If we take a minute and think bad to our school days, there is probably one teacher that will always stand out.  The one teacher that no matter how much you hated school, she or he wouldn't give up on you.  For Rodney Atkins that was Ms. Butler.

Teachers have a way of leaving some kind of inspiration on us.  They either taught you a valuable lesson or never gave up on you.  There is always that one teacher.  For Rodney Atkins the teacher that left the biggest impression on him was his middle school English teacher.

It was 7th grade and her name was Ms. Butler.  She knew that Rodney had it in him to do something great.  And as much as he hated reading, she helped him every step of the way.

One assignment was to right a poem.  She wanted him to write something personal, so he did.  He wrote about his older sister.  Here is a bit of the poem:

"Sisters are mean,

Sisters are pests,

If you ask me brothers are best."

The poem continues in the same way.  Although he thought it was silly, Ms. Butler did not.  As a matter of fact she entered it into a county poetry contest and he won a ribbon.  Ms. Butler knew he had a special gift and didn't expect anything but his best!

Here is video of Ms. Butler and Rodney Atkins talking about the poem.

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