Have You Thanked a Teacher Today?

I have an insatiable desire to learn and have ever since I was a kid. Being a perfectionist means I'm always harder on myself than anyone else could be, and I expect myself to learn a lot. I recall being in first grade and completing a worksheet. My paper had been xeroxed wrong, and it was missing the reverse side of the sheet (and back in the mid-80s still smelled like the copy machine. I loved that smell). When I realized I had a worksheet that wasn't complete I had a total meltdown. It was easily fixable, but I hated not excelling. 

I don't know if I've ever, at any level of school (to include law school and the Bar exam) been the second person to finish my work. I've almost always finished first, and on the rare occasion where someone beat me, I was totally stressed out.

I've always needed a lot of challenges to keep from getting bored. I realize this probably made me a difficult student in a lot of ways. I got detention once in my life: for talking in class (I was done with my work). My uncle taught my world history class in high school, and I always kept a novel on my lap to read during class. He loved to try to trip me up and call on me, but I always knew the answers. It wasn't because I was so smart; it was because I was prepared. He will now say, "What was I supposed to do? Yell at you for reading too much?"

As an adult I think back on school fondly, and I had several teachers who were instrumental in making me who I am today. I've worked in politics for over a decade, and I understand the union/management struggles that seem to permeate public employment these days. What I will never understand is this anti-teacher sentiment that has become such a staple of politics. I am watching social media where my friends and teachers in West Virginia are protesting low pay and expensive benefits. The vitriol toward teachers is astonishing. 

I get it: not everyone is great at their job. I've had a bad teachers. I won't get into detail because I'm from a small town, and everyone would know to whom I am referring. I will say that I had one teacher in high school who everyone knew didn't want to be there. He would ask us to outline chapters, and if you included the first and last sentence of every paragraph of a chapter in your outline you got an A. It was the same when I was there and both of my brothers who followed me (one nine years later). Like any profession not every teacher is great at his or her job.

The difference is that those who are great are REALLY great. One of the absolute best is Carol Roberts. Carol taught me in 6th, 7th and 8th grade. She challenged me in a way that other teachers had not yet done. I was a sassy pre-teen, and she met me every step of the way. I did my first public speaking competition in 7th grade, and Carol listened to me practice over and over. She told me to slow down 100 times (and it may disappoint her to know that despite her best efforts I never have.) Her patience and constructive criticism stick in my mind to this day, 25 years later. Once I started public speaking in high school she was still there mentoring me. She is a women who dedicated her life to the students in my hometown for decades. She faced personal challenges with a grace that inspires me every day. I am who I am in large part because of her influence in my life, and I'm sure there are hundreds of former students who would say the same thing.

In high school I joined FFA (yes, Future Farmers of America). I wanted to continue public speaking, and that was the only real opportunity. Virgil Wilkins was one of the top FFA advisors in the country despite hailing from a tiny school of less than 150 students. His enthusiasm, while often something students joked about, was contagious. I've heard "Gosh Samantha, you're super fantastic" 100 times from Mr. Wilkins. I loved it every time. At my dad's funeral two years ago he emphatically told my husband I was a "powerhouse". I like to regularly remind my husband that he is fortunate to live with a powerhouse. Under Mr. Wilkins's guidance I won four state FFA championships: parliamentary procedure, extemporaneous speaking, prepared public speaking and meat judging. I learned to paint my nails in the spring so you couldn't tell my nails were stained from working in the greenhouse. I will never forget Mr. Wilkins teaching us how to shake hands: firmly, with eye contact. He said not to trust people who had limp handshakes. I still don't. He taught the boys how to tie a tie. He is absolutely super fantastic, and was (and is) such a force in my life.

I loved to read and write, and I wanted to be a journalist from the time I was a kid. I never wanted to do anything else. I headed off to West Virginia University as a Broadcasting major. I loaded up on classes and jumped into it. I took intro to Political Science because it was a requirement. I took classes in college almost solely because they fit into the schedule I wanted. Instead of taking the giant Political Science class in a lecture hall with several hundred students taught by the renowned Doctors DiClerico and Hammock (aka the Silver Fox) I took PoliSci with Lyn Dotson. Dotson worked at the WVU Foundation and taught a smaller version of the class. Going in I knew nothing about political science, and after just a few classes I was hooked. He was one of the best professors I had in college. I decided to double major in Broadcasting and PoliSci, and after my junior year switched solely to Political Science.  Lyn Dotson is solely responsible for my falling in love with political science. He was my professor for a semester, and I'm sure has no idea that my path would've been very different without him. That's the power of a good teacher.

I've had so many great teachers, and this blog would be 100 pages if I went on to talk about them all. When I look at the political rhetoric around teachers it makes my heart hurt. If there are policy makers whose lives haven't been drastically altered by a teacher, I feel sorry for them. I am grateful for those who impacted my life and helped shape me as a person. Thank you for your selfless dedication to me and so many others. 

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