Anna Lewis

ENG. 1101

Prof. Johnson-Taylor

September 6, 2018

Teacher Appreciation

“Time to wake up Anna!” My mom came into my room saying as she tore my

warm, comfortable blankets off. Although it was a harsh wake up call I jumped out of

bed and ran to my closet to figure out the new fun outfit I was going to wear that day. I

was a very stylish first grader, as my wardrobe consisted of justice clothes, sequins,

rainbow and a variety of patterns. On this certain day I decided on bright pink leggings

and to match, a pink t shirt with a very cute illustrated puppy. I was ready to seize the

day. My mom made the usual white chocolate chip pancakes with extra crispy bacon.

She then top the meal off with what we call “power juice” that gave me the confidence

and joy I needed for the day, but was just a combination of orange juice and apple juice.

I put on my sandals and grabbed my bedazzled backpack and headed for the bus stop.

I joined my friends as we talked about what was new in our lives, the latest gossip.

Entailing what we heard about Riley two seats back supposedly kissing a girl.

I walked into my classroom to see Mrs. Fluty and greeted her with a big hug. Mrs.

Fluty was the cool first grade teacher, everyone who had her could tell you how

memorable her class was even years later. As for me, I looked up to her. She always

wore a smile on her face and had such a bubbly personality. I was probably the only

first grader who ever looked forward to going to school. Her room was full of color, fun
beanbags, and posters of cute animals, you know the usual of a first grade classroom. I

walked over to my cubby, placed my backpack and sat down in my seat. Our big project

that we were working on was reading one-hundred books. Each student had a little

booklet that had our names on the front with one hundred empty outlines of stars that

would be filled with a sticker once you finished a book. In order to get the sticker, you

had to write down what the book was about and have it checked by Mrs. Fluty. I was so

proud because I had ninety stickers already. I very much enjoyed reading but all I

wanted was to get the grand prize, getting one hundred stickers meant eating lunch with

Mrs. Fluty. I have never been so determined to get something before in my life. She

would also buy a dessert of my choosing, what could be better?

As I was sitting at my desk scrambling to finish the next book I was reading, I

saw a handful of my friends at her desk showing her their completed sticker chart.

Anger and sadness filled my body, because I wanted to be the first one to finish and

prove to her how good of a student I am. That is when I came up with my plan. I

decided I only had ten more books I had to read but I could easily write the first

sentence on the backs of the books that summarized it and it would be the same thing. I

quickly wrote as fast as I could to finish before anyone else could. The time came and I

had every spot filled out and I did the victorious march to her desk. I set it down and had

a big grin on my face. She read through it and looked up at me.

“Wow! I am Impressed Anna no one has ever read ten books this fast!’ covering my lie I

said

“Yeah, I am just a very fast reader.”

“Seems like it,” as she starts to peel the stickers off the book and stick them in their

silhouettes on my sheet, we decided that I would like an ice cream sandwich as my

dessert. She handed it back to me and we set a time for the next day to have lunch

together. I marched back to my seat to show everyone my accomplishment. My feelings

of excitement and accomplishment soon turned into remorse and terror of what if she

finds out? What if she tells my parents? Will I get expelled? Feelings rushed through my

mind and tore me apart. That is when I decided to tell her. I didn't know how or when,

but I knew I had to to relieve myself of the guilt. Then I made the executive decision to

tell her at the end of the day. I was sitting in my seat dreading the clock to turn three

and I had to admit my horrible mistake.

The time came. I walked up to her desk as tears filled my eyes. I explained what I

had done in a tone equivalent to admitting to murder. I could see the disappointment in

her eyes. A couple seconds went past that felt like eternity, and then words came out of

her mouth,

“It is okay Anna, lets still plan on having lunch tomorrow and we will talk everything

over.” She wasn't mad? How could this be? Does she understand the extent to what I

did? I left that building beating myself up about what I had done. I was so disappointed.

The next day came and during the whole morning class I couldn't look at her, it just

reminded me of how terrible a person I am. Lunch came and as my peers filed out of

the door to the lunch room I had the walk of shame to her desk. I sat down with her,

opened my lunch box and began to eat my sandwich in silence. Her voice broke the

silence. She explained to me that I do not need to cheat in order to succeed, and what I
thought was going to be forty minutes of absolute torture, turned into forty minutes that I

will never forget. She told me story after story of things she regrets and filled me with

such great motivation and advice that I needed. Mrs. Fluty taught me the importance of

honesty. The words she told my first grade self still carry out to me today. In school

today so many resources make it easy for you to find answers, and or to cheat, but

since that day I truly understand the concept of being your own self advocate, and

making the best decisions for me. She truly changed how I look at not only my school

work, but my friends, family and important life moments.