January 27, 2025

Letter to My Fifth Grade Teacher By Michael S. Glaser

With love and gratitude for the poetry of Michael S. Glaser that helps us all to make sense of the world around us. For the grace he instilled in the dark and tender moments of so many.

Letter to My Fifth Grade Teacher By Michael S. Glaser

Dear Miss Lorenz:

I am writing because I was remembering you today,

how soft and kind your voice was and how your eyes

sparkled with laughter and light

which is why I wanted to impress you

and why I was so afraid of spelling

where I knew you would discover

that I was just another stupid kid.

And so, on the day of the Big Spelling Test,

I made that tiny piece of paper

And when we put our books away,

I cupped it in my hand for use

only when absolutely necessary.

And you moved up and down

the rows of our desks

pronouncing words until

you stopped next to me,

called out a word and,

when everyone was writing,

reached into my clenched fist,

took the paper and then

walked on.

You never made an example of me,

never spoke to my parents about it,

or even mentioned it to me.

And you never treated me differently either,

just went on as if nothing had happened.

But, of course, something did:

I never cheated again, Miss Lorenz.

I never stole another candy bar

or money from the box

on the top of my father’s dresser –

or from my mother’s purse.

And I am writing to thank you

for treating me with dignity

even as you caught me, red handed in sin.

It was as close to Grace as I have ever been.

Perhaps someday I will know it once again.

Invitation: “… as close to Grace…”

From Disrupting Consensus, Poems by Michael S. Glaser. Also appeared in Igniting Creativity in Gifted Learners, K-6 (Corwin Press), 2009

Photo by Jeffrey Hamilton on Unsplash

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More about Michael Glaser and his work (Link).

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