Report on Young Nadel: conscientious but chatty

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If you've ever moved from one house/apartment to another -- even across town, let alone hundreds of miles away as I have -- you know that moving isn't much fun.

One fun thing: Discovering stuff during unpacking.

I found a packet of my Kay Avenue Elementary School report cards that my parents saved for me, and some of the teacher comments are too funny.

From Miss Funteral, my kindergarten teacher:

Michael's work could be a hundred percent better if he would pay attention to my directions and learn to keep his mouth closed. He has a very active mind, and is capable of catching on to anything, but he is very busy fooling with the other children. If his behavior would improve, so would his work.

Even at 5 years old, I apparently had a very active social life.

Oh, and by the way, didn't this teacher have the best name for kindergarten? I mean, you can't spell Funteral without F-U-N!

From Mrs. Magyar, my first-grade teacher:

Michael's health habits should match his grades.

I guess I was quite the slob. One thing I know for sure from looking at old pictures: I wore lots of hand-me-down clothes. And not just from Lee, my closest-in-age sibling at 6 years older, but from Al, who is 12 years my senior. So I probably looked like quite the ragamuffin. How's that for an excuse? (It probably doesn't account for why I never combed my hair, though.)

From Mrs. Klein, my second-grade teacher:

Michael's reading is still too fast and sometimes lacks appropriate expression.

Hey, Mrs. Klein, I've got an appropriate expression for you right here!

And here's some absolutely wonderful stuff from Miss Rogowski, my third-grade teacher:

First Marking Period: Michael is a very conscientious student. However, he does a little too much talking.

Second Marking Period: Michael is very conscientious, but does too much talking.

Third Marking Period: Michael is conscientious, but still does too much talking.

Fourth Marking Period: Michael is conscientious, but has done too much talking.

So, let me get this straight: I was a little too chatty but at least I was conscientious, right?

I must have cleaned up my act after that, because neither Mrs. Wilson (4th grade) nor Mrs. Stella (5th grade) made any comments at all. And Miss Goodman had this to say at the end of 6th grade:

Working with a student like Mike is one of the things that make teaching a pleasure. Keep up the good work, Mike!

Wow. No wonder I had a crush on Miss Goodman.
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