Mr. Wrzeszcz and Mrs. Novosad (circa 1980)When I get intentional about appreciating the school teachers in my life, my freshman year in high school comes first to mind. I liked school a lot for some reason and was motivated to learn, but my dad was my high school counselor, and he wasn’t a fan of taking on a big academic load as a freshman. So he put me in one “advanced” class, and you’ll never guess ... it was MATH with Mr. Wrzeszcz (“Wresh”). For language arts, I started with Mrs. Novosad in the basic section. I’ll never forget either, and I loved them both. Right away, I began peppering poor Mr. Wrzeszcz with questions before, during and after class as I struggled to grasp geometry, so determined was I to understand and excel. It is absolutely true that York High School had a highly competitive Math Club that regularly won conference and even had national champions from time to time; Reader, I was not invited on to Math Club. But one morning when dear, patient Mr. Wrzeszcz had to dash off to another class and I still hadn’t achieved anything close to a light-bulb moment — he pointed me to morning “Math Lab” for extra help; it was a little room staffed with top student smarties and was open to anybody with questions and determination enough to show up at 6:45 a.m. Bonus! I was there every morning except the day after a test when no problem sets were due. I could never, ever have met my goals without gentle Mr. Wrzeszcz and his remarkable forbearance and direction. I wanted help – he helped me, but maybe most of all — he taught me that I could do hard things. In considerable contrast, on the second day of “basic” language arts with the wise and opinionated and very tall Mrs. Novosad, she marched me over to my dad’s office and explained that there was no way I was in the right place in her classroom. I had done the first night’s homework (yay, chapters filled with words!), and so I eagerly and often raised my hand to share my thoughts on it with the class. I bet you are not shocked. As a result, right after the period ended, we walked over to Dad so determined was Mrs. Novosad to move me into “honors” English or whatever it was called. She was forceful and persuasive, and after a time my dad caved and moved my schedule around so I could experience a more challenging class with a new teacher; after a night of catch-up reading, the very next day I was grappling with A Separate Peace or whatever novel we fifteen-year-olds were noodling. Without Mrs. Novosad, I NEVER would have pushed to switch classes — frankly, I was just finding my way through the York High hallways, trying to be to class on time, managing all the new dynamics and wondering if I could make the cheerleading team. Mrs. Novosad, even though you were my teacher for only two days, thank you for pushing me AND my dad into a classroom where I much more belonged – ah, what bliss to parse paragraphs rather than geometry proofs! I needed help but didn’t know it, and Mrs. Novosad taught me I could speak up and steer myself in better directions.I’d love to know about your impactful moments with teachers, or maybe take ten seconds today to focus on a favorite teaching moment. As you can tell, I put teachers in my highest category of people I admire – and I must let them know it. Will you help me and let the teachers in your life know that: PPB Adores Teachers, and so for them, it’s 20% off everything in our store from now through Sunday! (And, of course, stop in here to buy a gift card or whatever else you’d like to give your instructors this Teacher Appreciation Week).Oh, and don’t you forget, Sunday is indeed the MOTHER of all holidays, in my opinion – time to appreciate Mom on her Big Day. I did a little walk-through of PPB to give you some ideas for both teachers and Moms; watch that here, and don’t forget that if your kids need a gift suggestion, or you do ... we can help with our fabulous PPB book of the month offer. Once you or she tells me a bit about what she loves to read, I hand-select a great read and send it straight to her doorstep.Fondly, Sandy
