Dear Teacher, With Love by Poppy Gee

Did you have a favorite teacher that had major influence on you as a writer?

I grew up in a river city in northern Tasmania, a well-preserved colonial town with grand Georgian architecture and elegant English-style parks. I attended West Launceston Primary School, a suburban school set on about fifty acres of ovals, tree plantations, tennis and basketball courts and playgrounds. It is located 300m from the Launceston Basin picnic ground, an inner city park of deep natural waterholes and rivers, wild forest and manicured lawns, surrounded by mountainous walls. We often walked down there for school outings, to swim in the pools, walk around the hiking trails, or have a end of year barbecue. It's a magical place where wallabies, pademelons and peacocks roam freely. 

It was a small school of 300 students, and classes were composite. Mrs Forster taught grade 1/2. Ms Davies taught grade 3/4. And Mrs Bryan taughter grade 5/6. The great thing about this is students got to know their teachers very well because you had the same teacher for two years. 

It was Mrs Forster who taught me to read, and she encouraged us to do creative writing. There were two students whose stories she often read out loud, and I aspired to be as good as them at writing. As one of the younger children in the class, I wasn't as strong a reader or writer as them, but Mrs Forster always made me feel like I was doing really well. Mrs Forster was beautiful and kind - like Miss Honey in Matilda. 

Ms Davies was another wonderful influence. A free spirit, she spent a lot of time in Nepal. She'd taught there for a year, in a tiny one-room school up in the mountains. Our classroom was decorated with posters depicting Mount Everest and the Himalayas. We had penpals from her Nepalese class, who we exchanged letters with regularly. She had a sister who was a teacher in a small town on Tasmania's east coast, and we were also penpals with the children in her class. When we would go on an excursion, we each had a Nepalese number to recite. Ms Davies asked us to 'number off' in Nepalese - that's how she kept track of us. I adored Ms Davies; she was an example of how to live a life that stretched far beyond the boundaries of smalltown life. The first woman I'd ever met who used the Ms prefix.

My final teacher in primary school was Mrs Bryan. A kind, experienced teacher in her sixties, she was dynamic, energetic, smart and inspiring. I loved being in her class. She encouraged creative writing, there was personal reading time every day, and we would hold discussions about what makes a story work. Her name was Schon, which she told us was German for beautiful. On school camp, she stood in our bunk room each night, telling us made up stories, helping us quieten down in preparation for falling asleep. She taught us to knit, and every child in the class made their own woollen slippers. I still think of her favourite phrase: 'If a job's worth doing, it's worth doing well.' 

Now that I have seen my own three kids move through school, I have a renewed appreciation for primary school teachers. How lucky a child is to have a wonderful teacher in their life. Also, shout out to my, kindy teacher Mrs Masters. Mum said I did the worst paintings or craft - rushing through them just to get outside and play. Mrs Masters let me spend most of my time playing outside, on the bikes or in the sandpit, playing make believe games, which is often where a love of story begins.