The Teachers of WCCS

From pre-K through 8th grade I went to school at Washington Crossing Christian School, WCCS to us attendees. My time there was heavily influenced by the teachers. I can truly say that the teachers and administration of that school shaped who I am today.

I can remember every teacher I have had there.

1st - Mrs Brody

2nd - Mrs Bell

4th -Mrs Hoffstetter

6th, 7th and 8th - Mr Hall, Pastor Dave, Mrs Walsh and Mrs. Norton (nee Caywood)

My 6th - 8th teachers really showed me what school was all about. What I could be learning. And the first to show me that the amount of effort I put into something reflected the grade I would get. The first and last failing grade I ever got was in Mr Hall's class. I did a "report" and "presentation" on football. I got a 47, I think. End of the semester I had a D. And I caught hell for it. I never got a D again (although C's somewhat peppered my college transcripts) Miss Caywood taught me the value of critical thinking in reading. (although I can't do it... I know the value)

I can also go into the auxilary teachers (such as the awesome Mr Dancha our gym teacher) but the list would be really long.

You might be wondering why I left out my 3rd and 5th  grade teachers. I haven't forgotten them. Quite the opposite. These teachers had the most impact.

My fifth grade teacher was Mrs Steele... well  technically she was my Kindergarten, fifth, AND sixth grade teacher. (maybe even pre-k but my memory, as mentioned in this post, is really bad... I would have to confirm with my mom or Mrs Steele).  Mrs Steele is the first teacher I remember having at WCCS. I can't remember much from that year except that a) we hatched chickens in which we got to keep one and subsequently had a violent and gruesome death (more on that later) and  b) Mrs Steele's name changed and I thought it was mean to make my teacher change her name from whatever it was then to something that meant she took something without asking (I didn't realize that it also was a material to build bridges and buildings and the like).

Mrs Steele wanted every single one of her students to succeed, not only in school but in other areas as well. I could walk into her classroom at any point during a lunch or recess break and talk to her about whatever was bothering me. She would also give you third chances at tests. No really! I got three chances on my section on grammar. I got a 60 on the first one, a 65 on the third one, and a 59 on the third. Sadly, it was not lack of trying on my part or an ineptness on her part, just my brains inability to identify different parts of a sentence. Even to this day, unless those parts of a sentence are ask for in madlibs, I have no idea what it is.

She also got to know each of her students as a person. She made it clear that they were valued for just who and what they were. One of my favorite stories of Mrs Steele is related to Katie. Katie was notoriously messy growing up. Each day when she went to Kindergarten she would go clean and unblemished. As she was leaving each day Mrs. Steele would smile and count the number of spots of food, paint, and dirt that now colored my sister's outfit. She could find the good in any kid. 

My Third grade teacher was Mrs Brown. Mrs Brown is one of the best teachers I have ever had the pleasure of knowing. She made learning fun. She was my Miss Frizzle.

If you have never seen the magic school bus

well then you need to

Mrs Brown's third grade started off with giving the parents a list of reports that will be due during the school year and projects that needed to be completed. For a girl who procrastinates until the very last minute to tell her family about a MAJOR project this sheet was VITAL... too bad it got lost 2 weeks into the school year. This was the first year that we would be doing "real" school work. We were done with baby school and would be doing cool things like writing papers.

Everyone could not WAIT to get into Mrs Browns third grade class. We had heritage day, where everyone (but me) did research on their family's history and would bring in food and decorations that represented the family's ancestry. The whole school was invited to come in and view our exhibits and presentations. One year someone had a full cooked fish, head and everything. I was in second grade that year and one of the kids in the class decided that taking a dare to eat the eye balls would be fun. We had some minor regurgitation.

The thing is, I didn't tell my mom until the night before that we needed to do this project. I ended up bringing in black eye peas, corn bread, and fried okra and tried to pass of my heritage as "Southern". I got an S- (less than satisfactory) on that project. Katie made up for it in three years though. Never one to go half way on a project, she RESEARCHED our family and went in with full food and decorations. I am sure we have pictures of it somewhere.

I remember doing research (aka going to the library and looking up one entry in the encyclopedia.... the thing that came before wikipedia) and my parents helping me finalize everything. As much as it was encouraged for us to do our own work, Mrs Brown let the parents help and the Good Lord knows how much I needed my parents help to do the work (like I said, pathological procrastinator). One of my favorite "research papers" ever was the first time we had to have a Bibliography and I had two - count em 1...2... - articles from the Encyclopedia Britanica and World Book encyclopedia from 1802 that we had in the basement. My dad drew the cover of the "report" (it was on Jack Rabbits) and I remember thinking that he had to be the best artist ever and couldn't understand why he wasn't a painter or something.

Not to give you the impression that Mrs Brown was a softie. Quite the opposite. That woman had rules and if you broke them, well you were inside for a recess writing a note of apology or and explanation of why you were wrong. I had three or four of these. Pretty average for the normal third grader. Katie had more than 20. Never one to be bound by the rules but also with a large conscience, Katie would break the rules then regretfully inform Mrs Brown of the infraction. Mrs Brown saved all of these and gave them to her students upon the student graduating 8th grade from WCCS. Mine consisted of things like "I am sorry I forgot to tell my parents about my homework and instead tried to do it during math. I promise to let my mom and dad know about each homework I have". Katie's consisted of "I am sorry I looked at Savannah's spelling test. I really just wanted to make sure she was doing alright. I know that this could look like cheating but I didn't change any of my answers even though I saw I got one wrong. I am sorry I won't do it again".

Mrs Brown is the only teacher that each one of the Baker children had. By the time John got to Mrs Brown's class my parents joked that they were old hats at it and could get straight Os (WCCS version of an A - O = outstanding). 

I am sure that many people remember their early teachers fondly. Maybe that is because no one fails an 8 year old or there wasn't any real work to be done (unless you are Kristen and Spelling... Kristen and Spelling are mortal enemies). But the teachers that were hired at WCCS were truly exceptional and I feel blessed that I got to be their student.