WEA Fourth Corner

Arlington Student wins WEA

"Most Memorable Teacher" Essay Contest

Caroline Rensel and Danielle Osting

On June 14, Eric Grant, President of Arlington Education Association and Edna Barnhouse-Lopez, WEA Fourth Corner, presented Caroline Rensel with a Certificate and a $150 Amazon.com gift certificate for her essay about her most memorable teacher-Danielle Osting.  

Danielle is an elementary teacher at President's Elementary.  She was very honored and touched by Caroline's essay.  WEA presented Danielle with a crystal/marble award to commemorate the event.

Caroline made sure to give Denise Jackson (her 7th grade teacher) credit  for assisting with editing the essay.  Her class at Post Middle School also shared in Caroline's good fortune with a Pizza Party.  

Please read Caroline's wonderful winning essay.

On the first day of fifth grade, I entered Mrs. Osting's classroom. Rumors had been flying about the fifth-grade teachers, and everyone was nervous. However, I had never even heard of this teacher! Over time I learned to love and appreciate her. With hard work, interesting projects, and fun, Mrs. Osting taught us an abundance of things that I still use today.

First, Mrs. Osting taught us to labor over learning. Every night we read and practiced math. There were rewards for this, like candy, but the biggest was that I became good at math. I can also recall toiling over books, doing work sheets on them. I got a three on the first one, and she said she knew I could do better. From then on, I tried to do better than my best. She also read to us, and then we could forget we were in a classroom and be magically transported to another place. Mrs. Osting always seemed proud of us; she was like a second mother.

Additionally, we did fun, riveting projects and we hardly noticed we were learning. One project was the wax museum, where you presented someone from history that you admired. I chose Elizabeth Blackwell, but I really looked up to my teacher. We made model rockets, and I enjoy rockets as a hobby. It's satisfying to launch a miniature missile into sunlight and clouds. Thanks to my sensational teacher, I did that. We did art projects, including making strange masks. The masks were made using different kinds of beans. My wonderful instructor praised the uniqueness of mine, which eased the tedious work of gluing every bean. Learning was fun and rewarding, if you worked hard.

Meanwhile, fun, recognition, and rewards for doing or behaving well were always present. Twice a year she'd get a big cake for everyone's birthday. I have never had a teacher who brought in cakes for her students. Extra recess was a treat every Friday if you behaved well. At first I was a bit lonely during these times, but I had fun talking to Mrs. Osting. For multiplication you would take a short test, and if you passed, you got to have pizza with Mrs. Osting. I was part of the first group to get this pleasure, and was delighted to stay in with the others who had this honor. Mrs. Osting was always nice to us, and these treats made being in her classroom a marvelous experience.

Finally, Mrs. Osting was special because she always seemed to have a smile of encouragement. At the last assembly of sixth grade, I played the piano in front of the school, and saw her taking pictures and beaming at me. That really touched me. What makes a great teacher? Making you learn, rewarding, being creative. Mrs. Osting is all of these and more. When you can feel how much a person wants you to be successful, you are looking at an outstanding person who will change your life.