My 3rd grade teacher Mrs Stokes was a master of child psychology. In the year which I spent in her class she convinced me that I was possibly the dumbest child to have ever drawn breath. She attempted to place in me "special needs" classes and HISD subjecteded me to not one but two IQ tests at her bequest. I was tested twice, because Mrs Stokes successfully convinced the principal that the person who administered the first test OBVIOUSLY made a mistake. The second test showed precisely what the first had shown. I was far from intellectually challenged.
While I wasn't the "special needs" case that Mrs Stokes had painted me to be I needed a teacher who could have undone the damage that she had obviously done to my psyche.
Every school has that one teacher whom the kids (and some of the teachers) both respect and fear. At Alcott Elementary in Houston, Texas that teacher was Mrs. Lola Blackmon. Mrs Blackmon taught 4th grade and was known for not taking any attitude from any student or parent and swinging a mean paddle. As I and Mrs Stokes' outgoing students stood in the hallway outside her door we watched as the fourth grade teachers walked up to class after class and read the names of their new students off the clip boards they carried.
I can't speak for my classmates, but I stood there praying the way that only an 8 year old boy could for my name NOT to have been on Mrs Blackmon's list. She was a short, stout woman with skin the color of a freshly poured cup of black coffee. She walked up to my group without expression and peered though her big bi-focals and read four names:
"Davis, Johnny. Garner Frank, HANDY, JESSE. Spiller Willie. Come with me boys." We were in shock. We were too scared to move, but her reputation with a paddle made us more frightened of staying put. From day one Mrs Blackmon let it be known that she would expect nothing less than our best at all times. We would respect, ourselves, one another and her at all times and if we didn't there were consequences. The first time she was out we gave a substitute teacher hell on earth. On her return, EVERY student (except those who were absent) got a paddling for disrespecting a sub. Needless to say every sub we had after that told her how "Well behaved" we were.
For reasons I didn't understand she was particularly hard on me personally. She always gave me extra assignments. I didn't complain, I was too afraid of her to have said anything. There were times when my classmates would be at recess and she would give me lengthy vocabulary lists or reading assignments. At the end of the school year Mrs Blackmon pulled me aside when my classmates were playing dodgeball and said "Jesse you're probably wondering why I gave you so much extra work this year aren't you." I was too afraid of her to answer. "Tell the truth."
"Yes ma'am." I replied sheepishly. She then told me about how Mrs Stokes had initially tried to retain me in the 3rd grade and when that failed how she had attempted to have me placed in special needs classes. After hearing about how Mrs Stokes had convinced the principal to test me a 2nd time Mrs Blackmon told the principal that she would gladly take me into her class and prove that Mrs. Jane Stokes had simply given up on me far too soon.
I was fortunate to have had my own personal Henry Higgins in the form of Mrs Lola Blackmon. The following year I and several of Mrs. Blackmon's former students were placed in the gifted and talented program. I didn't realize it at the time, but I actually enjoyed the things she made me read. I enjoyed being able to do vocabulary exercises without a dictionary and I enjoyed writing.
In high school and later in college I would occasionally venture by Alcott Elementary to see how my teacher was doing. Whenever I did, I got Mrs. Blackmon's trademark smile and a huge hug. One day while talking to a concierge in Houston Center I mentioned Mrs Blackmon and the impact she had had on me early on. As luck would have it, the concierge was in her very first class when she taught at Sunnyside Elementary.
We laughed and joked about her for a moment then he hit me with a devastating blow. He'd informed me that the greatest teacher I had ever known, had passed away a few months earlier. There were hundreds at the funeral, most in attendance had been former students. I'm not ashamed to admit that I stood there and openly wept for Mrs Lola Blackmon.
Today I work for HISD and whenever I can I try to rise to the incredible standard which she set. There are times when I will ask myself 'How WOULD Mrs Blackmon handle this?' when faced with a perplexing issue.
We encounter many people in the course of our lives. Some we forget instantaneously, some we find memorable, others make a profound impact. I'm happy and proud to say that Lola Blackmon made an impact. Who knows, maybe one day years from now, someone may say the same of a kid who sat in the front of Mrs Lola Blackmon's 4th grade class in 1979.
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