My Teacher-Friend Lydia

Today is a good day!  It’s Friday; It’s the start of Spring Break; and Skip is home for the weekend.  Today is a really good day for my colleague and friend, Lydia.  Since she begins her maternity leave after Spring break, she is now officially a stay-at-home mom.  She is ecstatic.  I am a little depressed.  When I started at West, Lydia was my mentor.  I still use handouts she gave to me my first year teaching.  When I have a question about anything from West Block to Pep Rallies, I call Lydia.  Not sure who I’m going to call now.

Not only has Lydia been a wealth of WRHS information, she has been a great role model for me as a teacher.  Her students love her, but it’s not because she shows a lot of movies or grades on a curve.  It’s because she is a phenomenal teacher.  Students want to have their picture made with her at the prom; they friend her on Facebook the day of graduation.  A few weeks ago, I went over during her class to ask a question and got to sit in on the end of a lesson.  Just the thought of losing her talent in the classroom brought tears to my eyes.  Yes, she is that good. 

Lydia is also responsible, in part, for my decision to further my education.  Lydia participated in the National Writing Project several years before I attended the Summer Institute.  She recommended me for the program when I began graduate school.  She is the one who suggested that if I intended to get a Master’s Degree AND complete National Boards, I should attend grad school first and then try for boards.  When I hit a wall doing my thesis research, she lent me loads of books on writing and daybooks.  When I fussed over entry drafts for NB, she proofread for me and provided honest feedback.  She’s been a wonderful asset to me as an adult student. 

I can’t thank Lydia enough for being such a great part of the beginning of my teaching career.  I’m looking forward to seeing what’s in store for her in this exciting new chapter of her life.  One thing is for sure, whether she is inside the four walls of a classroom ever again or not, she will always be a teacher.