When I was in 3rd grade with a new teacher, her first year teaching, we were not a good match. I was not a good communicator back then. I was being sent to the office almost daily but it didn’t occur to me to share this information with my mother. At one point I was sent to the office and locked into a room with the light closed! It was terrifying and traumatic. I remember hearing the secretary and principles talking about me in Yiddish (which I spoke fluently) and it wasn’t complementary.  It didn’t even occur to me to repeat this to my parents.
Mrs. Brawer noticed what was going on and reached out to my mother to let her know what happened.  Needless to say, my mother was so grateful for the information.  Mrs. Brawer explained to me that sometimes things don’t work out between a teacher and student. She kindly laid out a plan to save the rest of my 3rd grade. First of all, she changed my class (yes! even in middle of the year) and then she taught me such an important lesson by suggesting that I write a thank you/ goodbye letter to my teacher. This, not only taught me to show appreciation, but also helped me save face so when I met her in the hall it was comfortable. Mrs. Brawer continued to check on me that whole year. I really feel like that was a turning point for me in my schooling, I started to see school as an ally as opposed to it being out to get me.