Teacher's in a class all by himself

HOW'S AN INSTRUCTOR to earn the respect and admiration of both parents and students? Just act like Tim Atkinson.

Often, parents would hear about him through their children, about a Mr. A. and his skits, his singing and his teaching methods.

The stories would lead them to visit his class. Or they would ask their kids to point him out after school.

Soon parents would talk about him, too, and write letters to the principal and the Northshore School District about how Mr. A changed their children's lives at Moorlands Elementary.

Last year, my son Sam had "the best teacher of his life." He made this statement after his FIRST day of fifth grade. More than anything else, it piqued my curiosity. Hmm, I thought, who IS this man who could make Sam feel so strongly after SIX hours? How could Sam possibly be able to judge a person's character, teaching ability, patience - in only one day?!

- Sally Swenson, March 10

There have been dozens of similar accolades for Tim Atkinson, 41, since he started his teaching career at this Kenmore school in 1989. The one from Swenson served as a nomination letter that helped Atkinson win the Northshore Teacher of the Year honor this spring. He was a runner-up in the Seattle-area Teacher of the Year competition, losing to Katie Henderson of the Kent School District, who went on to become state Teacher of the Year last month.

Win or lose, Atkinson is a favorite fixture at Moorlands, where students love to tell tales about his creative classroom style: About how he draws 4- to 10-page comic books about the Revolutionary and Civil wars as a supplement to the social-studies text. About how he helped students learn their dreaded vocabulary words by acting them out in skits.

About how he once belted out "You Are So Beautiful" - a cappella to a girl to cheer her up.

"I love the connection with kids," Atkinson said. "There are not many jobs where you get a chance to renew yourself every year. Whatever you accomplished in the past, the slate is wiped clean and you start over (the next school year). That can be daunting, but you get to replay every year and do it better. It's my own personal `Groundhog Day.' "

He also finds ways to connect with parents.

Tim cared so much about our children's learning that he wrote weekly parent newsletters to keep us in touch with classroom goings-on. On top of that amazing commitment, he also wrote history "Cliff Notes" for parents so that we could refresh our memories about the Revolutionary War, Civil War, etc., and participate in intelligent discussions with our children about what they were learning.

- Kirby Larson,

School Board member,

March 20

Those notes were a way of getting parents, especially working ones, involved in their children's education, Atkinson says.

"It's background stuff they can use on the way to soccer practice or ballet," he said.

It wasn't always his desire to teach, especially elementary-school children. The Kirkland native wanted to be a journalist and enrolled at Northwestern University in 1978 to pursue a journalism degree. Then he figured his love was writing and teaching, and he envisioned being one of these high-school English teachers with the tweed jackets and elbow patches and the worn hardcover classics under his arm.

But after transferring to the University of Washington and graduating cum laude with an English degree, he had an epiphany as a teaching intern at a Seattle elementary school in fall 1987.

Everything just clicked, he says: His rapport with students. The fact they were so open to learn. The idea he could make a difference in shaping their lives.

For all the talks about his creative teaching methods, Atkinson said, "It can't be a dog-and-pony show all the time, but learning can be fun."

Take his comic-book series. Its lead character, Ike Peel, lives in Boston and hangs out with Sam Adams and gets involved in the Boston Tea Party and the Boston Massacre. And Peel has a son who goes on an expedition with Lewis and Clark.

When students leave his class, Atkinson said, "They are not going to remember what score they got on the American Revolution test." Instead, he said, he hopes they will remember that learning can be fun and interesting, and keep developing.

Moorlands Principal Jan Rettig calls Atkinson's ability to connect with children an exceptional gift that keeps students writing letters or coming back to visit long after they've left his classroom.

Mr. A, as he is fondly called by many of his students, encouraged us to expand and build on the talents we possessed. . . . I am now a junior at Inglemoor High School. Looking back on my 11 years in the Northshore School District, I cannot think of a teacher who has taught me more or been instrumental in my development than Mr. Atkinson. Mr. Atkinson was my teacher as a fifth-grader, but he will be my inspiration for life.

- Quinn Larson, Kirby Larson's daughter

Tan Vinh's phone message number is 206-515-5656. His e-mail address is tvinh@seattletimes.com.