Jacquelyn Blain

English teacher Shananagins

I never knew students and teachers could have such a comedic yet loving relationship till I met my sophomore English teacher as a freshman during lunch who would change my life forever; Two weeks had passed sing high school started. Today was just as ordinary as any other day. The 5th-period bell rang as I, my friends, and all the other students rushed down to the cafeteria to reach our designated tabes before it gets stolen by the “table takers” a name we came up with as a joke. Today there was a new teacher who was on patrol as the students got up to get lunch when their row of tables was called. “Hi, Ms.Yu” called out one of my friends. Ms.Yu was the new lunch patroller. I at the time was too distracted with trying to open the plastic spoon package to notice that Ms.Yu was standing right behind me. I bit onto the tip of the package and as she was about to say something I flung my head back still not aware that she was behind me. “Oh… Hello.” I said looking up at her. She looked down at me with a weirded-out face which only makes sense after I had just head butt her on accident. Needless to say, that was the beginning of our comedic student-teacher relationship. From that day forward every time we would see each other during lunch I’d say something strange or weird and she’d give me the same funny sassy vibes right back. After a few months had gone by Ms.Yu started her Korean club for students interested in the culture and its language and background. I being the nerd I am about Korean culture, joined in the speed of light. Ever since the club had started I slowly improved my Korean speaking skills and we would have our own mini Korean conversations. Naturally, our conversations would go back and forth where she would help me and we would joke around. Her jokingly roasting me and I replied back with the same energy.

Fast forward to the last day of school. I ran up to her room and said my goodbyes before heading out the door to welcome summer. Two months had passed and it was now my sophomore year. I walked into my English class not sure who was going to be my class teacher. I sat down and put my head down as I waited for the teacher to come in. After some time I heard an oddly familiar voice only to look up and see it was non-other than Ms.Yu. I wasn’t sure how to feel at the moment; after a few seconds I let out a sigh of relief. After her class had ended it was time to go down for lunch but I stayed back for a few minutes and we chatted so a while and walked down to the cafeteria together. Aside from being a comedic duo we were, she also taught me a lot about the English subject, better ways of writing, college, etc. When we would have to write essays for her class she would proofread and help me use words that would make the essay better. Ms.Yu also taught me how to prepare for college essays and the formats of essay writing that I had never known existed till she had shown them to me. Apart from teaching me school-related things, Ms.Yu also taught me to be a better version of myself and that its okay to be the odd one out sometimes because that’s what makes a person special in their own way Ever since then I have used these skills that she had taught me throughout the rest of high school and will continue to use them in my daily life. I look up to Ms.Yu for all that she has done and taught me over the years up until my graduation. I will forever be grateful for all that she has taught me.

1 Comment

  1. Jacquelyn Blain

    That is a fun and lovely story! It’s so wonderful to find a teacher who has that much of an impact on us. I had a couple, and, now that I think about it, we also had that kind of comic-serious relationship as well. Maybe that’s what makes for a great teacher-student relationship? That could be something to think about if you use this as the basis of your Education Narrative. But in any event, you just made me think! Yay!! Hurray for Ms. Yu!

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