Saturday, February 28, 2009

Making something special

I don't know who "Fred" is or why he's coming to Mrs. Eckardt's class, but I know that if I were Fred, I'd feel pretty good about the welcome I was going to get.

Did you ever have one of those special teachers in your primary school years that had a knack for making the things you did feel special? My memory being what it is these day, I don't recall a lot about my early school years, but the times I do remember involved a teacher being excited about what they were doing and I picked up on that.

I remember Mr. Zuck, one of my science teachers, coming into class in full Mad Scientist mode, hair wildly uncombed, tie askew, grinning madly. He proceeded to pull out some dry ice from beneath his cloak (that's right) and dropped it into a cauldron of water on the desk. The melting ice formed a layer of fog that flowed out of the bowl, over the desk and onto the floor. The whole time Mr. Zuck was laughing maniacally, rubbing his hands together and explaining what was going on. It seems silly now, but I still remember how much fun we had that day.

Take away from all this -- making events special for the people involved makes them memorable. I'm pretty sure that this extra effort that Mrs. Eckardt put into this visit from Fred made it work for the kids - and for Fred. I know I'd like to go.

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