When we first saw Mr. Delgado we were shocked, gray thin hair stood flat on his balding head, dark eyes piercing through his glasses, and a hard serious face that was accompanied with a mouth that seemed it had never smiled. Most of the class hated him at that moment, he would yell loudly if someone made a mistake, he would explain about boring things that no one would pay attention to. He was undoutbly the worst teacher I had ever had. After first quarter I had my first D in MESA and after many failed attempts to drop it I had to face the realization that I was stuck in this hell hole.

Most of the kids in the class were undisciplined, they walked all over the teachers and many had lower grades than I did. They would complain about how they had an F while they were envious of the fact that I had a D. As I stared at my D and others’ F’s in the progress report card I bubbled over in anger. It was his fault I was getting a D, it was his fault other’s were failing his class. As the quarter ended, I was faced with the realization that it wasn’t his fault, it was our fault. No one in the class did homework, and no one gave him the respect he deserved. Here was a teacher who showed video’s to his class trying to get them to learn about electric cars, here was a teacher who made his class write down equations so we would remember them for the rest of our life, even I remember it till this day : Force=Mass x Acceleration.

I raised my grade up from an D to an A by doing all my homework. Mr. Delgado went from being my worst teacher to my favorite, no longer was his name spat from a student’s mouth, no longer were his student’s grades D’s, F’s, or even C’s! He taught us not by telling but showing, he showed us how to build a racing car and how to build a box that would protect an egg if it was thrown over the bleachers. He taught us how to be independent and responsible. Most of all, he taught us to respect our teachers and ourselves.

Now, as I see Mr. Delgado walking the hallways I do not hide or look at the ground, I smile and wave at him and he smiles back and continues on his way. Although he might be judged or experience hardships from students, I know that they, just the way I learned, will respect him one day.