The first day of second semester junior year made me nervous. I had chosen to take modern literature, a class predominately made up of seniors and rumored to be hard. None of my friends knew my teacher, Mrs. Fellmeth. I was afraid.
Walking into class, everybody was anxious. The seniors were jittery, ready to graduate. The two other juniors in the class looked like I did, wondering to themselves why did I take this class? Then Mrs. Fellmeth introduced herself, telling an amusing story about how her husband proved he knew judo—by flipping her over onto a couch. I started to rethink my doubts about the class; after all, if the teacher can share an embarrassing story and laugh about it, how bad can she be?
In the time I had Mrs. Fellmeth as a teacher, she brought life to characters in books. Her style of teaching is not the plain and dry style of past English teachers. Instead, she relates our lives to the lives of the characters, our problems to their problems, which helps us understand why reading the book is important.
To help us understand Indian culture better, Mrs. Fellmeth let us watch “Bride and Prejudice,” a popular Bollywood movie based on Pride and Prejudice. The movie not only was fun to watch, but it also helped us broaden our horizons when it came to acclimating to another culture.
The Body of Christopher Creed is not the most riveting book on Earth, but with Mrs. Fellmeth teaching it, the book seemed as exciting as an Indiana Jones adventure. She highlighted the subtext, showing us the symbolism and underlying theme of rebirth. Mrs. Fellmeth related our lives to that of Christopher Creed and Torey Adams. We understood why they were anguished and confused after her class discussions.
Her projects at the end of each book were amusing and creative. Before starting The True Story of Hansel and Gretel, Mrs. Fellmeth let us make up our own versions of classic fairytales. I had Snow White, and instead of a poisonous apple, I used poisonous peanut butter cups.
Books we read in class often dealt with sensitive issues hard to openly relate to. Mrs. Fellmeth had no problem sharing her own life’s faults. Her stories about were interesting and enlightening. I never thought a teacher would become so personable, but she did by telling us her problems when she was younger, the troubles she encountered in life. It showed us that nobody’s life is perfect; imperfection isn’t just found within the pages of a book.
Mrs. Fellmeth deserves to win because she connects with the students and brightens our days with her discussions, her creative and witty projects, and her interesting and enlightening stories. But that is Mrs. Fellmeth in essence as a teacher: witty, creative, interesting, and enlightening.