It's Teacher Appreciation Week! If you've been hanging around here for a reasonable amount of time, you know that I am in the library profession. So I'm pretty big on education and educators in general, and I'm taking this opportunity to count over the fantastic teachers in my life.
There was the second-grade teacher who helped me create my first literary masterpiece (it was about dinosaurs, of course).
There was the sixth-grade teacher who blithely let her students set fire to things in the name of science. Polk County, take note.
There was the eighth-grade teacher who encouraged me to write down things, even if they were things my mother didn't want to read.
There was the eleventh-and-twelfth grade teacher who was the image of everything I wanted to be: sardonic, learned, independent, bookish, strange.
There was the English professor who was so smart, so articulate, such a good teacher--not always something you get in a brilliant individual--and a natty dresser to boot.
There was the anthropology professor whose excitement for his subject was palpable, contagious. He taught me new ways of thinking. I owe him a lot.
There were librarians and remedial math tutors and my best friend's mother who is a consummate educator and who, though I never sat in her classroom, has taught me more over the years than anyone. There were mentors who gave me books off their own shelves and sparks of inspiration who let me natter at them and ask silly questions.
Who are the teachers in your life?
1 comment:
I'll never forget my high school English and History teachers. I'll also never forget trying to actually be a high school English and History teacher. Hardest job in the world, I failed miserably. I have so much respect for those who succeed at it.
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