August
28
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Miss Stoopenkoff, a first-class teacher by Raina Telgemeier
As an author with a social media presence, I interact with amazing teachers every day on the internet. There are lots of teachers in my personal life as well: My mom teaches elementary school, my best friend Theresa teaches high school English, and my brother-in-law Rob has recently graduated to the role of principal at a New York City public school.
One of my very favorite teachers was also one of my first. Miss Stoopenkoff made up for her giggle-inducing name with a rock-solid foundation year for learning the basics. Beyond the usual reading, writing and arithmetic, we planted a garden that grows to this day, made stone soup, and took a special field trip to her house—where we met her dog and cats, ate cookies, and were shocked to learn that she was a person just like the rest of us. On Halloween she dressed up as a mime, and played the part by not speaking a single word to us for the entire day. Try that with a room full of six-year-olds sometime—we were completely under her spell.
One of my favorite projects in her class was one that lasted all year. Each student kept a diary, and every couple of days, we’d receive a prompt: What do you want to be when you grow up? (A farmer or a trapeze artist!) Who are the people in your family? (My mom, my dad, and my baby sister Amara!) Then, we would write a diary entry in the form of a letter. (I liked drawing pictures to illustrate my entries, too.) We handed them in, and a few days later, we’d receive Miss Stoopenkoff’s written reply! Plus a cool scratch-n-sniff sticker, if the writing was good.
Having my first bits and pieces of writing be acknowledged and answered was a real thrill for me. Sharing an ongoing conversation in a diary felt like sharing a secret with a friend. Miss Stoopenkoff took the time not only to praise and critique our writing, but to answer our questions, consider our thoughts, and respect our opinions. Opening up that little black diary with my name on the cover and seeing a new reply from her felt like Christmas morning, every single time.
I wrote in a personal diary of my own starting in fifth grade, and did so all the way through college. The illustrations that accompanied the entries became more elaborate, and before long I was writing comics about my day, almost every day. Those years of journaling absolutely informed my love for writing memoir and autobiography, and although nobody read or replied to my personal diary entries, they paved the way for the kinds of graphic novels I write today.
Perhaps one of these days I’ll write a first-grade memoir, to pay tribute to Miss Stoopenkoff, a first-class teacher.
Raina Telgemeier is the author and illustrator of the graphic novels Smile and Drama, both #1 New York Times bestsellers. She also adapted and illustrated four graphic novel versions of Ann M. Martin’s Baby-sitters Club series, and has contributed short stories to many anthologies – including Comics Squad: Recess!. Raina’s accolades include an Eisner Award, a Boston Globe-Horn Book Honor, a Stonewall Honor, and many Best Of and Notable lists. Her newest graphic novel, Sisters, is a companion to Smile. Raina lives and works in Queens, NY, with her cartoonist husband, Dave Roman. You can find her online at www.goRaina.com.
Nerdy Book Club 
I love Miss Stoopenkoff! Why can’t every teacher be like her? I would DEFINITELY read a book about her!
I loved SMILE! I just got a review copy of SISTERS and I can’t wait to read it! I agree with Ms. Petrillo – write a book about Miss Stoopenkoff! 🙂
Miss Stoopenkoff sounds like the teacher we want to be and for each and every one of our kids to have. Yes, a book about her, please!!
I love that you appreciated that Miss Stoopenkoff replied to your diary entries. I incorporated diary writing into my year one (and two) classes. Every day, first thing the morning, the children would write to me, telling me anything at all that they wished. Every day I would write back to them. I loved reading the things they would tell me. Sometimes the conversation could continue over days. Sometimes they would tell me something different each day. Over time, it was wonderful to see the development, not only in their writing, but also in what they shared with me. Each time they finished a book (I stapled a number of pages together) I would put them aside. At the end of the year I would bundle them up to be taken home to read with their parents – a special record of their school year, their thoughts, hopes, dreams and experiences. I know few others who did this writing every day. Most considered the 20-30 minutes it took for me to respond each day too great a commitment. I felt it was time well spent. The students had a real reason for writing and valued the communication as much as I did. Thanks for sharing your experience. 🙂
Norah, I love hearing a similar story from a teacher’s point of view. I guarantee this exercise meant a lot to your students! Thanks for sharing!
I love this experiance, and I think that when people just say I LOVE YOUR BOOK, it doesn’t mean as much. Now I am a little older, but when Smile just came out, I read it with my younger brother Gabe, and he loved it so much that he wrote a paper about it for me. I also love Smile, and my niece is about to get braces and is feeling a little self consiensious. Do you have any advice that I could give her? She admires you alot, she even wrote her own comic books because you inspired her. Leaving on a high note, please contact me at jon5nickers5 at gmail.com, if you have any advice for my neice.
From,
Jon
Raina, Thank you for sharing your first-hand experiences with meaningful writing and feedback from your teacher. I know we would all love to read your first-grade memoir some day:)
What a great post. My first grade teacher holds a special place in my heart and is the reason that Miss Nelson is Missing is still one of my favorite books of all time. As a teacher, I often reflect on what made an impact on me as a child and I try to incorporate that into my teaching.
I have to tell you, I reached out to you on twitter last week mentioning that my single copy of Smile is currently my most coveted book in my 5th grade classroom. This is my third year teaching and having read Reading in the Wild by Donalyn Miller this summer, it has completely transformed my teaching. I have had kids more excited about reading in my first three days of fifth grade than in my first two years. Letting kids choose what they read is such a powerful idea. One I wish more teachers would embrace.
I purchased two more copies of Smile for my class and I can honestly say that some of the most reluctant readers are hooked. Thanks for helping me light a fire under my students. What you are doing is so powerful, it’s changing our kids everyday.
Thanks again. Hilltop’s Fifth Grade loves you!!
What a great story and fantastic class picture! Miss Stoopenkoff sounds like she was an amazing teacher. I also teach Grade 1 and always love the writing conversations I have with my students in their journals. And yes, please write a first grade memoir! We need more great stories for our beginning readers. 🙂
Thank you, Stacey! I hope this is a great school year for you and your students!
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She sounds great!