Heidi Jackson – Morgan Elementary

My eight-year-old daughter’s third grade teacher, Mrs. Jackson is a truly amazing teacher. My daughter gets teased because of her size which caused her to develop severe anxiety and depression. Every day she would cry that she didn’t want to go to school, her self-esteem was non-existent.

Mrs. Jackson, being aware of the problem, implemented a “bucket filling” program in her class. She has a poem about filling others buckets that the students memorize. Every day the children are encouraged to write down the names of students they see who do something kind for someone else and drop it in the bucket. Every so often she will count up the names, and whoever has done the most “bucket filling” gets a prize. The children have absolutely love doing this. They think of ways to be sincerely nice just to get their names in the bucket. Mrs. Jackson buys all the supplies with her own money.

My daughter has won the bucket filler challenge many times. She loves the special prizes she has received. It has increased her self-esteem. Now the students build her up and tell her how pretty and how wonderful she is. She doesn’t hate going to school anymore. She loves it!
She is incredibly kind and patient with them. Mrs. Jackson is so creative in her teaching of hard subjects. She uses accents and funny voices to make the learning fun. My daughter tells me all the students groan when Mrs. Jackson says its time to go home – they all love her.
Words cannot express how grateful I am to Mrs. Jackson for teaching my daughter and for helping her to feel special and pretty again. I have my happy girl back thanks to Mrs. Jackson.

–Anna Phelps