I am sorry I did not do a better job speaking to you about you before leaving.
I am honestly not kidding or exaggerating when I say that this is the best 7th Grade I have ever worked with. It is not even a fair contest; you are so far ahead of the second place class. What separates your grade from all of the others is your spirit. The greasers and socs costume idea was great, and you put it together very quickly. That is my experience with you. You have great ideas; you show energy and humor and kindness every day. I have enough experience with 7th graders to know that you also went out of your way to be kind to me—Mr. Lawrence— specifically. I noticed that from the first day. You had no way of knowing me from two years ago when you were at the other end of the building as 5th graders. If you saw me last year, I must have been just some former teacher you did not know. Yet, when I returned this year, you were kind and friendly and energetic toward me. I also noticed that when a class became too loud or wasn’t listening that you corrected one another as a way of showing respect for me.
This still amazes me. This took courage, strength, patience, and maturity. I wish I had been able to thank you in person. I am tremendously grateful to you for being so kind to me. I am honored and proud to know you.
I know that not everyone understood my teaching style. My number one goal was for you to enjoy English. I want you to enjoy reading and writing so you will do it forever. (The quotation stuck to the board above my desk explains this perspective another way.) Journals were about communicating that you have wonderful stories to tell, that your lives are important right now. I tried to make good writers little Allendale celebrities. The world takes good writers very seriously.
If I look at everything I have learned in my life, my advice to you is this:
1. Be good to other people. Nothing else matters. Money means nothing. Neither does fame. Add goodness to the planet by being kind to other living things—cats and plants included—and you will have lived well.
2. Don’t ever give up.
I will try to follow my own advice; I will use your example as inspiration.
I will never forget the goodness you added to my life.
Sincerely,
J.Law
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12 comments:
It's ok Mr. L. You explained it well.
Were really going to miss you. You were one of the best teachers I ever had.
And if you ever want to contact me for any reason here is some things you can contact me:
will.pomerantz@gmail.com
youtube.com/GroundRuleDouble
youtube.com/Accafe
freewebs.com/Accafereview
So if you ever want to just chat I'm here.
Will
Yeah, its OK Mr. Lawrence we all thought you are the best teacher!
We are all really going to miss you were one of those teachers that would make our class laugh a lot, you also treated us like we were more than just kids.
I'm going to miss all the things you could have taught me in writing and I'm going to try my best with the new teacher.
I will send you my email as soon as I get on:(, I'm a deprived child. NOT !!!!!!!!!!!!!!
keep in touch on the blog, with all of us :)
and be strong!
Sincerely,
Natalie*
Mr. Lawrence, I'm gonna miss you so much!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (I know, I know, only one exclamation point is needed, another valuable lesson you taught us) I SO wish I could have been there on Thursday and Friday, and I hope that Maddie gave you lots of hugs for me. You were and still are my favorite teacher. You taught us so well, even though you were sick, and you put up with us, which I know isn't easy. You shouldn't have any regrets about how you taught us, because you did a fantastic job, I couldn't have asked for or imagined a better english teacher. I hope that you will visit us and keep up this blog, so at least we can cyber connect. Plus, I know you're email, so I can always send you updates through that. :P I hope that enjoyed teaching us as much as we enjoyed learning and befriending (I hope I used that correctly) you. It wasn't hard to be nice to you, and I hope that wherever you go, you'll always remeber us, and occasionally send us an update. Get better soon, and never give up, cause I know that if Omar never saw you again he wouldn't be able to stop sobbing. :P Be sure to keep in touch!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Your favorite student/admirerer,
Emma
Mr.Lawrence you did an amzing job teaching us and you shouldn't have any regrets!!! You were and still are my favourite teacher!!! :) You taught me so much!! I hope that you get better soon and that you come and visit us and contact us through this blog!!! I hope that you enjoyed teaching us because we loved your teaching!!! It wasn't hard for us to be nice to you because we know that you were going to be a great teacher as soon as we saw you. I hope that you will always remember us and keep in touch!!!!
Get better soon so that you can come and visit us!!!!
Love from
Maddie
P.S if you ever want to contact me my email is:
cupcake25@rochester.rr.com
ye its fine we miss you soo much! your the best teacher ive ever had
.................................................................................you are just awesome!
oops!
i meant
you
are
awesome
teacher
(soyeon never lie)
awww.. If you looked around lately, you would not believe how many liveSTRONG bracelets there are. Some people left them on all weekend. I want to say this in my longest post in the history of ever, so you may get bored.We will miss knowing for sure that first period would wake us up with excitement. We will miss knowing that our teacher is not an alien, but one of we kids.(I don't know if that is right.)But most of all, we miss Mr. Lawrence, the embodiment of all of these things.
Remember: "A positive attitude may not solve all your problems, but it will annoy enough people to make it worth the effort."
"I do not suffer from insanity, I enjoy every minute of it"
"I refuse to answer your question on the grounds that I do not know the answer."- some people whose names escape me
"I will not repeat what I said because you are not worth the trouble"- me to someone who was pretending not to hear me
Above all KEEP SMILING!!!! Or I may send my army of smiley faces upon you!!
Dear Mr Lawernce,
Thank you very much for teaching us! I know one thing that you definetly filled the goal of making English enjoyable, I really enjoyed it a lot from previous years! The Journals made it more enjoyable and the blog. I really liked writing in my journal, "Ya Think" about the ice cream flavors.
104) banana and chocolate ice cream
105) Chicken Curry ice cream....
You should not have any regrets, since you did an amazing, fantastic, superbly teaching us!
You are favourite teacher!
I will always remember you! Get better soon! WHen came we come to visit you?
You can do it! NEVER GIVE UP!
Love from,
Shannon
Mr.Lawerence you ARE the best teacher ever and i will really miss you even though this is my first year i have gotten to know u very well. At my other school i really didn't like English very much but seeing you as our teacher i LOVED it.I hope to keep in touch
Sonya S.
This is really so sweet! I know I'm going to keep my liveSTRONG bracelet on for as long as I can! I rarely take it off, and when I do, I put it on my dream pillow I bought in Washington until I get back home and put it back on again. You are such an awesome and inspirational teacher, Mr. Lawrence; you have made such a massive impression on my life, and for that I thank you. I just felt I should say this so you can see it in text, and there's no real designated spot on the 8th grade blog to do this sort of thing. We have so many posts that we have created, so we are keeping our word and keeping the 8th grade english blog going... some of us anyways...
I miss you, Mr. Lawrence; you have quite the gift as a teacher. I have never had one quite as engaging and creative as you, even though I have gone to AC for eleven years now. Thank you. Thank you so, so much, Mr. Lawrence, for everything.
~ Jeanette S.
(P.S. I still like wearing that funny hat with all the roses and gimundo feathers on it in the mornings before and during homeroom. Yeah, that hat is awesome...)
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