Give Your Teacher This Note!

About the Book

This book is a collection of endearing, lively, and comical

letters, notes, and comments from students’ parents.  These were

gathered over a period of 30 years, by the author.  The purpose of

the book is to show that parents, teachers, and administrators share

a close and familial relationship.  The book further demonstrates

the pride and devotion parents and educators have for the schools

they support.   

            Because parents are involved in an enormous array

of activities related to their children, they frequently write very

comical letters, notes, and comments explaining the child’s

absences, their own opinions on issues, important improvements

for schools, and education in general. 

            The publication seeks to bring a smile on the faces of all

who read these letters, notes, and comments.

About the Author

Dr. Gwendolyn Jevita Cheatham was born in Memphis, Tennessee where she was one of eleven children.  In 1963, she graduated from Mitchell High School.  On being a Debutante for the Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, in Memphis, she states, “…the love and attention received from this fraternity helped me to focus on my future, and make positive contributions to society.” The numerous anthologies she compiled with the students and teachers at Booker T. Washington High School, in Atlanta, Georgia, received citywide recognition.  Some of these anthologies are archived at the Atlanta History Center.  In 1992, when Senator Zell Miller was the governor of Georgia, Dr. Cheatham became one of the recipients of the Governor’s Award in the Humanities.

Dr. Cheatham taught French, Humanities, and English in Atlanta, and was also an Instructional Coordinator for the Center for the Humanities Magnet Program for 12 years.  She is now an Assistant Principal at Atlanta’s Ralph J. Bunche Middle School (A NASA Explorer School).  In 1967, she graduated from Morris Brown College, in Atlanta, with a Bachelors degree in French; received a Masters degree in French from Saint Louis University; earned a second Masters degree in Liberal Education (Humanities) from Saint John’s College (Santa Fe, New Mexico); completed a Specialist degree in Educational Administration and Supervision from Georgia State University; earned her Doctorate degree in Educational Leadership at Walden University, in Minneapolis; studied Greek and Latin lyric at Harvard University; and was a MacArthur Fellows Award recipient. She is also a member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority.

For over 30 years, Dr. Cheatham kept a file of the most lively, endearing, and comical letters, notes, and comments she received from her students’ parents.  She brings her favorite ones to this publication.