Ever since I started school, I was told I was a troubled kid, that I needed extra help, and that I would never surpass my classmates. From kindergarten until eighth grade, I was treated as if I was inferior. I believe it is because of the evil concoction of ADD and being emotionally unstable. But my third grade teacher treated me differently. Mr. Strong pushed me beyond my limits--not because he was mean, but because he cared. And he knew I could achieve more than I thought.

Mr. Strong taught his classes differently. He did not bind students down to one assignment or project; instead, he gave the class two to five options to choose from.

Mr. Strong’s teaching methods could be strange at times. For example, halfway through the year, a student threw a chair at Mr. Strong and nearly knocked him out. Instead of sending the student to the office, Mr. Strong sat down with him and talked about the incident. He also had an area in the back of the room where students could take apart old machines. He used this area to teach kids to work together, problem solve, and creativity.

Mr. Strong tried to make boring days into fun learning experiences students would remember. Throughout the years, he taught at Stone Bank he started prank wars. Ever so often, when he would open the classroom door, he would be pranked. With a mind like a toddler, he would find a way to strike back with the most clever ways. Some of the most known pranks were when he lodging a shoe into a paper towel dispenser, or when he changed every light in my fourth grade’s classroom to a different color to make sections, or when he changed the Smart Board markers to washable Crayola  markers. These pranks livened up the day and thought students that pranks can be harmless.

Mr. Strong dedicated most of his life to working with students. During my last few years at Stone Bank school, he stopped teaching third grade. He moved to helping kids that needed extra help with improving poor core class skills. At the time, the extra help program was for students with mental illnesses, but as they saw that some students were struggling so they made a new program to help those students. I was angry because I was put into a program I had no choice in going into. But as the program went on started to enjoy it. I needed help in reading and writing and he helped me improve. He volunteered some of his time with helping students understand what they are learning.

Mr. Strong taught me to have fun, to work efficiently, and how to improve on my own. He taught me life lessons I will cherish and remember forever.

Sometimes children do not need to be treated differently, but instead, they need a mentor to teach then the correct way to learn for them and Mr. Strong helped me find my way of learning.