I was in the sixth grade and has just moved to California from Alaska when I met Ms. Linda Jones. Most of my teachers seemed to_______me; I was one more student among hundreds. Ms. Jones, however, took a _______interest. “You can write,” she said, explaining that she wanted to move me into the honors English class. So did I.

A decade later, when my first novel was_______, I went back to Ms. Jones’s classroom, handing her a copy of my book. “And I_______this for you.” Ms. Jones began to cry_______. She’d been considering early_______, she said, _______she felt she wasn’t having enough of an effect_________her students. I didn’t know how to make Ms. Jones understand what she’d done for me: _______her, I fell in love with Shakespeare. I learned how to compose an essay. It was her ________in me that gave me the confidence to become a writer. I__________her.

Fifteen years later, when I heard that she was ________ready to retire, I attended her________party. All Ms. Jones needed to do was say a few words thanking her colleagues for coming. ________, she stood up and made an exciting ________that began like this: “For those of you complaining that________have changed, and that it’s harder to teach these days. You’re getting ________and lazy. These kids haven’t changed. You have! Do not________these kids!”

When she finished her talk, everyone________hands! I went up to Ms. Jones and thanked her for changing my life all those years ago. I__________that night that I was still, and would forever be, her student.

Mr. Vedder has impacted my life in ways even I cannot imagine. In my seventh-grade year, I was ______ to Mr. Vedder, an English teacher beyond any other.

When I was younger, I ______ becoming famous like every other student of my age. When I ______ into Mr. Vedder’s classroom on the first day of school, he made me ______ what I truly wanted to do: write. He liked writing, and pushed me to share his ______ And in fact his enthusiasm greatly ______ me. After that, I always ______ myself with a ______ in my hand or a story to write.

In the classroom, Mr. Vedder was a(n) ______ role model. Even on the darkest, ______ and longest days, Mr. Vedder was there to make all of us feel that the day was going too fast, and we didn’t want it to ______ Actually, in his class, everyone genuinely wanted to learn.

If one were to approach Mr. Vedder, they would know that he was involved in ______ . This is due to his ______ with students. Unlike any other teacher I have ever seen, Mr. Vedder can connect with his students better than the students themselves. Having Mr. Vedder as a teacher is ______ to having him as a friend.

Mr. Vedder has changed my life forever and for the better, and I’m ______ for what he has done for me.

Teachable moments don't always happen in the classroom. Last week, a headmaster was praised for his ability to look beyond the _________ to give a student a lesson.

When Anthony Moore was sent to headmaster Jason Smith's office for _________ to take off his hat. Smith knew something was _________. The boy explained he was awkward by his terrible _________.

“He didn't say _________ out, but I feel like he just didn't want to be _________ by his classmates,” Smith said. Rather than simply sending the boy home for _________ the school code, Smith put forward a _________. He'd fix the _________ cut himself. He showed the photos of his son whose hair he skillfully cut, the boy __________.

Braving the heavy winter snows, Smith drove home to get his tools and then headed back to __________ the boy's hair. Everything done, the boy made a __________ for his behavior. And feeling better about himself, Moore was __________ enough to return to class. Since then, the boy frequently __________ the office to talk about his day.

“When a student is __________ we need to ask ourselves, ‘What happened to this child?’ __________ ‘What's wrong with the child?’” Smith said. “‘What need is the child trying to __________?’ And really, the future of our education __________ that question.”

While it's a question without easy __________, recognizing it when it's being asked — as well as willing to take action to transform a minor mistake into a __________ moment — is what education really means.