Call me weird....Call me crazy....Just remember it's for the kids.

When I was a little girl I hated school. I mean really, really hated school.  I was chubby, wore glasses, had a huge gap in my teeth, and struggled with reading. I had teachers  in first and second grade who were ill-equipped to deal with a student who had the struggles that I had.  Almost every morning of 2^nd grade, I had a stomach ache. Many mornings I was throwing up in my Mom’s Ford Esquire station wagon. And, while I thought at the time she was the worst mother ever, she kicked me out of my car and made me go to school anyway. I cried many days at school. I cried in the car on the way home. I cried doing homework. I absolutely hated school.

Then in 3^rd grade, Lynn Bozard entered my life. The first day of school she had a cute snack made out of medical gloves (pre-Pinterest). She dressed up as Ameila Bedila. She sang songs to us-all the time-and God rest her soul, she couldn’t sing. She brought in manipulatives for math-something that I had never seen before. She brought in fire trucks and ambulances when we were doing a unit on community helpers. She dressed up as an Indian when we started studying SC history. I remember one day when she came to school dressed as the Statue of Liberty. She read to us throughout the day. Her read alouds always had something special…homemade puppets, funny voices, participation from the students. She was never without a smile-even when I missed every spelling word. She was never without a kind word-even when I tore up my vocabulary test when I knew I didn’t know.

She was what I strive to be every single day as an educator. Our school district uses the words Inspire and Equip in our mission statement. She was inspiring. She made school fun. She made school exciting. My mother often called her the miracle worker because for the first time in three years, I was happy to come to school. I couldn’t wait to do my homework. I loved for my Mom to talk to my teacher. I loved being in her room. It was 39 years ago when I was in her class and I remember books she read to us. I remember her costumes. I remember her funny voices. I remember her silliness. I remember how she was patient with me. I remember her asking that I come to school early for extra attention. I remember that she had me come to school on Saturday mornings for tutoring. I remember the feeling of the last day of school.

Not only was she inspiring, she equipped me every day with not only content knowledge, but with confidence. She helped me learn to read-something up until that point I had been unable to do well. She helped learn how to communicate. I remember her telling my Dad one day that I was a great writer and that I always had great ideas. She made me feel confident-something I had not found until that point. She equipped me to continue loving school and loving learning.

I often have people ask me why I dress up in car line, why when I do read alouds in classrooms I never make it boring, why I embarrass myself continually to make kids happy, why I work after 5pm, before 6am, and many weekends getting programs, activities, and experiences ready for our kids. Why do I do all of that? I do all of that because one of my core beliefs about education is that if we create an environment where kids feel safe, loved, excited, enthusiasm and appreciated, they will love school and they will love learning.  If we are not excited to be here, I kids will not be. If we are not enthusiastic about learning, they will not be. If we are not loving on our students, they will resist us. If we are not appreciative of what they can bring to our classrooms, they will feel rejected.

Be Lynn Bozard.