Amy Lyons
She was no angel. Maybe her temperament improved some over the years. But the truth was, she could be very unkind. She knew how to "work it," that's for sure - my mother, always a team player, even commented on her politician's personality. Many loved her - popular parents, PTA members, school staff, fellow teachers, star students. But some of us who struggled in class did not.
I remember her making fun of me and a couple of other kids who struggled with what we now know as ADHD and perhaps other learning differences. Some of us remember her smirk as she allowed the class to read hurtful essays about us aloud to the class. We remember her fingernail marks left on our arms as she yanked us into place in line, god forbid we weren't lined up right. We remember her shaming us in front of the class for not knowing our times tables, for our attention wandering, for misspelling a word. We remember her hurling our art projects onto the floor snarling "put your name on this!" if we'd forgotten. And golly, she must have had some serious "lady" problems because some days she'd rail at the whole class, screaming and crying, for an hour or more.
I wanted to love her. Sometimes she was fun and sweet. But then she could be extremely ugly, and I'd go home biting my lip with tears in my eyes. There is no excuse for verbal and emotional abuse like she could dole out. I know I wasn't the only one - I remember her doing this to some of my classmates too. If you're one of them too, I want you to know you're not alone.
