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Tristan Whitten

Ms. Kennedy

1113 English

3 October 2022

My favorite teacher Mr. Harrison

In this essay, I am going to tell you about my favorite teacher, Mr. Harrison. How he looked,

my elementary school Will Rogers, and why he will always be my favorite teacher. Thinking

about him transports me right back to Will Rogers Elementary school. I am standing in the

hallway chatting with my friends and just enjoying being at school. Some of my friends were

locals, from Stillwater, while some were from other countries around the world. Will Rogers was

a melting pot of students. We were fortunate to have international students at Will Rogers due to

the OSU campus being so close to the school. Several of the students at Will Rogers were the

kids of college students who had brought their families to the United States so they could obtain

their masters or doctorates. Everyone accepted everyone, it wasn’t a cliquish school. It was a

school where you felt welcomed by both the kids in your class as well as your teachers. The

majority of the teachers were friendly and smiled as you entered the school or class. They
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seemed to enjoy being there. When you were in the classroom, most of them taught from

the heart, with excitement and enthusiasm. But there is always one teacher who just mentions

their name, and makes you smile. That one teacher who created engaging lessons kept your

interest and you learned what they were teaching. That one teacher had us work

with partners so we could learn how to have discussions with others, and it gave us chatty kids

the opportunity to talk. That was my favorite part because I loved to talk. That one teacher who

made school a place you wanted to be because they made you feel valued, important,

knowledgeable, and pushed you to do your best. They say “you” for who you were. They

believed in you and knew you were capable of great things. That was Mr. Harrison for me. He is

the name that still to this day, brings a smile to my face and happiness to my heart.

I was nervous about meeting Mr. Harrison at the beginning of my fifth-grade year. Not

only was he a male teacher, I had never had a male classroom teacher, but he was a friend of my

moms. She was a teacher at Will Rogers too. Not only were they co-workers, but my mom

had known Mr. Harrison since high school. They had known each other for a long time. It is

pressure enough being a teacher’s kid, but now this guy was an actual friend of my mom’s. I

have always had to be on my best behavior at school, I never wanted a teacher to walk down the

hallway and tell my mom that I was being outlined or not doing my work. I felt like now I had to

be a super student. When I walked into his class, I was anxious because I felt a lot of pressure.

But when I met him, that all simply melted away here is why.
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At first sight, he looked like an overstuffed cuddly teddy bear. He had long hair and wore

a short sleeve plaid shirt, brown pants, and tennis shoes. His smile was warming and just made

you feel at ease. He was so calm and chill as all of us filed into the classroom. He greeted me

like I was one of his friends. His room was welcoming and kid-friendly. He spoke in a

lowkey voice and just told us about himself. Then of course we had an opportunity to introduce

ourselves. Most of us in the class had been friends for years. So, after that, I felt like maybe this

Harrison guy was going to be okay. He was my homeroom teacher, but I found out he would

also be teaching Social Studies. He had historical posters with very vivid and colorful pictures.

His classroom was like being in an art gallery. But the coolest piece in his classroom was his big

red-hand chair. I had never seen such a chair in my life. I wanted to sit in it so badly.

When Mr. Harrison taught us something, he did so with passion and enthusiasm. Things

that would have normally been boring, he made them interesting. He did this by the way he

spoke, and the details he used as he taught us about American History. He was passionate. You

knew that he loved every piece of the history he was telling us about. He showed us videos that

gave us additional information but in a fun way. He put us in partner groups and had us simulate

parts of history. He let us have a say in what we researched, as long as it pertained to the lesson

he was teaching. He taught us how to research and give presentations. He made us feel like we

were capable of learning anything and he told us why it was important that we learn about
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history. Learning about history is like traveling back in time, being able to see how our country

was founded, and the events that shaped the country we live in today. He encouraged us to be the

best we could be, work hard, and crave learning more. Everything we did in his classroom was

engaging. I was so captivated that I learned more about history in that year than I had ever

learned in previous years.

Teachers set the tone for students. Their teaching style, their personality, and their

classroom environment affect students. Their love of learning can spill over into the lives of their

students. Their passion can become the passion held by the minds they are molding. Teachers

make a difference in the lives of the kids they teach. Mr. Harrison was the passionate teacher I

needed that year. The year before I had a teacher who wasn’t passionate, engaging, or

encouraging. That year I struggled, not academically but emotionally. I just could not seem to

connect things as easily as I could this year. I was not interested because the teacher did not see

us as Mr. Harrison did. So, I am grateful for Mr. Harrison and grateful for his passion and love of

teaching. His words of encouragement, kindness, and stability. How he used interactive

activities, and engaging lessons, and took the time to create a positive fun learning environment.