Patt Morrison: Burbank’s Rebecca Mieliwocki on what makes a great teacher
(Cheryl Guerrero / Staff Photographer)
The class clown from Mr. Gadberry’s high school art class has made good — and how. Rebecca Mieliwocki teaches seventh-grade English at Luther Burbank Middle School in Burbank — but not next year.
Instead, she’ll be on the road as the National Teacher of the Year. It took her a long time to get to the classroom — she once worked as a floral designer, doing the flowers for Elizabeth Taylor‘s private jet — and eventually to the White House, where a fellow teacher, President Obama, crowned her as a national teaching treasure.
Before she takes off, Mieliwocki is speaking at commencement at her teaching alma mater, Cal State Northridge — and right here.