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Who was your favorite teacher? Was it the one who always smiled at you, encouraging you to try again? Was it the one who remembered your birthday, and hugged you on the day your dog died? Maybe it was the one who never gave you an A, and challenged you to work hard than you ever thought you could? Perhaps it was the one who opened your eyes to a new way of thinking, the one who showed you a world you never knew existed?

No one really knows what makes someone a great teacher. Great students come in all shapes and sizes, and so do the men and women who nurture them. Some teachers are great leaders, and some are great caregivers. Some teachers inspire creative thinking and some teachers enrich lives through tradition. They all do something.

In reality, a great teacher is the one who makes the effort.

I had a great teacher. Mrs. Almgren - 7th grade creative writing. I don't know if she ever knew that I lived in a world where I never felt good enough. I lived in a house with expectations I couldn't meet, and I spent my days trying to please a parent who had been gone for years. Mrs. Almgren let me pour my creativity into every project. She wrote me detailed responses to my paper. She shared my work with the other teachers and told me how they couldn't believe I was only in seventh grade. She told me my words were my gifts. She told me it was okay to miss my mother. She told me so many things that no one else was telling me.

And I don't think she ever knew. I don't think she ever sat down and thought, "Today, I will encourage this student to keep going. Today, I will make this student feel special, accomplished, and proud of herself. Today, I will make this student smile." Somehow, though, everyday she managed to do just that.

What makes a teacher great? The one who takes the time. The one who never lets a student slip through the cracks. The one who makes any effort, no matter how tiny, because they know it is the right thing to do.

Learn more about this author, L. Layendecker.
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