School Daze: Grade 4

Day 198

Ah 4th grade... ...one of my favorite grades and that is because I had a guy teacher. Guy teachers were not the norm at Sifton and I was lucky that I got a guy teacher this time in Mr. Swan.

I (2nd guy from right to left on the 2nd row) made some real good friends in this class. I was happy that I was in the same class as my best friend Alvin Tam (fourth guy going left to right on the 2nd row). I remember he was a super good artist and was very creative and we hit it off. I used to go to his grandma's house after school and play. I originally was not supposed to be in this class but something happened to my other class and I was sent a few days into the school year into Mr. Swan's class.

They added a desk to the row near the door and I sat in front of Carrie Huber. I had a pretty big crush on her throughout the year and I made every effort to make her laugh. Sometimes it worked and sometimes I went a little too far.

Even Mr. Swan agreed. Sometimes I tried to hard to be funny.

Mr. Swan was awesome. His class was a lot of fun. Reading and writing was his biggest drive and would constantly hone us in reading and writing. I remember he used to make us take Dictation and would really try to trick us. He would also read to us after lunch almost every day. And I totally remember some of the books he read to us during the year. He read "Island of the Blue Dolphins" and "The Secret of Shark Reef" to us and they instantly made an impact on me. It was in his class that I learned to love to read and to write stories.

As you can see he really drove us to read. A lot of my love for reading came from this man.

Mr. Swan was always proud of my creative writing abilities even though my hand writing was not that great. He told me that he looked forward to my stories since they were always so exciting and creative. That meant a lot to me. I wrote an Indiana Jones story called "Indiana Jones and the Lost Caverns" and even though it pretty much ripped off Raiders of the Lost Ark, Mr. Swan was impressed by my writing. I got my paper back and this was all that was on it was the word "Wow!!"

As you can see not only did Mr. Swan love my story but I had some kissing in it.

I loved learning about new things but I did struggle in one subject more than others. Surprisingly it was Art. I love Art and would take A.P. Art later on in high school but I was not a fan of construction paper-type of art. I wanted to draw, I wanted to paint, I didn't want to make cut-out snowflakes. I didn't mind doing the clay projects but everything else didn't interest me at all. I didn't know that my teacher picked up on this.

I wonder if I just sat at my desk looking blankly at the wall.

This year I also was awarded a Gold Fitness Award. The year before I got the Silver and I was so happy that I improved.

I later found out when I joined the Ukulele club that Mr. Swan could play the bass. He would bring in his huge bass and plunk along with us. He would twirl it and get fancy too. He was such a cool teacher and I remember wanting to be like him and teach also. I used to have a school desk and I would play school and I would pretend to be him.

Mr. Swan will always be one of my favorite teachers and I am thankful that he motivated me to try my hardest and get me to read.