I’m sure most people have one teacher they remember as being tough yet are thankful for their efforts years later.  Mine was my 10th grade English teacher Mrs. Swanson who taught me what little I know (remember?) about grammar.  No matter what I did I couldn’t seem to ace her class, and I remember distinctly my mother telling me that Mrs. Swanson was the best teacher I could have wished for.  I didn’t believe her at the time, but now I’m thankful for every paper I got back that had more red ink than black.

Our youngest son Justin really liked both of his teachers last year, Mrs. Tarmey and Ms. Beavers, but he’s probably going to remember Mrs. Tarmey how I remember Mrs. Swanson.  Mrs. Tarmey required her students to write in a "reading response" log every day.  They were to read for approximately 1/2 hour and then immediately jot down their thoughts.  Justin loves to read, but he HATES sharing his thoughts about it whether it’s in writing or verbally.  Consequently it was like pulling teeth to get him to write his log.  On the other hand Ms. Beavers was responsible for running the multiplication game which Justin enjoyed thoroughly and enabled him to whip his siblings at our "who knows the answer" games over dinner.

Today I was going through some stuff and I came across his reading log.  The first thing that strikes me as I read it is the brilliance of the format that Mrs. Tarmey used.  Each day’s entry is written as a letter (Dear Mrs. Tarmey…) and she would write a reply to each one.  Some of her replies were one or two sentence questions while other days required more feedback and would begin with "Dear Justin." Poor Mrs. Tarmey had to exhort the boy on a daily basis to share more of his thoughts and feelings.  He tried to get away with regurgitating the plot of each book but she would have none of it.  Then he started sharing random thoughts that had little to do with what he was reading ("I hate war") and she’d reign him back in with a "Dear Justin" message.

My favorite entry is one that Celeste shares regularly when she talks about the log.  It’s dated 12/14/2006 and it begins this way:

Dear Mrs. Tarmey,
I’m writing very slowly so I have less time to clean my room.  Well, Bobby and Loor are underground.  The reason they’re underground is that the crowned prince was murdered and the chances of stopping a war with him…

In the margin next to the first sentence Mrs. Tarmey wrote "Sneaky!" 

The next entry was a perfect example of how Justin tried to fill space and Mrs. Tarmey had to redirect him.  Here’s how he ended his entry:

I only have one thought that’s even slightly related to the book.  The thought is: This was just thirty pages in the book!  A personal thought that I’m having is: I like the song I’m listening to right now.  I don’t like this song, I love it!
I’ll see you tomorrow,
Justin

Mrs. Tarmey replied with this in the margin:

Don’t listen to music while reading.  Our brains cannot focus on more than one thing.  Either read or listen to music.

Then she whipped up a "Dear Justin":

Dear Justin,
Please tell me your thoughts on what you have read. Are you enjoying the book? Would you want to live in a fantasy world? What would it look like?
Sincerely,
Mrs. Tarmey

Sure enough in the next few entries the boy started focusing on giving his thoughts about what he was reading, but of course within a week or two he’d ventured off into la-la-land and she’d have to reel him back in.  Throughout the year she managed to do so in such a manner that she wasn’t harsh, but she was just clear that she expected more.  And when he did well she made sure to write that too.

Looking back I’m sure Justin will remember how much he dreaded the reading log, but I’m also sure he’ll really appreciate what it did for him.  I know that he already views language arts this year as a walk in the park by comparison. If he becomes a writer he’ll probably also realize that Mrs. Tarmey was his first editor. (I’m going to sic my Mom on him next.  That’ll re-define the word "tough" for him and I have the hatchet jobs she did on my H.S. papers to prove it).  From my point of view I’m reading these logs and realizing that Mrs. Tarmey did this exercise with dozens of students.  That’s an incredible amount of work.

We’re definitely saving this for the family scrapbook because it is a
priceless look into the year that was 5th grade for Justin.  I just hope that there are more Mrs. Tarmeys in Justin’s future so we have more stuff like this to save.  He’ll definitely be the better for it.