June 30, 2008

Dear Mr. Lagree,

Picture yourself back in Victor Primary School in 1993, and you may remember me.  My name is Christina Jonsson and I have no trouble remembering you as I look so fondly upon my time I spent in your class room as one of your third grade students.  For me it is especially easy to recall that year, because it was one of the best and most memorable and I have you to thank for it!  You left an enduring mark upon me and really helped to shape my ideas of what a truly great teacher should be.  You treated each of us as if we were adults and you believed in our potential for greatness.  You were always providing individual attention and yet you never made us feel as if any of us were being singled out.  You were fair and held us accountable for our mistakes and misbehavior, but I never resented you for reprimanding us if needed.  I always felt so comfortable in your classroom and to this day I believe, without a doubt, that you were one hundred percent invested in us and our education.   

When I was younger, I always was fond of teachers that let us have fun; and you fit the bill in those days.  What I now realize is that the whole time I thought I was having fun, I was learning!  I remember when you introduced us to long division (and math was certainly not what I called fun), and you wrote out a long division problem across the entire white board. We thought you had lost your mind!  We were so eager to finish that problem and when we did we were so proud of what we had accomplished.  That day we had so much fun learning long division and we didn’t think twice about it. 

As I reflect upon my days in your classroom, I remember your indelible sense of humor and enthusiasm for everything we were doing.  Even reading time, a moment in the classroom where students could so easily be distracted, was exciting.  I looked forward to reading time in your classroom, because you always picked out great books to share with us.  I remember silly afternoons spent with The Twits, hunting for ‘coons in Where the Red Fern Grows and I’ll never forget the Indian in the Cupboard coming alive for the first time.  You read with such passion and inflection and I never once became bored.

In your classroom, we laughed, we played and we learned; and we longed to learn.  You inspired each of us to be excited about learning and you respected that each of us had different abilities and ways of doing so.  I’ll never forget the sense of humor you infused into everything we did.  You made teaching seem so effortless and fun, and it is you and your classroom that has influenced me to follow in your footsteps.  Thank you for giving students like me such wonderful and meaningful memories to look back upon. 

I wish you all the best.

Sincerely,

Christina Jonsson