Teacher Appreciation Week: share your stories of favorite teachers | OregonLive.com

Teacher Appreciation Week: share your stories of favorite teachers | OregonLive.com

Teacher Appreciation Week: share your stories of favorite teachers

By Wendy Owen, The Oregonian

May 03, 2010, 12:17PM

Today is the first day of Teacher Appreciation Week and in celebration of all the teachers who have made a difference in a student's life, no matter how small, The Oregonian's five education reporters decided to share stories of our favorite teachers.

We'll run one every day this week, and we invite readers to tell us their stories as well.

Here's my story:

There was something about my fourth-grade teacher Mrs. (Ruth) Ronning.

A tall, slender distinguished woman, she never once raised her voice. She didn't have to. No one wanted to disappoint her. We wanted to make her proud.

Mrs. Ronning -- I still can't call her by her first name -- taught at Poly Drive School in Billings, Mont.

She wasn't a motherly or snuggly type of teacher. In fact, Mrs. Ronning was a tough cookie, who in her quiet, sweet way insisted on independence.

Sure, you could ask her a question, but she rarely offered an answer. Instead, she encouraged you to find it yourself. When you figured it out, Mrs. Ronning sat you down and made sure you understood how proud she was of you.

"I knew you could do it," she would quietly say as if you were the only one in the world.

Independence, of course, builds confidence, which I was sorely lacking.

I stopped by the school to visit Mrs. Ronning a few times before she retired in the 1990s. Each time, she sat me down and wanted to know what I'd