rose_griffes | the "I feel neeeeeedy" post

GIMME LOVE! PLEASE!

Okay, actually I want love for my profession, since my neediness springs from the angst of starting a new school year. I dislike the meetings we have the week before school starts. They make me hate my job. Plus leading up to the first day of school is stressful. That fear of "will the other kids like me?" never goes away. During my first year of teaching the very-experienced teacher across the hall from me confided that she threw up the first day of school--her whole life, as a student then as a teacher. Once those first few days are over, everything's fine, but starting out... blah.

So what do I want from you, tiny flist or lurkers or random visitors? Please tell me something positive about teaching/teachers/a specific teacher. Some ideas:

tell me about who your favorite teacher is and why
what was the best moment you had that connects to a teacher
your favorite lesson
something you learned from a teacher that you never forgot

Ah, teachers... This is difficult for me. I loved learning but didn't like school much, starting in seventh grade and continuing throughout high school. (I didn't even buy a yearbook my senior year.) I was never going to become a teacher. Then I discovered that I enjoyed teaching and was actually good at it. Oops.

Anyway, it's hard to think of specific moments. I do remember that we moved in the middle of seventh grade (hmmm... possible connection there?!) and I was mopey and depressed. I played "All Out of Love" by Air Supply on my record player over and over again.* Yes, that definitely dates me. Needless to say, math wasn't a priority for woebegone adolescent me. So I didn't do my homework for, um, a few weeks. Then my math teacher and my mother conspired and I was in after-school tutoring for days and days, doing all of the assignments I had skipped, even those that weren't going to be accepted for credit.

Lesson learned? ~~Teachers can be bitches~~. Accountability is not fun but it can't be deferred. I didn't dislike that teacher after that experience--she really was a nice lady. I definitely didn't skip her homework assignments. My math grades after that year weren't always stellar but I didn't get any more failing grades.**

*I was 'out of love' because when we moved I left behind my bestest friend in the whole wide world... and now I have no idea where she is. Haven't seen her since early college years--she disappeared from the planet

**Until a calculus course in college with a teacher who barely spoke English. My sister, on the other hand, loved Calculus so much that she took three courses of it for fun. If she didn't look almost exactly like me I'd wonder if we came from the same gene pool.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Oh my goodness... I've had so many amazing teachers, it's hard to pick. Okay, so here are a few:

second grade, Mrs. Northworthy (I'm spelling her name wrong) was awesome because when you did something exemplary for that day, you got the giant stuffed scooby doo to sit next to you ALL day. this thing was HUGE and awesome, and it was taller than me when it sat next to my desk.

sixth grade, Mrs. Hughes rocked because she was our Language Arts teacher and she made everything interesting. We had a weird unit on advertising and whatnot, and we were separated in groups where we came up with our own products and a way to market them. my friends and I made P.E.E.K. pops (so named for the initials of everyone in our group) and we made a commercial/skit thing and t-shirts. She came up with the most inventive assignments and it was always fun.

English teacher in high school, Ms. White, who was fantastic and supportive and nurturing. We had a poetry unit where she picked poets for each student that she thought we would like. She was awesome to hang out with as well. Same goes for my math teacher then, who I had for four years, and he put up with me being a smartass and my friends and I playing tetris and he had this amazing ability to make me understand math. I was never so good at math as when he was teaching me. He made it understandable and even interesting.

Then college... so many professors that were interesting but weird, but then along came my advisor who I clicked with, and we still talk and she's encouraging me and we would go for coffee or drinks. She's a lot of fun with a horribly good memory that always recalls every embarassing story I've ever told her.

This is so long but seriously, I understand that you're frustrated and anxious and I can only imagine how hard it is, but there have been teachers who've changed my life, who've given me confidence in my skills and made school bearable when whatever melodrama was going on with my friends.

There were some who sucked or were boring or ill-tempered, but for the most part, they all were dedicated and inspiring individuals who I remember today, and I have no doubt that you're such a teacher. Teachers rock!

You are so great! *smooches* All of these made me smile, some of them made me laugh... which is awesome, because I tend to get overly-dramatic this time of year (heh, in case that wasn't obvious). Thanks for the reminder that there are reasons why I keep my job--aside from the glamour and great pay, of course. *g*

I particularly liked hearing about your math teacher--since I'm the only French teacher I have the same students for a minimum of two years. Frankly I think it's awesome. Some of the students who really annoy me in the beginning are among my favorite students by the time they finish with French.

In a rush today, but I wrote this back in

wisteria_'s delurking day back in April. One of the questions was, "Pay a compliment to someone from real life." I wrote:

"My second grade teacher. She doesn’t know it but she shaped my life in so many ways. Other real-life people, I’ve told them what they’ve done for me. But I may never find this woman. I really loved school, really loved this teacher. I thought maybe I was making it all up, but I recently I found my report card from her and saw all exclamation points in her comments. She really loved me and thought I could do anything. Don’t ever think being a teacher doesn’t make a difference. It does."

My feelings haven't changed. :-)

Another question was, "Which one bit of advice do you wish someone had given you in 7th grade?"

My answer: "It doesn’t matter how you do in seventh grade math in later life. Seventh grade grammar however, is important."

I don't think my feelings have changed on that one, either.

(This icon is not me now, but me as a kid. Wasn't enough room on the icon to write that.)

I thought maybe I was making it all up, but I recently I found my report card from her and saw all exclamation points in her comments. She really loved me and thought I could do anything. Don’t ever think being a teacher doesn’t make a difference. It does.

Oh, that's fabulous, thanks for finding your quote and sharing it with me. (I have a few report cards hanging around and they make me smile now. I also had a crush on my fifth grade math teacher, which also makes me grin.)

And yes, seventh-grade grammar really is important. Hee.

Aw, this is going to seem weird since I've had so many wonderful teachers, but I really remember my first grade teacher. She was so loving and supportive. I was a voracious reader even back then and she actually called my mom one day to say, "You need to take this girl to the library. NOW." And my mom was puzzled--didn't the school have a library? And she said there weren't enough books in the little one at school to contain me.

So I got to go to the huuuuge public library and check out twenty books at a time, every week. Sigh. I love her. And I really do think that changed my life.

I also remember when I had chicken pox she actually came by my house and brought me a book. :D

PS one of the best things I was ever told in college, while wrestling with languages: "Grammar is indeed logical."

What an awesome first-grade teacher you had! Thanks for sharing that with me. (So when do classes start again for you?)

"Grammar is indeed logical."

Heh. Except when it's not. Gah, I can't imagine teaching Latin grammar--declensions and cases and the like. I have no idea what ancient Greek would be like, but I'm guessing it's not fun either.

But Latin is so much fun!

It's the only language I was any good at in school which is why it was both my favourite lesson taught by my favourite teacher - Miss Lambert. It probably helped that we were using the Satyricon, quite possibly the filthiest Latin text ever allowed in schools which generally encouraged the tiny little latin class of an all-girls Catholic high school to learn better so we could read the dirty bits. :-)

quite possibly the filthiest Latin text ever allowed in schools which generally encouraged the tiny little latin class of an all-girls Catholic high school to learn better so we could read the dirty bits.

That's both amusing and not surprising at all. Heh. As for Latin, I've never studied it myself but the Latin teacher used to ask for advice on how to teach declenscions and cases and I'd just give him a blank look. (It's hard enough teaching the idea of masculine and feminine nouns to my students--and those are totally the fault of those Romans.)

the "I feel neeeeeedy" post

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