The Mr. Borilla Project

Patricia Polacco wrote a wonderful narrative about the teacher who had the most influence on her: Thank You, Mr. Falker.  In the spirit of that wonderful picture book, I challenge all students and former students to write a narrative about their most influential teacher…as a “thank you.”

Now I am not saying I’m some type of Patricia Polacco, but I have been telling stories about the teacher who influenced me the most–Mr. Mike Borilla–for years.  You can read my memoirs about him at my own website: http://www.corbettharrison.com/borilla.html

A narrative can be a paragraph, a page, picture book, or an novel!  Great teachers leave us memories that are worthy of narratives of any size.  If you have a narrative to share, simply type/paste your paragraph about him/her into the “leave a reply” box below.   Describe how they inspired you, or tell a quick story about what a typical day/class was like with this teacher.  Extra credit well be generously awarded to anyone who posts a picture of himself/herself–or of their influential teacher–when they post.

Once your short description has been approved by our moderator, it will be made public here at this webpage.  Thank you for sharing with our community!

For the poets out there, I challenge you to compose an original poem about that teacher from your past who made a difference.  In Nikki Grimes’ awesome chapter book, Bronx Masquerade, students share important life moments in the form of short narratives, and then those same students tell the same stories in the form of short poems.  This is a great revision activity; if your students have written a narrative, challenge them to turn it into a poem with the same message.

No rules for these poems to post here.  Simply capture your teacher’s impact with a poem that celebrates him/her.

Simply type or copy/paste your poem into the “Leave a Comment” box below.  It will be published here once it is approved by the moderator.