Nov. 26: Monday meme

Today’s meme is taken from the site every, every minute.

YourTurn: As you look back on your education, can you identify which teacher(s) had the greatest influence on you? In your opinion, what qualities made them a great teacher?

My first grade teacher was Mrs. Ferguson. I remember she was kind and gentle and I learned a lot from her. I don’t remember anything specific except that I adored her. Katie had an amazing first grade teacher last year and we’ve talked many times about how special those first all-day teachers are; kids never forget them!

My fourth grade teacher, Mrs. Lippen-Holtz, had long hair and wore a lot of turquoise jewelry and no makeup. She loved books, and because I loved books too, I loved her. I remember a lot of story times in our classroom, listening to her read Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing, Harriet the Spy, and other kid classics. She was fabulous. But that was my last year in public schools and my last year of having a “normal” book in the curriculum. Sad. Priorities in SDA schools can be so screwed up.

My fifth grade teacher, Mrs. Webster, had a great influence on me, but not great-good. Great-huge, and negative. Bleah. She is one of the biggest reasons I am no longer SDA. She was as hardcore as they can be, and in my memory, pure evil.

In junior high I had an English teacher that I wrote about a few days ago. He read Where the Red Fern Grows to us. He cried at the end, and I always thought that was brave of him. I wondered if the school knew he was reading that book to his class—it had the D-word in it, for goodness sake!—but didn’t care because it was like fourth grade again.

Mr. T-Bury was my favorite teacher in high school. He taught history and citizenship education, both of which I hated, but I still loved going to his class every day. A few times a year he would call us into his office individually to discuss our grade and things that might be affecting it. Even though I did all my assignments, I usually got C’s on exams. I really made no attempt to hide my disinterest in the subject, but Mr. T-Bury still cared. When he retired from teaching six or seven years ago I went to his retirement party and was not one bit surprised at the huge turnout. He was an incredible teacher, the kind you know is not paid nearly what he is worth. The kind that also has no idea how much he positively influenced his students.

I had a few professors at Walla Walla College (now University) that stand out as no less than amazing: JoAnn Wiggins, my adviser and major professor, (whom I consider a good friend now) is admirable because of her dedication to teaching applicable lessons and knowing that technology changes how business is done; Becky Hendricks, a business professor—she’s the one responsible for my love of the bookkeeping part of accounting and, surprisingly, the play “Our Town”; and Dan Lamberton, my modern poetry professor, whose influence opened my eyes to the beauty that is poetry and literature.

I think what stands out most as I collect this group of most influential teachers is that they all truly loved what they did/do. They weren’t just coming in to work every day; they cared about the things they taught, they cared that their students learned, they really did believe in the things they were teaching. As a trainer, I have tried to apply these same principles to my teaching style because I know how important they were to me as a student.

What about you? Who were your most influential teachers, and why?