I’m probably going to butcher the spelling of some of their last names, but I think I remember most of my elementary school teachers. At least two of them were men, including gym teacher Mister Madrazo and Social Studies teacher Mister Chicklas, but most were women. Married or not, they were all addressed, at least by us students, as “Miss”.

In kindergarten, in the “portable” outside of the actual school building, there was Miss MacMurtry. She was black, or primarily black if mixed, and probably between 30 and 60 years old. She wore her hair in a funny way with bangs sticking out at the top or something. I remember me and my sister; her pupil a few years after me; making fun of it.

In first grade; my first class in the building; there was Miss Yarrows. She was white, old and wrinkly. She could’ve been in her sixties or fifties, but she seemed decrepit as a kid. She was nice though. I think it was her who used to give us pretzels and play songs like That’s What Friends Are For or We Are The World via a classroom record player.

In second grade, there was Miss Ballou. She was a lot younger than Miss Yarrows, probably in her twenties or thirties, white and somewhat attractive in a Disney princess sort of way. She was also nice; even nicer than Miss Yarrows. Yarrows’ personality was more realistic though. Ballou’s soft tone of her voice was more contrived for kids.

I didn’t think of it that way at the time though. I just thought she was a nice lady. I remember the time she took us to see an Alice In Wonderland play. I visited this same elementary school several years later, during my high school or college years, and actually got the chance to see her again, which was a nice nostalgic experience.

In third grade, there was Miss Potter. She was older than Ballou and younger than Yarrows but not as nice as either. I think this is when I started math class with Miss Shaw; my favorite teacher. I had her all the way thru fifth grade in a separate classroom than my “homeroom” teachers. She was so nice and sweet like a second grandmother.

In fourth grade, there was Miss Porter. She was a light-skinned black lady who I think wore glasses. Miss Yarrows is the only other one I remember wearing glasses. I don’t remember much else about Miss Porter aside from her being my homeroom teacher, though the only other teacher I remember having in fourth grade is Miss Shaw.

In fifth grade, there was Miss Porter again until she quit. The reason we were told was that we; her students; were too bad. I don’t think we were bad in terms of being mischievous or unruly, so it probably meant that we were doing bad, apparently depressingly bad, in terms of grades. I don’t know, but her replacement, Miss Daniels, was a lot better.

Miss Porter was relatively quiet and reserved, but Miss Daniels was talkative and funny; always making wisecracks. She was the kind of teacher you had fun with but knew not to disrespect. She’d take us across the hall to watch movies in another teacher’s classroom almost every Friday. It was also her who led us on our senior trip to Boblo.