#memorablemomentsineducation #17:
My kindergarten teacher, Mrs. Miller, died of cancer when we were in 2nd grade. I remember her classroom, her dressing up as a witch on Halloween with green oatmeal all over her face, and her kind voice reading us stories as we sat in the circle. I especially remember our principal coming onto the intercom to announce her passing and to ask for a moment of silence in honor of our wonderful teacher. While I understood a little of death after my grandfather died when I was five, I hadn’t spent everyday for nine months in his warm presence. So Mrs. Miller’s death was the first one I saw as a real absence, a loss, for all of us. Not sure why, but that’s the moment I remember today, and I think she’d be pleased as punch to know she had a lifelong impact on her little kindies.