Some KU-related love from former students

Hi all,

Hope every has been enjoying summer in whatever way makes them happy.

I’ve been meaning to share the following set of emails since, well, our KU bball team won the National Championship back in April. But time just got away from me.

For those of you who do not know, I’ve been teaching fifth grade in Brooklyn, NY for the past 20 years.

So below are a few emails from three former students and parent (of three former students of mine). I put them in reverse chronological order.

Hope you get a kick out of it…and I hope KU is the same position this coming March/April so more emails come rolling in

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From: Mustafa (5th grade class of 2013)
Sent: Monday, April 4, 2022 11:46 PM
To: Andrew Portnoy
Subject: Kansas Jayhawks NCAA Title

Hey Mr. P! Big win for your Jayhawks! I was watching the National Championship game and thinking of you, remembering how much you care for this squad. Finally, those 5th graders will get no homework as you promised haha. Take care.

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From: Tom
Sent: Monday, April 4, 2022 8:29 PM
To: Andrew Portnoy
Subject: Jayhawks

Hello Mr. Portnoy,

Good luck to your Jayhawks tonight.

Tom (dad of Caroline (’17), Elizabeth ('18) and Abigail ('21), all alums of yours)
And Laura

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From: Oliver (5th grade class of 2017)
Sent: Saturday, April 2, 2022 7:50 PM
To: Andrew Portnoy
Subject: Kansas

Dear Mr. Portnoy,
I hope everything is going well. Kansas looks like they’re going to bring it home this year!! I’m sure your 5th graders are excited they won’t have homework. I’ve been wearing the hoodie I won in your class all week. Duke looks pretty strong, but I really hope win!

Sincerely,
Oliver

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From: Lucas (5th grade class of 2012)
Sent: Monday, March 14, 2022 11:42 PM
To: Andrew Portnoy
Subject: The Best Time of the Year

Hey Mr. Portnoy!

Hope all is well with you. I'm realizing just now that we haven't spoken in forever. Just filling out brackets and remembering who got me to love college basketball in the first place. I'll send one over once mine is finalized. I think I'll go with your strategy of having one where Villanova wins, and another with someone else taking it.

What do you think of Kansas this year? Agbaji is incredible to watch. I made it out to the Big East Championship game at the Garden last weekend to see Villanova lock up a (possibly undeserved) 2 seed, but nonetheless.

Hope everything is going well for you right now! Would love to chat if you ever have any time. I think you might still have my number, but it's (917) --- ---- just in case.

Best,
Lucas
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Lucas
Villanova University Class of 2023

Port, thanks for sharing. I enjoyed the mere fact that your students are continuing to keep you in mind and correspond with you. I have had the opportunity to share my life story a number of times and I tell of 4 men who had a radical impact on my life. One was my 5th grade teacher. He truly a very probably saved me from a path that could have been devastating and instead helped me to choose a path that resulted in a wonderful life. So please know that a 5th grade teacher can be profoundly important and influential on a life. After my father died when I was in 8th grade and I immediately dived into a life of incredible self destruction (not intentionally it just turned out that way) my 5th grade teacher was the only person who reached out to me and extended a hand that eventually led me to choosing to go to college and finding KU. I would never have gone to KU without him. Even my high school counselor (small school — Lansing High) refused to help me in any way. He said I was as certain as any student he ever saw to end up in that other Lansing institution (Kansas State Penitentiary). He would have nothing to do with me, But my 5th grade teacher who knew me before my father died saw something in me that no one else saw. He personally invested in me and helped me to open doors that I never dreamed of like going to college. That was never an option for me financially or culturally. No one in my family had ever been to college and my mom only knew of riots and so forth. But my 5th grade teacher convinced me college was not only an option but one that was for me. I hold him in the highest esteem and am forever grateful for him. We formed a bond in that brief year that yielded fruit for a lifetime. Keep up the good work Port. You are impacting and changing lives.

Don, this explains a LOT! Who was your 5th grade teacher?

Wow! Corpus, your story kept reminding me why we do what we do as teachers.

Appreciate you sharing the story Corpus and appreciate the kind words.

This article is from one my teacher publications and it's written by a teacher (currently 50 years old and a former teacher of the year). I mention that it's written by a teacher b/c most of the articles in these pubs are written by researchers.

I will add that most of what he says I wholeheartedly agree with.

www.aft.org/ae/spring2022/albrecht