I can pretty much guarantee he will know soon–I’m from a very small town, my mother still lives there, and it’s only a matter of time before she prints this post out, tracks Mr. Fridae down, and makes sure he knows how amazing her daughter thinks he is. Small towns rock.

Seriously though, I hope someone remembers me as fondly some day as you remember Mr. F.

We did more, learned more and enjoyed class more than any other class at that school! He wasn’t easy on us and expected a lot. He also had total control over that class, there wasn’t any nonsense going on that didn’t have creative repercussions.

I’ve often thought that if every class had a Mr. Pederzolli, there wouldn’t be an education crisis in America today.

Thanks for the post… brought back some memories!

His name was Mr. Kelly. 5th Grade. I was 10 years old and awkwardly growing into my permanent teeth. That year was truly an adventure in every sense of the word. He was like a mountain man who knew how to do everything and was eager to pass it along to our little brains. Some of the highlights I remember:

We made candles.
We made paper.
We made kites from scratch.
He brought in a Nintendo, an old couch, and a copy of Tetris. We could play it when we were done with our classwork.
He played Four Square with us on the playground every day.

In addition to all of those exciting projects, he taught us a skill that has served me well so many times I’ve lost count. At the beginning of the school year, Mr. Kelly taught us how to make an outline for a speech.

Then on Fridays, each one of us would be required to give a speech in front of the class. There were different themes – one speech was a “How-To,” during another one the class was allowed to heckle us as we spoke.

I’ll never forget him. Seinfeld says that the number one fear of humans is public speaking. #2 is death. (his conclusion: at a funeral, most of us would rather be in the casket than giving the eulogy.) Thanks to Mr. Kelly, I gots nothin’ to be scared of.