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“I’ve had many good teachers, but by far he’s the one I look up to the most,� Osborn said in a recent interview.

At the front part of each week, Osborn’s creative writing class usually begins with an “activator� activity — a question about our personal experiences or a writing prompt based around the writing skill we are trying to perfect. Although, Osborn is not looking for perfection — just an honest effort from his students. Following the activator, we build our story or poem by developing characters and plots, or metaphors and ideas. Sometimes there are fun activities that include collaboration, like his annual two-truths-and-one-lie story activity where students have to tell three different stories (one of which has a significant lie), and the rest of the class has to decide which story has the lie based on the quality of their storytelling. Osborn allows students to work together and share feedback from one another, and no idea is unwelcome in his class.

Thursdays and Fridays are spent with the class in a “discussion square,� where students share their story or poem from the week and discuss what is done well and what could use some improvement. Students use this feedback to revise a finished work that is shared at the end of each grading period.

It’s not just the way that Osborn runs his class that is refreshing, or even the joyful and optimistic way he greets each student. It is also how inviting his classroom space is. It has a pleasant and bright atmosphere, with decorations including a bulletin board in the back that displays drawings and other artifacts from his current and past students.

So how did Osborn wind up teaching middle schoolers like myself?

About 25 years ago, he was working as an administrator at schools in the area, including at the now-closed boarding school at Brush Ranch River Lodge up the Pecos Canyon and ·è¿ÍÖ±²¥ Fe’s former Desert Academy.

“I found that I enjoyed working with the students, working with young people, in particular working with young people about creative writing,� he said.

So Osborn asked the principal of the school where he worked if he could teach a class. After that, more and more students wanted to join his class, and suddenly he was teaching big classes. This happened at the next two schools he taught at.

“I didn’t want to do any more administration. It was too boring,� Osborn said. So in 2017, he went to Pecos Middle School as a full-time teacher.

I have had the privilege of being one of Osborn’s students for three years in a row, and I can proudly say he is one of the most exceptional teachers I have ever had. He is personable and kind-hearted. He is passionate — not just about teaching students — but inspiring them. He told me one of his main goals with students who are struggling is to find out what’s an inspiration to them, and that’s important, particularly in a creative writing class when you really need inspiration to write something good.

Another amazing quality of Osborn is his ability to understand. He gets it. In class, you can tell he tries to give chattier and more hyper students some slack whenever possible because he was a rowdy teenager once, too. If it wasn’t for his class and the weekly story and poem sharing we are required to do, I would not have the confidence I have today. I would be without some of my closest friends, too.

I am not the only fan of Osborn. Many students enjoy his classes and sing his praises.

“He does his best to make lessons interesting and make us want to go to his class,� said Pecos eighth grader Sasha Teel-Martinez, who has Osborn for both creative writing and special resources.

Jud Osborn is the kind of teacher who can make huge differences in this world, and is one of many who deserve appreciation and recognition this week.