Mrs. Brown's Scarf

Mrs. Brown is my daughter's first grade teacher. I think she is a wonderful teacher. My daughter has thrived in her class and feels good about herself. Mrs. Brown has always been clear with her expectations of my daughter, but also understands that my daughter is a child, with a very good imagination and stubborn will. She has never tried to stifle my child's creativity with biases and inflexible beliefs of how children "should" act in the classroom.

Last year, my daughter got in trouble a lot because she has the tendency to lose focus. Her teacher wanted her to be tested for Asperger's Syndrome because of this. My daughter was in the top 5% of her class and made friends just fine in preschool. She socializes on the playground easily and has very good communication skills. I was insulted that her teacher thought that there may be something wrong with my child.

Since changing schools, my little girl doesn't pull behavior cards and she is never afraid of being sent to the principal's office. Mrs. Brown understands that my daughter has a very (over)active imagination and doesn't punish her for it. When I discuss my concerns with her about my daughter's tendency to go off in her own little world (especially in the middle of a math lesson!) she understands that my little girl loves to pretend: her imaginary friend, whom she calls Buggy, has birthday parties, and a house, and makes fancy clothes for her, and talks about Buggy's family and friends...very extravagant imaginings...and it tends to spill over into her academic life.

Mrs. Brown, instead of calling it a problem, calls it a gift. Instead of making my daughter feel like she is doing something wrong when she plays with Buggy in the middle of class, Mrs. Brown redirects her attention and reminds her to put Buggy in her pocket. The worst thing that has happened this year was that she lost recess time because she kept talking. Would a child who had trouble socializing have gotten in trouble for that? I think not.

I am so grateful for Mrs. Brown. For this, I was inspired during my knitting group to knit a scarf for her end of the year present. I had my daughter ask her teacher what her favorite color was... no wonder my little girl likes her so much; her answer was pink. I chose Le Fibre Nobili's Taj Mahal with my daughter yesterday from my FLYS. It is a Cashmere/Merino/Silk blend, one of the best kinds of blends, as far as I am concerned. It is soft with a wonderful sheen and it will show off the stitches wonderfully.

Wonderful fibers for my daughter's wonderful teacher. I wish all teachers were like this.