Alex was a little dynamo--the age my grandson Jackson is now! One of his favorite books, I remember, was A Wrinkle in Time.
At the end of the school year, he organized a baby shower for me. I'm going to find that picture (I have it somewhere!) of Alex and those adorable ninth-graders gathered around me with presents and a big card they'd made on poster board.
I never forgot Alex. Many years later, after he'd gotten a graduate degree, he joined the UTSA faculty--and we were office mates for a short while!
As a first year teacher, I made a whopping $6000 a year--out of which I had to buy my own mimeograph paper and supplies, even class sets of paperback books. I remember buying The Outsiders for Alex's class.
Back then, just as now, teachers don't teach for the salary. When younger friends today mention "six figure salaries" in the corporate world, in law, in other fields, I always mentally compare it with my highest paying year teaching--that wasn't half that, not even close.
But over the years, I had thousands of students and I loved those rowdy, funny, bright, curious kids that started me off when I was a rookie teacher who could barely afford the clothes for school. That ninth grade class is unforgettable, and it was fun to be reminded of it this morning!
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