There are some teachers who we never forget for their intelligence, patience, and graciousness. For many of her students, Mrs. K.D. Meucci is all of those things and more.
This month, the fourth-grade teacher at Benjamin Franklin Elementary School found out she had a benign brain tumor. Last week, she underwent surgery to have it removed.
People who had just gone through a major operation are expected to rest to speed up recovery, but not Mrs. Meucci. Within a day of having brain surgery, the dedicated educator logged into Facebook to hold a Live with her students.
Mrs. Meucci knew they would be worried about her, so she went online to let them know she was okay and that she was missing them dearly.
Mrs. Meucci not only held a Facebook Live to update her students about her status; she also logged into the platform to hold a “storytime” for her online reading group.
Years ago, she had created a special and closed Facebook group where teachers and students can virtually meet every Thursday night at 8 p.m. to read bedtime stories together.
In the video, the teacher could be seen pulling out a book while sitting on her hospital bed.
“Of course I packed a book,” she told her students. “I knew I would be here on Thursday night, so I packed a book from the library.”
She had picked out the children’s book “Mr. Walker Steps Out” by Lisa Graff to read to her students. The book is about a human-shaped figure that lives in a traffic signal box.
Mrs. Meucci was heavily bandaged at the head, and the left side of her face was still swollen. And even though she didn’t need to, Mrs. Meucci apologized to her audience for her “weird” look.
“Sorry if I look a little weird, I know I look a little weird,” she said to them at the start of the Live. “I got this black eye right here because again they cut open my head right here to take out my brain tumor.”
Mrs. Meucci patiently read the book, turning it towards the camera from time to time so the kids could see the pictures on the pages she was reading from.
The book carries a beautiful message about finding one’s value in the world. And while the kids have yet to find their place and their life’s mission, it’s clear that Mrs. Meucci has already found hers: to be the best teacher she could be to her students.
“Don’t you worry friends, I’ll make it back to my corner too, you don’t have to worry about that. Because my corner is right where I belong at Ben Franklin Elementary at Room 25 with my friends and Meucci’s Crew,” she assured her students.
Mrs. Meucci is an outstanding educator who takes a fun approach to learning. For this, she has been named an All-Star Teacher by the Pittsburgh Pirates.
“I’m humbled and honored to have been selected as an All-Star Teacher. I can’t believe the effort it took to put together the conference call that included my students. It made me feel so loved and appreciated,” she said at the time.
It’s teachers like Mrs. Meucci who make kids look forward to learning. We wish her a speedy recovery! Learn more about her in the video below.
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