[soapbox]
The decision to abandon your blog in light of focusing on teaching is beyond admirable. Were it not for a few highly influential school teachers, who taught principally because they wanted to, I would be a much different person today. The world needs more educators like yourself.
[/soapbox]

And now I'm going to give a shout out to some public school teachers who made a major impact in my life.

Ms. Richardson (1st Grade) - I don't remember your first name, but hey, it was first grade.

John Andrews (5th Grade)- You were the first teacher I ever heard curse in the classroom. I remember cringing when I found out you were my 5th grade teacher as your reputation for making children cry was legendary. You supported my tech studies during a time before computers were commonplace.

Mr. Joseph (8th grade algebra) - You let me skate by on test scores alone because you knew I understood the material despite not doing any homework.

Robin Finley (8th grade English) - You tortured us all with an entire year of grammar lessons. Thanks to you, I never required another English lesson to understand how to properly conjugate verbs, or construct complex sentences in a grammatically correct fashion.

Zoltan Gaal (8th grade science for a semester) - You made science interesting and fun. To this day, I still wonder how you managed to get your hands on elemental cesium, which you used to demonstrate how alkali metals are violently pyrophoric. Plus your name was Zoltan, which was also kinda awesome.

Tammy Bolen (10th grade English) - You recognized the work done by the esteemed Robin Finley was sufficient enough to give me a "B" in your class despite the fact I never did any of the assigned work. I hear you're a pharmacist now.

Stacy Taniguchi (10th grade Biology) - Words cannot adequately express how much I appreciate having you as a teacher. Everyone else thought you were a hard ass, but I always thought of you as a bad ass, particularly after hearing of your successful accent of Mt. Everest, in spite of a serious knee injury you sustained during the expedition. It was interesting though not wholly surprising to learn you're now regarded as one of the world's foremost experts on mountaineering. I hope your career as a professor at BYU is as rewarding as being your student was for me.

Penny Dean (9th, 10th, 11th grade Phys Ed) - Thanks for letting me in your badminton class pretty much every quarter I was enrolled. Given my diminutive size until 11th grade or so, it was the only sport in which I could dominate the jocks.

Mr. Bybee (11th grade chemistry) - Thanks for letting me sleep during homeroom. I enjoyed your class, too, though it's a shame I had to transfer to the flunkie school at the semester's close. I will never forget the amazement on your face when I revealed that the bearer of the best grade in your class was a flunkie who had to transfer to an alternative school to make up the academic difference.

John Smith (11th, 12th grade electronics) - More than anyone else, you, sir, are responsible for a great deal of the education on which I have built my professional skill set. Sure, I would go on to develop an advanced education on the subject of electrical engineering, however the passion for such was instilled by you. All those days spent inhaling flux fumes were worth it and to you I owe more thanks than anyone else.

Phyllis Bowie (11th, 12th grade Social Studies) - You were the assistant principal at my flunkie school and let me slide on my academic ratings more than once. I will never forget the hilarious reaction you gave with regard to liberal use of the n-word by some African-American students. I will never forget the pictures you showed us when you returned from Bosnia, after performing your humanitarian work during the Kosovo Conflict. You were awesome and it's great to see you're still going strong, despite nearly 40 years of teaching.

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Feel free to contact me if you need legal assistance. I have a great lawyer that helped me with an ex who violated my privacy and kept harassing me on MySpace and Facebook. He's very good. And there is legal precedent. - linuxpro

He is hold back the legion of boom - skater18000

Good post Smokin. I wont join in the accolades on Montana05s choices because in my own private opinion he isnt an ideal candidate for teaching on a Reservation.. based on what he's written here. But taking time out to credit past teachers that made a difference is worthwhile. I will join in.

Father O_____ , (2nd grade). You made the boys cut their hair, bringing half of them to tears. You informed us "good Christians" and "good American boys" had short hair.. before leading us into our classroom that had a painting of Jesus with shoulder length hair and another of George Washington with a pony tail. You introduced me to hypocrisy, self-righteousness, racism, and paternalism. Later you forced me to go "grief counseling" with Sister B____ where I was told my father was undoubtedly burning forever but that there was still hope for me.

Father T_____ , (4th grade). Every Friday you made us say the Pledge of Allegiance. When some students refused (coming from militant or conservative families in the most rural part of the Rez), you gave us weekly raps on our knuckles with rulers, cementing our feelings. Later when we questioned a history lesson that seemed to skip right over how our Rez was suddenly in the US (in the map at the beginning of each chapter) you made students stand in the corner, arms extended with a history book in one hand and a bible in the other. And you were the first teacher to put soap in my mouth for speaking our own language in class. In 1982!

Sister C_____, (5th grade). When our school got its first 3 computers (after a summer spent selling bead work in the city...), you quickly extinguished students hopes. The exact words are lost in time but you told us to focus on "more realistic jobs for Indians. Youre never going to make it in computers, focus on being mechanics or doing construction". This was when "Go to school" really started to sound exactly like "You'll never have a dream come true".

Mr. R_____ , (7th grade). Taught me the invaluable lesson of the importance of sports in life. The first teacher to notice I was fast..pushed me to go out for various sports. Once I was a "winner" and helping the schools teams win..suddenly I didnt have detention anymore, didnt have to write sentences over and over again. By 8th grade they stopped making me cut my hair. Mr. R_____ also gave me the sage advice of "dont worry about algebra or composition writing, you'll never need that. Take Wood Shop, learn to use youre hands and stop wasting your time".

In high school.. it got better. But Id already taken a bad attitude on board. I had a teacher who really tried to teach me something, who treated me like a man. But I would react like a boy and it took me another 20 years to really understand what he was trying to teach. I never got a chance to show him I had learned.

As an undergrad it took me a year to understand the real opportunity I had with my scholarship, and so it took me a year to not see my professors attempts to help me not as patronizing or condescending, but as real people who, though they couldnt pretend to understand me.. wanted to me succeed. And not for "my People", or to alleviate their guilt, or because they wanted me to be an "example". They wanted me to succeed because they saw in me something I hadnt noticed myself, couldnt see, maybe didnt want to see. They didnt just see another fast Indian, or a kid taking up a scholarship. They saw a young man, a human, a person with at least something to share with the world.

Thank you Prof. B.L., G.P., P.L., and especially P.K. (and Im sorry for spitting mango all over your living room.. I didnt know what "mango" was..I thought your cantoulpe had spoiled).
Coaches L.K., J.T., and C.M... thank you, but fuck you. yes, you helped. But you helped perpetuate the system of scholarship athletes in particular as slaves and when you had a chance to speak out for a more equitable system you sat on your hands.

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“If somebody thinks they're a hedgehog, presumably you just give them a mirror and a few pictures of hedgehogs and tell them to sort it out for themselves.”

Hahahaha, you're such an elitist bastard, Ross. Brilliant.

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FrankerZ FrankerZ FrankerZ FrankerZ FrankerZ FrankerZ FrankerZ FrankerZ

Ah yes, teachers. The bane of our youthful existence, and the reasons for our success, whether because of or in spite of their best efforts.

Mrs. J., of my early grade school years: I well deserved all the knuckles rapped with rulers and the "board of correction" you had to break out on occasion, but I highly doubt they were terribly effective. Your classroom was the source of endless boredom for me, but taught me the value of a good daydream. It also gave me a better understanding, later in life, when I watched the Pink Floyd movie The Wall. My "too immature to be placed in accelerated studies" would probably be called ADHD today, but it was all for the best. I learned far more in your classroom than your curriculum dictated.

Mrs. E., of my later grade school years: You really tried, and taught well. Sadly I don't think you really understood what it was like to be a child of that age, as the memory of your childhood was as faded as the memories of covered wagon days. You were, astonishingly enough, instrumental in bringing in the first Apple computers to our Little House on the Prairie classroom, and even if you hadn't the foggiest clue about them, they were very critical to my education of early American computer games, in all their monochrome glory.

Mrs. D., my high school English teacher: Sadly, I knew more about grammar topics and literature than you did at that point, but your big, fluffy sweaters in the winter, and your low-cut blouses in the summer, were the source of daily inspiration for at least half of your classroom, and the reason why so many of the youth of my time related to Van Halen so well. Thanks for the mam... uh, memories!

Mr. B., my high school biology teacher: I think you were the only teacher in high school that really got me in all my geeky nerdiness. Thank you for feeding my constant and voracious appetite for everything science-related. Thank you for allowing me to spend time in the lab after school, and for looking the other way when my experiments got a little interesting. And thank you for believing in me and allowing me to step in and teach advanced biology for you when you had to be away for a week. That meant a lot, and shaped a lot of my life.

Mr. J., my high school math teacher: At the time, I loathed your classes. I loathed math and everything related to math. You never could teach me an appreciation for numbers, and I still can't count past ten without taking off my shoes. But at least you tried. You tried damn hard. And you made it interesting. And more than making it interesting, you almost single-handedly willed me through each of your classes. Thank you for spending the ungodly time and effort it took for me to pass. I believe I would have traded body parts for passing grades at the time. Your efforts kept my sanity and appendages intact.

There have been others, many others, but those were the most memorable of my childhood and youth. A hat tip to all of them.

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I blog, I tweet. When I'm not writing or goofing around on Seahawks.NET.

Damn, it sounds like you guys had a number of pretty good teachers. I can only think of two from 2nd grade through high school that were worth a damn in terms of making a difference or impact.

There were only a few major teaching influences on me, because I was, in reality, a pretty bad student who skated along on natural talent with zero hard work.

To Mr. B - The first teacher who saw through my bullshit. We had a test in which the average grade was around a 54 or some very low number of that type, and I'd gotten an 89%. He told me I could do better, which at the time, I blew off, because it was the second highest scoring test in the class. It took a few years, but that comment stuck with me because I knew he was right.

To Mr. G - My physics teacher. He really piqued my curiosity about the subject, to the point where I majored in it in college.

To Dr. S - My college E&M and Classical Mechanics teacher. His lectures were fantastic, and he was more than willing to fight the Natural Sciences board to have a class with 3 or 5 people in it.

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My single greatest contribution to the board: "42-13" (formerly 24-14)

Maybe you were just a shitty kid?

I can tell you that most of my teachers cared. They tried very hard. I can't tell you if they were any good at teaching or not because I was too busy not giving a shit, if I was there at all. But most of them seemed like good, honest folks who where there for more than just a paycheck. Even as a kid I could tell that. Ms. Powers (Senior English) and Mr. Egge (7th Grade Block [English & Social Studies]) stand out as the ones who probably really made a difference in my life. Mr. Miller (6th Grade Block) seemed nice enough till I got caught stealing his hood ornament, then all bets were off. Yeah, I was a shitty kid too.

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Tanzania¹²

Only teacher that mattered to me was my Economics teacher in 12th grade. Dude was a baller and told us how it really is.

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RIP ROAD WOES 12/2/2012

Maybe, but I don't think so. I rarely got in trouble in school. The vast majority of my teachers in the aforementioned time frame were there for the paycheck, I think. I could tell the passionate ones, there just weren't very many at all in my school district in rural Wisconsin. I'm thinking the fact that it was rural Wisconsin might have played a role...I don't know.


See, I only got that impression with a small handful of my teachers. My mom thought a lot of my teachers were average at best, too. (I didn't find this out until well after I was an adult.) I'm not saying my experience was representative of the whole, I'm just saying I don't think I was wrong about the majority of my teachers. My favorite teacher was Mr. Seep, who taught history in high school. He used to write TANSTAAFL on every test he gave us. There Ain't No Such Thing As A Free Lunch. He'd also let us play Trivial Pursuit on Fridays once in a while if we did well as a class for a period of time.

That's too bad Roland, sad to hear. #NoSarcasmOn

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RIP ROAD WOES 12/2/2012

Yeah, looking back on it as an adult a decade removed from high school, it is unfortunate. Mrs. Dartt in the second grade is the only other teacher that was a great/passionate one, for me.

Did you get extra credit if you knew where TANSTAAFL originated?

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My single greatest contribution to the board: "42-13" (formerly 24-14)

Not to my knowledge/recollection. I'm not even sure where it came from, though I never thought or assumed that he invented it, and he never implied that he did.

It's from Heinlein's The Moon is a Harsh Mistress, if you're curious.

Edit: I wasn't trying to imply that he stole it or what have you. Extra credit for knowing the source just seemed like something a 'cool' teacher does once in awhile.

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My single greatest contribution to the board: "42-13" (formerly 24-14)

Nah, I know; I was just throwing that out there. I haven't read that one by Heinlein, I'll have to just for the TANSTAAFL aspect, if nothing else.

As an aspiring secondary education major and teacher, wow. Who would get into the field if they weren't truly passionate about teaching?

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Seriously?

Yessir.

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Good on ya... only thing that ever hit home with me during my school days was something my no-nonsense father said to me when I came home with some nugget of wisdom that I learned in school, which right up until the moment he said the following lines meant my teacher was smarter than my dad... He said "Those who can, do. Those who can't, teach"

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Position Before Submission

And it shows today, that's for sure.

Don't let them break you Roland, you know the only reason anyone does anything is for money! Passion for teaching is just cover for their lust of those fat paychecks we all know teachers get.

I had some good ones, or so I thought till Roland made me realize they were just exploiting us kids to get paid.

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