Dear Mr. Stensile: Letter From the Editor - Oct. 29, 2026

During a conversation in the office about past classes, I brought up that part of my sixth grade reading class was about birds. Then I brought up a few other things I learned and quickly discovered that there are quite a few subjects I was taught simply because my sixth grade reading and social studies teacher wanted to. So this

letter goes out to him.

In sixth grade, we were separated by reading scores and placed in reading classes. I was placed with my social studies teacher, Mr. Stenslie. Four days a week, we would read, but every Friday was dedicated to birds. On those days, we learned and researched one or two birds. This led up to the end of the year where we took a bird test. If we could name forty out of the fifty birds we learned, Mr. Stenlise took us on a field trip to go birding. You best believe I was getting all fifty birds correct. I genuinely loved it but I thought that all the other classes were doing the same thing.

The next thing we learned from him was chess. We had an entire chess unit during my reading class in the middle of our school year. Why? Couldn’t tell you. We watched a chess movie, learned different plays, and then spent a few days competing against each other. I can’t name a single move now as most of it went over my head.

We also learned about WWII. This may not sound odd but I found out a few years later by my tenth grade history teacher that we were not supposed to learn that in sixth grade and it was not a part of the standards. We ended up learning about the war in both my reading and social studies class. I personally appreciate that I had learned it at this stage and feel like I have a much better understanding of the history because of it.

This isn’t to say Mr. Stenslie was a bad teacher. He was far from it and he is still regarded as one of my favorite teachers ten years later. To have a teacher that passionate about birds, chess, and history gave me a better appreciation for all, one that I may not have otherwise, and I attribute much of my own want to go into teaching to Mr. Stenslie.