A Letter from Teddy

Mrs. Thompson had always considered herself a fair teacher, that is until Teddy Stoddard came into her life. There were no children in her fifth grade class that particular year who could be considered a teacher’s pet, but Teddy was most assuredly a child she did not like. For one thing, he was usually dirty, and he had this unpleasant, though unidentifiable odor about him. His hair hung over his eyes, and this was years before that was in any way fashionable. And he was slow. It got to the point where Mrs. Thompson actually took a certain delight in writing his F’s in bold, red letters at the top of his papers. He soon was hopelessly behind, and would certainly be a repeater. “Do him good,” she said to herself. But before completing the midyear report cards, Mrs. Thompson, like all of the other teachers, was required to review the students’ cumulative folders. When she came to Teddy’s, she was surprised by what she read. His first grade teacher had written, “Teddy is a bright child with a ready laugh. He does his work neatly and has good manners… he is a joy to be around.” His second grade teacher had added, “Teddy is an excellent student, well liked by his classmates, but he is troubled because his mother has a terminal illness and life at home must be a struggle.” And then his third grade teacher had written, “His mother’s death has been hard on him. He tries to do his best, but his father doesn’t show much interest and his home life will soon affect him if some steps aren’t taken.” Finally, this came from his fourth grade teacher: “Teddy is withdrawn and doesn’t show much interest in school. He doesn’t have many friends and he sometimes sleeps in class.” Despite all this, Mrs. Thompson’s attitude didn’t seem to change very much until the Christmas party. The little tree in the corner seemed to have an unusual number of