If you were a student in Miss Narwin's class from Nothing But the Truth by Avi, and Philip Malloy's mother told your mother that Miss Narwin was...

If I were Miss Narwin's student in Nothing But the Truth by Avi, and Mrs. Malloy told my mother Miss Narwin was the worst teacher in the school, I would hope I would tell the truth. It is quite obvious that Miss Narwin takes her job very seriously and truly cares about her students' learning. She takes great care in crafting her lessons, and she believes in challenging her students to think for themselves. She even volunteers for a class to help her become even better for her students. At the same time, she expects them to do their part--which Phil Malloy isn't interested in doing. I would tell my mother that Phillip is a bit of a class clown, who thinks he should be passed on his charm and sense of humor. If I knew about the Call of the Wild test, I would also tell her about his thoughtless responses--again, an attempt to make the teacher laugh, so that Phillip can get away with not reading the assigned literature. Even so, though Miss Narwin does not accept his answer, she compliments him in her response to it.

"Though your other answers are only a little better, I know you have the potential for good work." Your Fall term work showed greater promise, though your classroom attitude leaves much to be desired" (Avi 13).

Miss Narwin gives Phillip a chance to bring up his grades, but he chooses not to do so. I would tell my mother Phillip is the problem--not Miss Narwin.