Issue link: http://educator.cta.org/i/99816
CHRISTINA SPAIN TEMPLE: Dried seasoned cod���sh. DIANA DECAMP: A used breast pump! It was 1986 and my ���rst year of teaching. I was single and childless. A little boy took it from his mom���s closet, put it in a bag and handed it to me with a smile��� dry milk and all! :) OLGA GARCIA CABRERA: A rock about the size of the palm of my hand��� it had a sticky note that said ���Hola Se��ora.��� ANNELENA BACON FORS: Chicken feathers. SHELLEY TEMPLETON BENNETT: Flan, buttermilk syrup with a recipe for pancakes, and Oreos��� all homemade from three brothers I���ve had in the last ���ve years. Delicious! Lucky for me, there are two younger siblings. MONICA C DE C: A ���fth-grade student gave me a 5-foot teddy bear! I still have it��� But you should have seen me try to put it in my small car. SPENCER HOLMES: A dead shark in a jar, and a frozen pet hamster. :-/ BIRDIE FORSYTHE: A pair of zebra slippers. I keep them under my desk and put them on after school when I need comfort! MARK GALIPEAU: SHARON M. DONOVAN: A cupcake with all the frosting carefully licked off! JENNIFER KEB BROUSSARD: A gummy bear from the child���s pocket. One year I was presented with a used change purse full of little treasures��� Barbie shoes, a quarter, a baby chick foam craft, and string. She���d gone shopping in her room! SHIRLEY CASALLAS: Rod Stewart���s greatest hits CD. I teach kindergarten, and our school is two blocks away from the Wiltern Theatre in Los Angeles��� how rock ���n��� roll of him��� he���s in eighth grade now :) CARRIE BROWN: A completed puzzle of the Constitution and a ���ag. It was glued onto newspaper. Orange lace and pearls were hot-glued to the edges. I opened it in class and as I ripped the paper a ROACH crawled out��� Instant chaos. CHUCK OLYNYK: A surprise birthday party for the (recently) single teacher, which involved inviting every single teacher and substitute on campus. A pedicure! My ���rst one. MARY FURLONG: LISA PHINNEY BERGHAUS: A used electric razor. It An Eiffel Tower made of gingerbread cookies! Beautiful! was pink and obviously her mom���s. I was teaching third grade. I will never forget it, lol��� SONIA D��AZ: Anti-wrinkle cream :| ERIKA BRUCE DRYER: Sheets ���) so my clothes would smell good. LESLIE BRANDON MACHADO: An old motorcycle magazine from one of my 6-year-old students who lived in the dorm at a school for the deaf. She found it at her house and wrapped it with a piece of string all by herself. She was so excited to give it to me! I���ll never forget her or her heartfelt present. DENA ELFERS: A lava lamp��� ELIZABETH BERNHARDT: Last year for Christmas I got a purse with deodorant in it. DEDE HEIMBIGNER: $2.50��� It was his lunch money :-) SAMANTHA CARR: A 99�� Store year-old mug with candy from Halloween, as a Christmas gift! A little dust included :) JAY DAVIS: Five years after he graduated, a student let me go from a speeding ticket after lecturing me on citizenship. He had joined the local police force. DARYL MYERS: An Edgar Allan Poe bobblehead. He has a raven on his arm and shakes his head instead of nods. ���Nevermore,��� indeed! TERESA WHITESIDE: A live chicken! I had to walk it home on a leash I had made from my shoestrings��� I was teaching in Nigeria and had no idea how to carry a live gift! TAIANN KNETGE GORDON: A used Christmas Santa teakettle and mugs that were all chipped. But I liked it. MARY KNAUS SAMPSON: Dinner for my family and me at her family-owned Chinese restaurant. WENDY DILLINGHAM-PLEW: 6-foot-long air-pressured water balloon cannon. For science, of course! SONIA CRUZ-PLANCARTE: An angel-teacher with books. December 2012 ��� January 2013 www.cta.org 39