By Ms. Benner

Third Grade Teacher

Rand Road Elementary School

RL3.3 – Describe characters in a story (e.g., their traits, motivations, or feelings) and explain how their actions contribute to the sequence of events.

RL3.6 – Distinguish their own point of view from that of the narrator or those of the characters.

L3.4c - Use a known root word as a clue to the meaning of an unknown word with the same root (e.g., company / companion).

Students will:

identify characters traits based on what they do and say

infer and support with evidence to make meaning

compare personal point of view to a character's point of view

identify root words to help determine the meaning of unknown words

Why might the author choose to tell the story from one character’s perspective versus another’s?

How can comparing your point of view to the character’s lead to greater understanding?

Why is it important for readers to be able draw conclusions about characters?

How does the understanding of root words help you to be a better reader?

Character traits: The qualities that describe a character

First person: Form of narration where a character speaks for themselves

Infer: To use clues to come to a conclusion

Narrator: The one who tells the story

Perspective: The way you see something

Point of view: The attitude or outlook of a character, narrator, or person

Root words: A word that a prefix and/or suffix can be added to

Third person: Form of narration where a speaker outside of the action tells the story

In 2009, I first came to Rand Road Elementary school as a resource teacher. I had a son in preschool down the road, I was new to the building, and I was in a role where I had to have many meetings with many unfamiliar people. I was nervous, and anxious, and Mr. Cornell was soothing, calming, and warmed my heart when I talked to him.

Katie Beth, Mr. Cornell’s daughter, was just a few years younger than my son Nolan, then an only child. She was my connection to Mr. Cornell, and I have a connection to her. When I was a girl, I was called Katie. She has a connection to me because she has an interest in helping friends with diverse learning styles.

When I first met Mr. Cornell in 2009, we would joyfully fill awkward silences before, during, and after our long meetings with stories of our own children, and adapting and adjusting to our roles as parents. We would have a hearty laugh about some of the lessons we had both been stumbling upon that being teachers couldn’t have prepared us for.

That same year, my first year at Rand, still knowing very few people, I was pregnant, and my husband was deploying as a combat medic to Iraq. It was a difficult time for me because I was five months pregnant, holding many meetings before and after school, and had a little boy at home who couldn’t understand why his daddy had to go away for such a long time. Mr. Cornell never once forgot to inquire about my pregnancy, my son at Garner First Baptist Preschool, or my husband preparing to leave, and always made sure that he had our family on the forefront of his mind so that we could expedite any and all clerical things and get to what mattered, HOME.

My first born son, Nolan graduated pre-K, and then on June 20th, he welcomed a little brother into his life, Hudson Benner. Nolan started kindergarten at Rand, I took maternity leave and then returned, and Nolan’s dad was still in Iraq. During the day I taught, at night, I reassured the little boy at my feet, held my baby, and watched news reports tell of the dangers in Iraq and Afghanistan. I would hope and pray our solider would return safely soon, and try to focus on the positive.

One day I was driving my little boys in my car, down Lake Wheeler Road away from Raleigh and towards Garner. I passed the NC State Agriculture land, the Yeats Mill Grist Mill, and was thankful for the serene beauty. As I sat at a red light, I heard the news report of a major explosion in Bagdhad, killing hundreds of people, and knowing my husband, the combat medic, was near that location.

It all seemed to go in slow motion. I remember clinching the steering wheel and reminding myself I needed to be calm, bring the boys to daycare, get to my job, and seek more information. I could hear my Grandmother’s voice speaking all of her words, don’t overreact, get your ducks in a row, breathe, but in that moment, it was so hard to keep my cool.

I successfully arrived at work, immediately saw Mr. Cornell, and lost it. I was panicked, and certainly irrational, and needed to compose myself because my students would be there shortly.

Mr. Cornell told me to breathe, wanted to take my blood pressure, and reminded me that I needed to be in good health for my boys. I went to my room, and began searching on websites for more about the story. Not knowing made me feel very helpless and out of control. It wasn’t long before Mr. Cornell came down and stood over my shoulder, reading, skimming, scanning, trying to calm me with his words.

That day was a pivotal day for me, as a parent, as a teacher, as a colleague, and as an individual. It also changed the rest of my life, as our marriage and family was forever changed by the things my soldier husband saw, endured, and tried to overcome from that massive explosion.

I was now aware that for everyone, NOT JUST ME, horrific things out of our control would happen in life, and that we would have to pick ourselves up and carry on, for the sake of our families. However, that is NEVER an easy task, especially when those who have not been through a similar ordeal enjoy telling you how you should act, react, or deal with things.

As life continued on for me, still teaching, still parenting, and welcoming a soldier home from combat, life handed me multiple ordeals at a time, as it does to all of us. Our family tried to adapt to a soldier reintegrating to driving, time changes, nightmares, food, and more . It eventually was best for our family to separate. When we did, I broke my wrist, and was now a single mother with an arm in a cast to a toddler in diapers, and a second grader. I knew, though, that I was in the right place, because Mr. Cornell had already helped to show me that kindness and warmth existed, and that community would help me to overcome these times as well. “This too shall pass”, as my grandmother would tell me.

Divorce is something that sixty percent of our country goes through, so it’s a common experience for many of us, and I experienced it as a child when my parents split, in a city where no one else had divorced parents. For some reason, it sometimes feels like a dirty secret and could provoke you to feel embarrassed and sorry for yourself. I felt broken on the inside, and on the outside. I had a cast for a painful broken wrist, and couldn’t even put my coat on or change my son’s diaper. These were hard days for me.

I went to school, heart heavy, wrist broken, and did my best to do a good job, in spite of how hard it was to type and teach with the pain. I then found out that I needed emergency surgery and risked losing the ability of my wrist. I went to Mr. Cornell, and data dumped all the worries and woes onto him in passing. He looked exasperated and threw his arms up in the air as if to say, “You do NOT need any more on your plate right now!”

Mr. Cornell patted my back and told me to get the surgery right away. I told him that I needed to do sub plans, and didn’t have the help I needed because I was now a single mom with two boys on my own. My mother lives in Garner, and was the reason I came to Rand when I learned my husband would be leaving for Iraq when would be teaching with a baby and a little boy in kindergarten. I needed her help so that I could hold meetings. She originally moved from North Carolina to help with Nolan when he was two. I was indeed fortunate to have her, but she was one person, and could only help with the boys, OR bring me to the hospital for surgery.

This was a defining moment, again, where I learned that a job is a job, a building is a building, and people are people…..but COMMUNITY is what makes a difference.

Mr. Cornell slowly explained to me that as a mother with young boys, I needed my wrist, and that he would take the day off, drive me to hospital, and stay with me to take me home after surgery.

After my surgery I was home with my two little boys, trying to keep my new wrist still so as not to do further damage . It was complete with steel plate, pins, donor bone marrow, and staples. Mr. and Mrs. Cornell, who live nearby off in Cary, came to my home to bring the boys and I food as I healed. When I returned to work struggling, Mr. Cornell would say at the end of an after school meeting, “May I bring a bucket of chicken by for you and the boys on my way home?”

Mr. Cornell has his own family with a wife, also an administrator, and a beautiful little girl, now in second grade at Rand Road. He works late, long hours, and sits in meetings until 7 pm with his staff, laughing, smiling, consoling, encouraging, and remaining professional. He ALWAYS puts children first, and always listens to temporary and lunatic like ranting from his teachers so that we can exhale, breathe, and regain our sanity to focus on what’s important, children at school, and our families at home. He honors the words community, human kindness, and family values.

Lately, with changes in laws and funding, changes in teacher requirements, talks of losing tenure, unchanging pay, new evaluation systems, and new technology, it often appears that everything is crumbling for teachers. We don’t feel like we are successful at anything, being teachers, children, siblings, parents, and colleagues. Mr. Cornell greets us with an empathetic nod and a dash of humor. His daughter waits patiently for him, and though she appears weary that her dad is in such high demand, it’s evident that she’s always proud of him. What’s more is that she herself exhibits the same character traits as he does within her school community.

Mr. Cornell has been in the business of education for twenty five years. He was an English teacher. He was also a driving instructor, where he taught Ms. Jennifer Dudley to drive, who sometimes tailgated him to work from Cary. He is a shining example that though we are all busy, and have families of our own, we ALL have time to be good people and to make a notable difference in the people around us with our consideration and acts of kindness.