California Educator

November 2011

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At a time when school librarians are being laid off, it is important to remember their roles in a student's life, as KAREN BOYARSKY, a librar- ian at Beverly Hills High School and member of the Beverly Hills Educa- tion Association discovered. She received a letter from Sandy Anahi Chamorro, a non-English-speaking immigrant student whose world was rocked when she began spending time in the school library. Whi le wandering around and checking out the books, many caught my attention, such as languages. It's beautiful to understand where the words we speak every day come from. And it amazes me that now, learning my fifth language, Russian, I am pow- erful enough to start a business around the world. Thanks to a little red Latin book in the language section, I know how to encode what people are saying. … I would like to thank Mrs. Boyarsky, Dr. Ramsey and Ms. Sedgi for being the first ones to teach me English, Joe Wianeki for always keeping it real, and Barbara Palmer for being so strict. You definitely put me on the right path to success, and I will keep going that way. One day I will come back to Beverly Hills and Beverly Hills High School's library is the first destination. LENN SCHWARTZ, a teacher-librar- ian member of the Firebaugh-Las Deltas Unified Teachers Associa- tion, was surprised this summer to hear from Andrew Valencia, one of the students in his middle school language arts class nine years ago. Valencia, who has been teaching English abroad before applying to graduate schools in creative writing, e-mailed his for- mer teacher in July: I'm wri ting to let you know that, nearly a full decade later, I still remember you as one of the first teachers I ever had who really opened my eyes to the world of writ- ing and literature. I still remember you reading to the class from Stein- beck's Cannery Row and encouraging me to read Saroyan and other writ- ers. That was the first real exposure I had to great literature, and it helped me develop a love for the written word as well as a desire to write fic- tion myself. These many years later, I have come a long way from the kid I was in the eighth grade; I graduated last year from Stanford with a bach- elor's degree in English and a minor in history. Hearing the news of the tragic death of a student at Granite Bay High School prompted a former stu- dent of history teacher BRANDON DELL'ORTO to write him a note this spring. Now at Georgetown Uni- versity in Washington, D.C., Christy Johnson was attending a student conference with President Obama when her mind drifted back to her high school teachers. In an e-mail to Dell'Orto, she wrote: The person who I am, the person who I've become, my goals, my ideas, my ethics, the reason that I am at Georgetown, and ultimately, the reason that I momentarily was sitting 10 feet from one of the most influential men in all of history all stem from my time within the Granite Bay community. In classes like yours we are all chal- lenged to open our minds, we are encouraged to find enjoyment through learning, and we are all inspired to be the change the world needs to see. So today, when I sat with 300 other students and was told by our president that we would need to accomplish all of the things that he cannot, I imme- diately thought of all of my high school teachers because you all are the ones who are really changing the world. Sometimes it takes a few years for students to look back in appreciation for their teachers. It wasn't until a Fairfield police officer heard his former elemen- tary teacher, CTA President DEAN VOGEL, on the radio that he decided to drop him a line. You may or may not remember me, but I did want you to know that your guid- ance and leadership had a lasting effect. I still have good memories of the class singing while you playing the guitar or you reading from a book called Where the Sidewalk Ends. I know I was a handful to deal with throughout elementary (and you stayed on top of my actions). I wanted to send you a VERY late but well-deserved THANK YOU for your commitment to leadership, education, and for not giving up on me. Not iceably touched, Del l 'Or to, a member of the Roseville Second- ary Education Association, com- mented in an e-mail to staff, "In the midst of tragedy, testing upon test- ing, taxes, tax battles and the like, it's nice to know that sometimes what we do does get through." SO KEEP THOSE LETTERS COMING IN. Send your thank-you notes to the "Thank You, Teacher!" Project, CTA Communications Department, 1705 Murchison Drive, Burlingame, CA 94010, or to dmartin@cta.org. And maybe you want to drop a line to a teacher who made a difference in your life. November 2011 / www.cta.org 27

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