Day 20 : Not Forgetting Teachers : Part 4
This is part 4 in a 5 part series about teachers. In this and subsequent posts, I am writing about memorable teachers I've had in the past. I want to challenge you to take some time to remember how teachers have influenced your life and take a few moments to thank them. Teaching is a thank-less job and teachers know this, but that doesn't mean that they should never be thanked. Believe me, a thank you letter or Facebook message sent to your 4th grade teacher or history professor will make them feel like they got a million dollar bonus. Ok, a million dollar bonus would be awesome, but to know that their life's work has made a positive impact on their students is priceless.
This post was planned for yesterday, but life happened. In all honesty, I've had a really difficult time processing through the content of this post regarding my teachers through the high school years. You see, I had pretty terrific teachers in high school. I've felt almost guilty publicly thanking teachers from this period because I hate to inadvertently omit someone fabulous. And yet, I must - for it is 11:52 pm and I need to sleep.
While reminiscing the four years spent at my high school, particularly teacher memories, I was struck at how my mind didn't gravitate immediately toward a particular person. Rather I was filled with a warm fondness, a gratitude for the way all of my teachers contributed to an overall positive high school experience. Perhaps this is why teaching was so appealing to me at the time; I had great examples of what an incredible influence teachers have on the attitudes, successes, and decisions of students.
Teachers can absolutely make or break a school experience. Sure, you have your friends, your sports or clubs, and maybe a job that you enjoy. But if you have poor relationships or negative interactions with teachers, school must just be miserable. {I have only ever had one truly negative interaction with a teacher in my life - no need for details - but it really was miserable. I can only imagine that if I experienced that on a daily or weekly basis, I would have hated school.}
All this to say - I am truly grateful that I have had so many great teachers that it is a difficult task to pinpoint those who have had the greatest influence.
Thank you - all of my high school teachers for teaching a young girl who thought she knew everything. Were we all like that? Thank you for giving your time and thought and energy to pointing me in the right directions without making me feel as if someone was telling me what to do.
Now to those whom I shall not forget...
Missy :) - We never called her by her last name. Thankfully, her last name started with an "E", so if anyone asked why we called her by her first name, we could say that we were calling her Ms. E. Most of the time teachers prefer to be called by their last names as a sign of respect and perhaps to deter familiarity. In this case, no disrespect came her way from our direction. I never had her as a classroom teacher; she was my cheerleading coach. She was a walker {or runner, rather} of her talk. She earned the respect of her squad and students because she was real. She had high expectations and equipped you to meet them...she made you want to meet them. I am not a runner by any stretch of the imagination {wish I were}, but I ran a mile every day {big whoop for some of y'all} simply because she asked and believed I could. Missy was, as a teacher, coach, and mother, someone who I deeply respected and looked to as a role model. I will never forget her laugh and bright, open-mouthed smile. Thank you, Missy, for being a crazy-good example to a group of high school girls who needed direction and guidance, but didn't want to hear it from their parents. Thank you for showing me that just because you change roles doesn't mean you change as a person - you were the same comfortable-in-your-own-skin woman in every situation. Thank you for seeing something in me that was worth pushing toward greater heights {sometimes literally}.
Mr. Case - Some teachers you just want to be around. After I experienced the wonder that was Mr. Case during Chemistry sophomore year, I made sure to select one of his classes during each subsequent year. He was the hyper kid that no one ever thought to medicate because his best teaching was done when his entire body was moving. There was no doubt in my mind that he loved what he taught because he would have these freak-out moments when he would clap his hands loudly, then run them over his bald head, yell some sort of "uuuuggggghhhhhaaaaaaaaahhhhhh"and exclaim something to the effect of, "Don't you see how cool this is?!" And we were all like, "Uh, what?" Then he would connect all the dots and we would be duly impressed. Many moments as I was teaching third grade math {ha!} I had these moments when I would just get so completely geeky excited about the math magic and I would think about Mr. Case. I finally understood how teaching something you love makes you ridiculously excited. And when the teacher is excited about teaching, most of the time, students are excited to learn. Thank you, Mr. Case, for being and bringing positive energy in to every class you taught. Thanks for letting me be your TA and distract your class with silly games like thinking of songs with random words they called out. Thank you for not faulting me for not knowing how to take the first derivative and showing me the long way to solve. I shall always know, because of vectors, that it is easier to pull than push. Thank you for teaching what you love and for making learning fun, exciting, and substantial. Having you as a teacher made me a better teacher.
Mr. Padrick - The only teacher I had every year for four years. His room smelled like coffee and because of this, I began to equate the smell of coffee with intelligence. Among many classes, he primarily taught English - and to know that he may read this blog terrifies me because I did not meticulously proof read before publishing. His style of teaching was more conversational than lecture, which makes you learn without it feeling like learning. What I remember more than what he taught or how he taught, is why he taught. Considering all of the texts, films, and discussions he presented to us, it seems to me that Mr. Patrick taught because he wanted to teach students to critically think. To think outside of the walls of our daily life, of our small mountain town, of things we'd always taken for granted - and to consider that we may not be right or, at least, not the only ones who are right. He talked to us about world views and how they are shaped, encouraging metacognition {thinking about the way we think}. This is one of the greatest tools anyone can have - the ability to rationally and critically think. The beauty of his teaching lay in the fact that he never told us what to think, rather, gave us the opportunity to think. He didn't force his views on us to make us mini-Mr. Padricks, he just opened our eyes to new ideas and asked that we consider them. Thank you, Mr. Padrick for teaching me to write a research paper and, in turn, how to be focused, thorough, clear, and the importance of my own voice. Thank you for drinking coffee whilst teaching - a rare day it was as a teacher for me to not have a mug in my hand. Thank you for introducing me to great literature - titles that are on my shelf to this day. Thank you for demonstrating unassuming expertise. Thank you for empowering your students with the charge to think for themselves. My students are better thinkers because of your influence on me.
This post was planned for yesterday, but life happened. In all honesty, I've had a really difficult time processing through the content of this post regarding my teachers through the high school years. You see, I had pretty terrific teachers in high school. I've felt almost guilty publicly thanking teachers from this period because I hate to inadvertently omit someone fabulous. And yet, I must - for it is 11:52 pm and I need to sleep.
While reminiscing the four years spent at my high school, particularly teacher memories, I was struck at how my mind didn't gravitate immediately toward a particular person. Rather I was filled with a warm fondness, a gratitude for the way all of my teachers contributed to an overall positive high school experience. Perhaps this is why teaching was so appealing to me at the time; I had great examples of what an incredible influence teachers have on the attitudes, successes, and decisions of students.
Teachers can absolutely make or break a school experience. Sure, you have your friends, your sports or clubs, and maybe a job that you enjoy. But if you have poor relationships or negative interactions with teachers, school must just be miserable. {I have only ever had one truly negative interaction with a teacher in my life - no need for details - but it really was miserable. I can only imagine that if I experienced that on a daily or weekly basis, I would have hated school.}
All this to say - I am truly grateful that I have had so many great teachers that it is a difficult task to pinpoint those who have had the greatest influence.
Thank you - all of my high school teachers for teaching a young girl who thought she knew everything. Were we all like that? Thank you for giving your time and thought and energy to pointing me in the right directions without making me feel as if someone was telling me what to do.
Now to those whom I shall not forget...
Missy :) - We never called her by her last name. Thankfully, her last name started with an "E", so if anyone asked why we called her by her first name, we could say that we were calling her Ms. E. Most of the time teachers prefer to be called by their last names as a sign of respect and perhaps to deter familiarity. In this case, no disrespect came her way from our direction. I never had her as a classroom teacher; she was my cheerleading coach. She was a walker {or runner, rather} of her talk. She earned the respect of her squad and students because she was real. She had high expectations and equipped you to meet them...she made you want to meet them. I am not a runner by any stretch of the imagination {wish I were}, but I ran a mile every day {big whoop for some of y'all} simply because she asked and believed I could. Missy was, as a teacher, coach, and mother, someone who I deeply respected and looked to as a role model. I will never forget her laugh and bright, open-mouthed smile. Thank you, Missy, for being a crazy-good example to a group of high school girls who needed direction and guidance, but didn't want to hear it from their parents. Thank you for showing me that just because you change roles doesn't mean you change as a person - you were the same comfortable-in-your-own-skin woman in every situation. Thank you for seeing something in me that was worth pushing toward greater heights {sometimes literally}.
Mr. Case - Some teachers you just want to be around. After I experienced the wonder that was Mr. Case during Chemistry sophomore year, I made sure to select one of his classes during each subsequent year. He was the hyper kid that no one ever thought to medicate because his best teaching was done when his entire body was moving. There was no doubt in my mind that he loved what he taught because he would have these freak-out moments when he would clap his hands loudly, then run them over his bald head, yell some sort of "uuuuggggghhhhhaaaaaaaaahhhhhh"and exclaim something to the effect of, "Don't you see how cool this is?!" And we were all like, "Uh, what?" Then he would connect all the dots and we would be duly impressed. Many moments as I was teaching third grade math {ha!} I had these moments when I would just get so completely geeky excited about the math magic and I would think about Mr. Case. I finally understood how teaching something you love makes you ridiculously excited. And when the teacher is excited about teaching, most of the time, students are excited to learn. Thank you, Mr. Case, for being and bringing positive energy in to every class you taught. Thanks for letting me be your TA and distract your class with silly games like thinking of songs with random words they called out. Thank you for not faulting me for not knowing how to take the first derivative and showing me the long way to solve. I shall always know, because of vectors, that it is easier to pull than push. Thank you for teaching what you love and for making learning fun, exciting, and substantial. Having you as a teacher made me a better teacher.
Mr. Padrick - The only teacher I had every year for four years. His room smelled like coffee and because of this, I began to equate the smell of coffee with intelligence. Among many classes, he primarily taught English - and to know that he may read this blog terrifies me because I did not meticulously proof read before publishing. His style of teaching was more conversational than lecture, which makes you learn without it feeling like learning. What I remember more than what he taught or how he taught, is why he taught. Considering all of the texts, films, and discussions he presented to us, it seems to me that Mr. Patrick taught because he wanted to teach students to critically think. To think outside of the walls of our daily life, of our small mountain town, of things we'd always taken for granted - and to consider that we may not be right or, at least, not the only ones who are right. He talked to us about world views and how they are shaped, encouraging metacognition {thinking about the way we think}. This is one of the greatest tools anyone can have - the ability to rationally and critically think. The beauty of his teaching lay in the fact that he never told us what to think, rather, gave us the opportunity to think. He didn't force his views on us to make us mini-Mr. Padricks, he just opened our eyes to new ideas and asked that we consider them. Thank you, Mr. Padrick for teaching me to write a research paper and, in turn, how to be focused, thorough, clear, and the importance of my own voice. Thank you for drinking coffee whilst teaching - a rare day it was as a teacher for me to not have a mug in my hand. Thank you for introducing me to great literature - titles that are on my shelf to this day. Thank you for demonstrating unassuming expertise. Thank you for empowering your students with the charge to think for themselves. My students are better thinkers because of your influence on me.
This is the twentieth post in the series 31 Days of Not Forgetting.
If you'd like to read previous posts in the series, click here and scroll to the bottom.
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