Thankful Thanksgiving Day 2: Teachers

For Day 2, my post from earlier has inspired me to devote my thanks to teachers. This may seem slightly self-serving since I was a teacher, but it was only for a short time and I’m not anymore.

Growing up I had a lot of great teachers. My Mom will never let me forget that I cried and made a big scene on my first day of Kindergarten. But remember loving my teacher. It was a great class and when a few years later my little sister started school and had her, I remember telling her all about the fun she would have, especially the fun letter people she used for teaching about the alphabet. I got to be “C” for cotton candy.

All of my elementary teachers were great, though many memories are jumbled as to what happened in what grade. I do remember 5th grade sex ed with Mr. B. He made a very uncomfortable topic relaxing and informative, not an easy task when you have a classroom full of 11 yr old boys.

It was my ninth grade history teacher that really inspired my love of history. I had always enjoyed the subject, but for the first time it really became exciting. It became more than just a series of facts. Sadly she was out for half the year having a baby, so I feel like I missed out on a lot. She made the class fun, and I still remember a story she told about her daughter becoming freaked out by Tickle-Me-Elmo. But I remember the history stuff too.

After that, I took an AP US History class and received one of my first real challenges in school. It was a lot of hard work and my teacher was very demanding. But she was nice, knowledgeable and made us all feel we could succeed. Without her teaching, I doubt I would have done as well in college. And without my 9th grade language arts teacher, I never would have made it through that class.

And of course there were the band teachers. Band was the thing that helped break me from my shy tendencies (well, I’m not completely over them, but I do talk to people now). Band was always a challenge, but a lot of fun. The teachers were demanding and required everyone to put in a lot of work, but they made the process fun. It was a community that was formed more than a class.

Not all of my teachers were the “Best Teacher Ever” but they all had their hearts committed to the job. They all cared about us students. Though I credit my parents for most things, my teachers were equally important for inspiring a love of learning, developing social skills and teaching the basic skills we need to know.

Thank you teachers.