![]() Khachatoorian as when I developed the idea that anything could be possible for me. And so I will always regard that year with Mrs. Other students may need to be coaxed, cajoled, or bribed to do a task (and she employed those methods, too!), but she seemed to know what would work for me. Khachatoorian really seeing me and giving me no way to make excuses or be less than my potential. I remember my mom in the audience smiling the whole time. That role was parlayed into a role as Santa Claus in a play for the school Christmas program in December of that year. I ended up performing in the play in that lead role and I was able to remember all the lines everything went fine. I think I whimpered weakly and said okay, but I definitely slunk away. She quickly cut me off and with a hint of rage, “Paul, you do it or you don't do it at all!” “Would it be okay if I changed to the other pumpkin part because I don't know if I can remember so many lines…” She turned around and inquired unimpressed, “What do you want, Paul?” ![]() I tapped her shoulder during an opportune moment in class. ![]() Within a day, I gathered the will to approach Mrs. I shuddered at the idea of so much memorization. Immediately I noticed that the lead pumpkin role had twenty lines and the smaller roles only had about ten. The play mainly was a long dialogue among pumpkins about the joy of Halloween. The play consisted of three characters, a lead pumpkin role with two smaller roles, also pumpkins. She told me that I would be the lead in the play. Khachatoorian cornered me and enlisted me to be in a Halloween play for our class. Khachatoorian is Armenian and George Duekmejian was the first governor of California of Armenian descent. And it was only in my late 20s did I realize why she even asked that question to our class that day and why it meant so much to her Mrs. The memory still stays with me to this day. I was amazed by how quickly she went from angry to elated. Khachatoorian's dim eyes grew astoundingly wide and she got so excited. Khachatoorian had spotted me and loudly exclaimed, “Paul, no whispering! What are you talking to Mark about? Tell the class!” I remember being scared and immediately came out with it though unassuredly. What did second graders know anyway at that age? And yet, somehow a name struck my mind, but I was much too shy to speak aloud, so I nudged my desk mate Mark and whispered to him, “Duekmejian”, hoping he would announce this to the class. Khachatoorian repeatedly rendering “no” to responses in her gravelly voice. Students shouted out names of celebrities and ex-Presidents. Khachatoorian asked the class if anyone knew who the governor of California was. Khachatoorian did for me and it drove me to do the same thing for all my students.Īn early pivotal moment that I remember was when Mrs. ![]() And so when I became a teacher, I often thought about what Mrs. That year with her was a transformative year that arguably changed the trajectory of my life, gave me the tools that I needed (and often referred to in later years) to muster the courage and get through life's challenging moments. Khachatoorian's class at Fletcher Drive School in Los Angeles, California. People that know me will be surprised that I was once a quiet, shy child – that is until I got to the second grade in Mrs. ![]()
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