Everyone has a perfect image of what a perfect teacher should be. They’d be kind and caring, but strict enough to keep the class in control. They’d know what was going on in your life and be there for you. They’d be kind, caring and wise. They’d be your mum for school. But not all teachers are like that. Not all teachers care so much about your personal life, or how you’re feeling. They’re just there to teach and nothing more.
But Deb Carlon isn’t like that. She cares. She listens. She teaches in a way no teacher has ever taught me before. What I’m about to say may sound fake, but it’s true. Every word. When I was younger I hated Maths, it was my least favourite subject. It was boring, and I dreaded it every week.
Then I went into Mrs Carlon’s class.
She had many things all planned out for us. Lots of different activities all dedicated to Maths that were fun. Things like Quickies, which we did every day, and table chants, which was just plain old fun.
I’m no longer in Mrs Carlon’s class, and Maths is now my favourite subject.
No joke.
She did that. She did that for me. And that’s not even all. I love writing stories, I write them all the time at home, and (of course) Mrs Carlon knew this. It’s been two years since I’ve been in her class, and she’s retired now. I went to her retirement party the other day and she asked how my story writing was going. I started telling her about this new story I’d written that I was really proud of. She asked for a copy of it and – as if that wasn’t enough – she now comes every Monday at lunch time to help edit it and talk to me about it.
I think this is the perfect time to remind you that she is retired.
The reason I chose to write about Deb Carlon today was because she has shown me a world no teacher could ever show me before. She taught me to love Maths. She cares for me, even though she’s now retired, even though she hasn’t been my teacher for two whole years. She wasn’t a teacher for the money, or anything like that. She was a teacher because she wanted to bring joy to kids’ lives. And she did.
Story written in 2018, by Alisa Rose Eileen Macdonald, Year 6, Drysdale Primary School. It won the Upper Primary School Section of the ‘Discover your inner journalist’ Humans in Geelong writing competition 2018.
HuG 