Thirteen of my most influential teachers

This is the first of a two-part thursday thirteen about teachers. Everyone has teachers whether they are the ones who are paid to teach you or not. I realize how fortunate I was to have thirteen teachers to add to this list. I grew up in "the suburbs" and we had a lot of great teachers. But then there are people who come into your life who are also teachers, though that may not be the "official" job title. But that's next week.

So for now, thirteen teachers who made a difference.
Please note to protect my anonymity, I'm using initials. If you think you might have had the same teachers, send me a private email, I'll let you know.

1) Mrs E. T. 4th Grade
Yes, ET was her actual initials and don't think that she didn't trade on it. She truly believed in me in everything that I did. I came often to talk to her as I grew up. She was interested in the boys I liked. She was interested in me. When my mom got sick during my 4th grade year my teacher took me home to her house until my dad could get mom settled at the hospital. (mom's fine now) She made me macaroni and cheese and I still remember the taste of it. I invited her to my wedding and the only reason she didn't attend was that her own daughter was getting married on the opposite coast the day before.

2) Mrs A. K. (English) 7th grade
After the debacle that was my 6th grade year, this teacher took my broken self esteem and put the pieces back together. I still remember how she taught us the forms of the verb to be (amareisbewaswerebeingbeen) all one word, said very fast. It is because of her that I am now working in publishing.

3) Mrs. L.W. (Spanish) 7th grade
A little woman with a HUGE VOICE. She could scare the hell out of you with a scream. She is the only teacher who had both my siblings and myself. She would often call me by my sister's name and it was kind of funny since there was another girl in the class with my sister's name. She also taught me that I could help adults. Her classroom had been vandalized and two little figurines that she had bought on her honeymoon (in Spain) had been broken. My parents had been to Spain that summer and had brought me back two dolls. After asking if it was okay, I gave those dolls to Mrs. W. She thanked me so profusely I didn't understand. Years later when I met her for lunch she told me that after the vandalism she had decided to give up teaching. Then I gave her the dolls and she felt that she could still teach. She taught me that helping is a good thing.

4) Mrs. R. D. (English) 10th grade
There are no words to talk about this teacher. She turned me onto some of the best books I ever read and I turned her onto others. It was my first friendship with a teacher and it taught me more than her class.

5) Mrs. K (history) 10th Grade
I did not like this teacher when I had her. But the thing is, I learned. I also learned to love history. The book I wrote is partially historical, and I got her email and emailed her some questions. She emailed back "Now aren't you sorry you spent your timepassing notes to J and B in my class?" Not only had she seen me pass notes--she remembered it over 14 years later. Amazing.

6) Mr. B. R. 12th grade (Chemsitry)
The first teacher who ever gave off the "Do Not Fuck With" vibe. Former Marine. Terrified me first day of class. Absolutely terrified me. I learned though that beneath the gruff exterior was a gentle and kind man who could absolutely be trusted. You could talk to him about anything. He also made damn sure I learned chemistry. When I got through college chemistry I went back and thanked him. My sweet D is now a High School chemistry teacher. I think of Mr. R. often.

7) Mr. R. A. (Summer Program pre-college)
He taught me the rules of writing. Rule #1: Believe in yourself. Rule #2: When told your work sucks--see rule one. He helped a lot with rule one.

8) Mr R. C. 9th-12th grade(Choir)
the Mr. R of this blog entry. One of those teachers who taught about commitment and character.

9) Mr. G. B. (English)12th grade
He began his classes "I am the perfect height. Everyone taller than me is a giant, everyone smaller than me is a midget. This classroom is heaven. I am God. You don't like it--go to hell." Actually he was a former priest who left the priesthood to teach. He taught by example and with a real love of the materials.

10) Dr. S. T. (My study abroad- College Media Writing)
She started out the class saying that she had taught a grand total of three creative people. I set out to be added to the list. I worked harder for my B than any five other classes where I got an A. For every A paper, and project was one that would totally miss the mark. But even when she gave me a C she said keep trying, you don't learn anything by being praised all the time. At the end of the class I walked up to her and thanked her for being a teacher who kept me on my toes. We shook hands. I turned and walked out of the classroom. "Journeywoman,"" she said. I turned around. She held up her hand with her four fingers raised. "Four." she said and pointed at me. It was one of the proudest moments of my life.

11) Dr. A. M. (Post College-Screenwriting)
He taught screenwriting. He invited me and a few others to join a group of screenwriters to form a workshop. Every year after the oscars we would practice our Academy Award speeches beginning always with "I'd like to thank A M's screenwriting group." We went to the Maui Writers Conference as a group and had a wonderful time. I will think of him when I participate in Script Frenzy.

12) Dr. P. S. (College-History)
Taught a big lecture class, but every Tuesday he had Breakfast with the Professor. He had a nice spread and we could talk to him about history, and class and stuff.

13) Mrs. S. K. (6th Grade)
The worst and meanest teacher I ever had. Yet I cannot in good concience leave her off this list because of that bitch I have a lot of the drive that I have. I was 12 years old. I wanted to impress the teacher. I had written a story that I thought was funny. I asked her to read it and tell me what she thought. I stood by her side as she read it. A few pages through she laughed. I was encouraged.
"What part do you think is funny?" I asked.
I still see myself. Awkward. 12. Breasts just starting to come out. Braces and coke bottle glasses. Her answer has never left my memory.
"I'm laughing because you think you'll be a writer. You'll never be a writer." I didn't cry then. I was too stunned. I didn't tell anyone until the next year when my 7th grade teacher (#2) was picking up the pieces of my shattered self-esteem. And yet, as much as the memory stings. It has been that memory that has pushed me to finish books and peddle them to agents. So she does belong on the list.

Who are some of your favorite teachers?

See you next week for part 2!

Comments

[Damozel]

A nice post---as a former teacher, I'm really glad to see that some students really do remember the ones who really reached out to them and really made a difference.

[Healthy Nadine]

What a wonderful post. So many great teachers and only little can discourage you. But hey, sometimes their being mean can even trigger you to do better and better and prove that they're wrong.

Miss some of my teachers now.

[MommyBa]

Great tribute to your teachers.

Happy Thursday!

[SusieJ]

Awesome list. I remember my piano teacher -- she believed so much about my potential and it's carried over into every area of my life. I like your Mr. G.B. -- reminds me of a similar teacher.

[Jane]

I always cringe when I hear about teachers like #13. It makes me wonder what events in their lives cause them to be so cruel to their students. But good for you that you didn't let it fester and kudos to the teacher who helped to heal your self esteem.
Thanks for coming by my T13.

[walternatives]

Lovely post. All of those teachers are memorable, but Dr. S.T.'s story made me grin.

[Buckeye Kev]

What a great idea for a list. There are teachers who influenced me because of how awful, arbitrary and downright evil they were. My 9th grade French teacher was one. He gave me the only D I ever recieved in my entire school experience and it wasn't because I didn't know the work. He did inspire me to change to Latin as a sophmore.

Thanks for visiting Dane Bramage's 13 Classy Insults list.

[Babystepper]

I've had some teachers like this, too. Teachers who really cared whether or not I learned the material. I would love to sit down and have conversations with some of them today, if I could.

[Pachy]

I got teary-eyed and all goose-bumpy with your Dr S.T. story. She reminded me of my Argumentation & Debate professor my junior year of college. The first day of class, he said to the 35 students, "Most of you will drop out of this class and those of you that don't, will probably fail." I remember getting a D on my first debate, which was a shock to my "A-student" system. I really questioned why I was taking this class; I was an accounting major after all. I refused to give up and really wanted to impress him and myself. I worked so hard on those remaining debates and I walked away with a B in the class. When that class ended, there were only 12 people left in it and I remember him saying, "Smith J", you did alright." (He addressed his students by just their last names, but I shared a last name with another one of the students, so he had to use our first initials - Smith J. and Smith D.)

[she]

I'm so amazed that you've managed to remember all of the influential teachers (going back so many years). My memory would never handle that.

[Aimee]

As a current teacher, it is so wonderful to read a post like this. It is also important for us to read because it shows that the things we do (or don't do) will likely be remembered for a long time, and may have a bigger impact than we could ever know.

My best teacher in high school was Mr. M, literature. This was a man who would jump up on his desk to recite Shakespeare and poetry, who actually got all of us excited about sonnets and novels and drama.

My best college teacher was Dr. M, who taught "teaching science in the elementary school". What I loved about him was that every other teacher would teach us all these different strategies for teaching, yet they would constantly deliver the material through lecture only. Dr. M used all the strategies, and got us all actively involved in the class.

[pussreboots]

Mrs. Splitt, Mrs. Sullivan, Ms. Peterson, Sr. Valdez, and Mrs. Gillingham to name a few.

[Judy Callarman]

This is great! I think I'll list my favorite teachers next week--good idea. Teachers are very important to kids of all ages.

[Norma]

Some teachers I didn't much care for at the time, I appreciated later. This is a wonderful list.

http://collectingmythoughts.blogspot.com/2007/05/thursday-thirteen-were-painting-master.html

[Naomi]

Not quite as bad as teacher #13, I had a professor tell me in college that my writing was "too creative" (and in a writing class, no less)

[Dewey]

This list really made me smile.

Also! I love your Beatles songs categories.