March 25, 1921 - April 23, 2019
By Katie O’Connell Nitkowski ’00
When I think of Dr. Malko, I am immediately transported into my first grade classroom. It was a year that I learned not only academically and socially but also emotionally. It was a year filled with the highest highs and the lowest lows.
It was a year that taught me how to decode, then read fluently, and then how to immerse myself in a book through the eyes of a reader and a writer. I can picture my compound word raincoat adorned with as many compound words as I could possibly carry without toppling over. Seeing that same tradition carried on 30 years with my own children exemplifies life coming full circle.
I can smell the bunny bread, the alligator bread, the Christmas cookies, and all of the goodies Dr. Malko infused into our literary experience. She taught us to see, hear, and smell all the aspects of a text to be able to deeply comprehend and apply these skills into our writing.
I hear her playground whistle and her laughter.
I feel her firm hugs she greeted me at the door with every day and the joy I felt every year as I opened my Christmas card from her.
I see her smile when she saw her students productively struggle toward the right answer. She was not one to hand you all the information and knowledge but was a pioneer in experiential learning and strategic scaffolding. She knew all learners would arrive at their destinations, just at different times and in different ways.
It was also the year I learned about loss. Dr. Malko's daughter Elena, who was a staple in our classroom, was diagnosed with an aggressive cancer. I will never forget, as a child, Elena telling us that she was sick and that her mom might be a little sad every now and then. As a mom, I can't imagine the silent strength that went into showing up every single day with 20 children looking to you to learn, when your own child needed you so much. I learned about fighting for your life with grace and grit. I learned that sometimes life just doesn't make sense but somehow it goes on and we move forward. I also learned that there is no love like a mother’s love.
It was also the year I lost a friend to a tragedy on the playground. Jenny had been in Dr. Malko's class the year before and I remember that day like it was yesterday. I remember learning about grief and how to express it in my writing, something I still do to this day. These are lessons that no curriculum completely prepares you for. Dr. Malko used her own life experiences and seamlessly connected these life events to the limited life views and experiences of seven-year-old children. Through it all, she helped us find the joy and kept love and learning at the core of everything we did.
We are all familiar with the saying "everything I needed to learn, I learned in kindergarten,” but for me, it was in first grade. I never had another teacher like Dr. Malko. The size of her heart, her love of learning and each learner and her gentle nature made her the perfect pairing for all of us in the room that year. I don’t think we could ever replicate the magic in that room. Every time I walk past her door, I hear her laughter and feel the warmth and excitement that came from her classroom. Dr. Malko will always hold a very special corner of my heart.
