Margaret Pratt – Bingham High School

So many teachers at Bingham High School work hard and influence numerous students every day. I can think of many who have helped me. However, the teacher who has had the most influence on my life in High School so far would be my Honors English teacher, Margaret Pratt.

Margaret Pratt is an outstanding English teacher at the Bingham High School. She taught my eleventh grade honors English class and was truly an honorable and kind person. I will never forget my first day of my junior year when she started it out giving a lecture on Carpe Diem (seizing the day). She talked about how every day we have is a gift and we need to remember to live in the moment and make the most of every minute we have in this life on earth. She reminded us several times throughout the year by keeping the words Carpe Diem posted right next to the clock (it made you feel guilty if you were a clock-watcher as I was). I will not ever forget how she looked at each of us that day with such a deeply sincere expression as if she saw us all as the greatest and smartest student to have ever come into her classroom. She promised to try her best to make it a good year, and she kept that promise. That was the first day of last year, the beginning of my junior year at Bingham High.

Ms. Pratt has a way of teaching that makes time pass quickly and every minute is always well worth it. I cannot remember a day going by in that year where we did not have fun, learned a lot, and worked hard. I was never the top of her class, but that did not matter to her. She was constantly trying to help each student. She always encouraged us to try a little harder and helped wherever she could. Another thing I will always be grateful for is that she always saw us for who we were. I have an older sister who went to Bingham as well. As I’m sure most kids who have or have had older siblings going to the same school as them, I get my name mixed up with hers often when it comes to teachers who have had my sister in previous years. However, Ms. Pratt never called me the wrong name – not once. Perhaps my name was easy to remember, or maybe I am just really different from my sister – whatever the case, she will never know what it meant to me for her to remember that I am my own person, I am not my sister.

My Honors English class was one of my favorite classes last year mainly because of Ms. Pratt. We always had a good time in that class -while it is true that some of that was because of my other classmates, when you have an excellent teacher it makes all the difference. When a person knows that someone cares about him or her and his or her education they will most likely try harder to do better. A little encouragement and patience can go a long way. I know she worked hours on grading assignments and spent much of her free time grading papers as well. She told students she would be free in the mornings or after school to go over essays and other work if we needed to. I wonder how she could handle our class a lot of the time; I know we liked to talk a lot.

Ms. Pratt is dedicated, understanding, fun, and determined. She is one of the few teachers that I know I can go to whenever I have a question about school, or even in life. I know she cares about her students and her job. She is definitely a diamond in the ruff, a one-of-a-kind teacher. She has helped me see the good in others, the beauty in life and the importance of education. I will always remember what she has done for me and the influence she has had in my life.

Margaret Pratt well deserves the honor of receiving KSL’s teacher feature award!

Sincerely,

Alisa M.J. Rosner