W.E. Krill, Jr. M.S.P.C.

I can still remember my Kindergarten teacher. Her name was Mrs. Moore. She was a very small woman. I never realized just how small until, as a young adult and working in a hospital, I got on a crowded elevator, and the very old little lady in a wheelchair stated: “Why Billy Krill, how are you?” I was stunned; I had not recognized her (after about twenty years), but she had recognized me. Out of hundreds of children she had taught, and twenty years, she not only recognized me as a former student, but knew my name? I knew I was not that bad of a kid.

Other than the wooden blocks, the ’play court’ and my friend Walter, the biggest thing I recall was Mrs. Moore’s amazing enthusiasm when she was teaching. And she still had that enthusiasm in her greeting that day. Much is said about teachers, with efforts to balance the rancor of teacher strikes with the warmth of the holiday gift to the great teachers like Mrs. Moore. And then there is the system of school boards, state testing, ‘no child left behind’, and the ‘inclusion’ of the children who used to have their classroom near the boiler in the basement. It all must drain a teacher’s enthusiasm for the craft.

It has all gotten so complicated! I was a proud graduate of Mrs. Moore’s class because I knew my colors, could count to ten, new my address (but I had trouble getting the phone number, let me tell you what), and could skip (not well, but good enough). Now, our little ones have all that down by age three, and are on to what seems to be Algebra I by Kindergarten.

But the essential of teaching remains the same. Talk to any child, from Kindergarten to senior high, and they will tell you quite clearly that the best teachers are those that are very enthusiastic not only about teaching, but about their subject area.  In addition, it appears that the best teachers are also very enthused about the child.  Note I did not say ‘children’.  My experiences with Mrs. Moore illustrate that she taught individual children.

I once serendipitously taught a religion class  in a coed parochial high school for half a school year. While I appreciated the experience, I confess, after over twenty years, I do not remember any of the children’s names I taught. I am not a school teacher, but as counselor, a large part of what I do is educate, and it is part of who I am.

Like most things in life, the basis for education is relationship. Thanks Mrs. Moore, for helping to teach me that most important fact of life.