would not tell her, she took me to the principal’s office. The principal grilled me about it, but I would not tell him either, so they called the pastor couple to the office. In the end, I finally broke down in tears and told them that my dad had thought that I “looked at him wrong” and slapped me across the face. This had happened the night before, and by the next day my face was turning black and blue. I can still remember how angry Audrey was that nothing was ever done about this incident of child abuse.
Miss Audrey taught me in 1st, 2nd, and 3rd grade, making each class memorable for me as a child. She brought nature in to her classroom with fish, gerbils, and lots of plants. She had a flair for the dramatic, and she always led our class in recessitations, readers theators, and plays for special church events. I remember what a stickler she was for perfect handwriting, and some days, I think that she would not entirely approve of my hurried handwriting at work. Every year her students would enter and win the statewide competition for manuscript and cursive handwriting. If she did not like your handwriting, she would tear up your paper and throw it in the trash. This only happened to me once before I learned that she expected things to be written right the first time.
One of the highlights of 3rd grade, was Miss Audrey’s History/Geography class. She created a “Desert Meal” for our class, made up of dates, pomegranates, goat cheese, etc. We all sat on the floor under a tent and pretended that we were in the desert as we ate. Of course, this coincided perfectly with learning about the Children of Israel wondering in the wilderness for 40 years.
That was the other highlight, Bible class each day with Miss Audrey. She taught us about Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. Many of the philosophies that she held as true, I have never agreed with, but I have always appreciated that she took all of our childish questions about God seriously. She patiently answered them after lengthy class discussions. It was from her that I got my love for discussing the meaning of the Word. She loved to make class lessons come a live with song, such as: “A noun is for naming a person like Paul, a place like Chicago, a thing like a wall. So remember the rule as you play the noun game, and say persons and places and things. Nouns name.” and “God said go down to Egypt land, and tell old Pharoah let my people go. Tell him I said let them go, let them go…”
She taught us so much through her example. That it is ok to just be yourself. That it is ok to love God with all your heart and not be popular because of it. That doing what is right and having ingegrity is the most important thing. That memorizing scripture and hiding it in our hearts would come in handy someday. That loving others and giving selflessly is what a fullfilling life is all about. (I am sorry to say that Miss Audrey passed away from liver cancer on 3.8.13, but she will live forever in my heart)
During 3rd grade I had 2 other teachers as well for some classes, but I prefer to leave them unmentioned, as they were both interested in nothing except getting me in trouble with my parents for silly things. One of them would routinely grab my by the shoulders and shake me hard. I remember being quite dizzy and my head hurting afterwards.
In the summer between my 1st and 2nd grade years of school, one of my older brothers, Mark, passed away. He drowned in the Tonsina River while on a hiking and hunting expedition with my dad, brother John and a few other men from the church. As a 7 year old, I became quite angry with God for this injustice, and I struggled for years to understand why a loving God would take my brother away from me. My mom almost had a break down over Mark’s death, and we were not allowed to look at any pictures of him or mention his name in the house. In the end, I could barely even remember what he looked like or remember how he was as a person.
As I continued to struggle with these life developments, there were very few who saw past my anger and blatant disregard of authority to the hurt little girl inside me. Among these few special people was Miss Audrey and a woman named Anne. Anne spent hours and hours with me doing activities that I enjoyed with me: gardening, scrapbooking, photography, making soap, taking walks, singing, and baking. She opened up to me one day and told me that she had lost her father as a little girl, and he mother as a teenager. That is when I realized that she understood what I was going through. She became like the mother that I should have had: protective, loving and understanding.
Truth's Song 