One measure of the teacher's willingness to give of himself to his students, is willingness to spend time with them. One difficulty here is the narrow thinking that often prevails about what it means to teach. To teach means more than to lecture or explain before a group of students. The best teachers influence their students more in their personal, individual contacts with them than in strict classroom situations. If A teacher plans on shaping a students character in the right way, he must know that individual. And how is he or she supposed to know that individual if he spends little or no time with him or her alone? Mrs. Hopeley connected with the children in a special way when she would take time to spend with them alone in the learning closet. She was never quick to anger with her students and since a child will naturally emulate what he sees bigger people doing he will also be slow t anger.
             Many teachers don't concentrate on trying to build a students character. Some teachers don't take time to work with individual pupils. I believe that a classroom enviroment would be greatly increased in effectiveness if teachers would become more of a friend and mentor rather than just a grouchy teacher.
             In the poem "Tornado Drill" we can see how the teacher Mrs. Wells was calm and in control when the tornado siren rang and she quickly reminded the children it would be just like their drills. She had taught the students a valuable lesson that was more than just memorization. Because she had taught them to obey rules and also to respect and to protect females they were all safe after the tornado.
             ...