Friday, April 19, 2013

Q ~ Quality Teachers


These are the continuing adventures of a Swedish immigrant during her first year as an American. She boldly went where she'd never gone before...please come along on Adventures in America.

Note: this is not the post I was going to write, but I had quite the day yesterday. I've been undergoing a battery of tests at a specialty hospital for my asthma, and yesterday The Swede drove me to those procedures. We had an accident on the way – no big deal, rear-ended in rush hour traffic, no need to get anyone involved, but hey, it was an accident. Then I had two nasty procedures which you can look up on wiki if you'd like...a “tailored barium swallow” and a “bronchial provocation test”. Well, they sure succeeded in provoking my bronchials. I spent most of the rest of the day in bed. No energy to write.

What I came up with instead as I lay awake contemplating today's appointment (the fun never ends) was that I'd just make a list. Yes, these are their real names, and I'm using them because maybe they google themselves to see if anyone remembers them. I do. You shaped my life, some of it in hard lessons, some of it with love and great teaching, but regardless, you made me who I am today. Thanks.

3rd Ms. Cummings and Mr. Barnett (team teachers)

4th Mrs. Lougee (ESL teacher, yeah, not a good fit for me...)

5th and 6th Mrs. McGinn, Ms. Varoff (who married and became Mrs. Wheeler) Mrs. McCoy and Senior Ley. Open classroom.
All the rage in the 70's.

7th Mrs. Brody, algebra. Finally someone who could challenge my math skills. No more sitting in the back of the room with busy work while the rest of the class learned something I already knew how to do. Not bragging, God just gave me a good math brain. That's what my degree is in.

8th and 9th Mr. Schultz and Mr. Calvert.  GT program, we had them for social studies and science, respectively.

10th Mr. Yehle, band director. First band director who was a clarinet player like me. I loved band. And all the band nerds!

11th Ms. Marylee Ruddle. I hated her at the time because she didn't give A's so she ruined my GPA, but she made me a writer. Thank you, Ms. Ruddle, for that and the love or art and poetry I now have. You were the best of them all in the end.

12th Mr. Neerhof, Bible teacher. Influenced my faith tremendously, and helped officiate in our wedding.

I hope you have an accident free, breathe easy day. Back tomorrow with a story.

~Tina

P.S One of my minions, AJ, wrote an amazingly intricate pick-your-own-plot post for P.  You gotta check it out!

24 comments:

Alex J. Cavanaugh said...

Sorry you're still undergoing all those crappy tests. Glad the accident was minor. Still annoying though I'm sure.
Was Mrs. McCoy's husband a doctor?

Andrea said...

That seems unfair to have an accident trying to gt to or from something so unpleasant sounding. Hope today is better. Love the idea of people googling themselves and landing at your place fr a shout out.

Lucy said...

I am so sorry to hear how rough your day was yesterday and that you are suffering so much from Asthma.

Great teachers, I had a few too and I know exactly what you mean, especially about some hard lessons. I think it is great you paid a tribute to them.

Lucy from Lucy's Reality

Lyre said...

It's amazing how well we can remember the teachers who influenced us, isn't it? Your list is fantastic and I do hope they google themselves to get a nice boost.

Hope your tests resolve well!
Lyre @ <a href="amy-lyre.blogspot.com>Lyre's Musings</a> #atozchallenge

JoJo said...

I hope you feel better! Take it easy today. :)

katie eggeman said...

I am not sure I had any teachers who influenced me greatly and that is sad.
I had an 8th grade teacher I hated so much, who teased me unmercifully about being chubby and called me Buddha because I use to stand with my arms across my chest, because my boobs were so big. This was in 1960 and he should have known better. I would have had an harassment issue today.

Jennifer Joyce said...

I hope you feel better soon after your tests and the accident.

A teacher who really influenced me was a teacher I had when I was 9/10. Mr Perrin was a brilliant teacher and clearly passionate about books. I can't imagine how many books he read to that year but it was a LOT.

He really brought stories to life and it was partly him who made me so passionate about books too. He also took us to the library when a children's author was doing a talk and I remember sitting there thinking that was what I wanted to when I grew up.

So thank you, Mr Perrin :-)

Jolie du Pre said...

Tina, I'm sorry to hear about your health problems. I have asthma, but I use Advair, and it's under control.

Ali said...

Quality teachers can have such a tremendous impact. I'd say my 8th/9th grade English teacher, Mr. Lightfoot, had the most impact on me of all the teachers I've ever had.

Sadly a bad teacher can also have an impact, and I've had a few of those as well. :(

D.G. Hudson said...

A good teacher will be remembered forever by the students. The kind that makes you enjoy learning, and makes it fun to be in their class.

It's a gift, and it's great to remember them. Hope you're surviving all the tests, and feel better soon.

Laeli said...

Hell,I'd brag about the math skills. I suck at math, I admire YOU!

Gwen Gardner said...

Sorry you feel so bad. I hope help for you is near. I had asthma growing up, but I grew out of it.

You remember all those teachers? I'm impressed. I think I only remember one - Mrs. Miller.

Andrew Leon said...

Is "GT" gifted/talented?

Kim Van Sickler said...

Hope you have a much better day today! Yesterday was one of those character-building ones. I hope your teachers do see your shout-out to them. How great of you to appreciate them and recognize how they shaped the person you became after all those years.

Sheena-kay Graham said...

Hope you feel better soon and sorry about your accident. One of the most influential teachers in my life was Mrs. Godden. She taught me English Language and Eng. Lit. in 4th and 5th form (9th and 10th grade) in High School. I got 1's in both those subjects at CXC. She was a great teacher who challenged me and I love her for it.

Jo said...

Seems without bad luck you wouldn't have any luck. Glad the accident was only minor.

Dr. McCoy Alex? Bones?

JO ON FOOD, MY TRAVELS AND A SCENT OF CHOCOLATE

Carol Kilgore said...

How great you names those who meant the most to you. Kudos!

Carol Kilgore said...

Oops! Fingers were in too big a hurry to hit send. Meant to add hope you're feeling better by the minute.

Kimberly said...

I am so excited that you posted about teachers! I am a high school teacher myself and I am SO glad to see you have had so many teachers influence you. I also understand the hospital stuff...me too! Get better! Inspirefly

Rachel said...

I'm glad you're okay! Take it easy and try to relax. It sounds like you've had a time.

wsbhark said...

I hope you get to feeling better soon without having to go through too many more procedures. That sounds rough.

I remember the Open Classroom. In my opinion one of the worst ideas EVER. As a student, found it distracting and noisy. As a teacher in that setting later on, found it the same. :)And so apparently did the other teachers. We had to keep negotiating the volume in our respective classrooms so as not to disturb what was being taught...over THERE. :)

Hilary Melton-Butcher said...

Hi Tina .. questioning the quality of teachers .. and questioning those quagmire of tests .. I hope the day went relatively smoothly ..

Sounds like an interesting mix of teachers ... we had one - she left the school £1m!!!!! Her elderly father had been very frugal and so was she obviously .. never married - but perhaps to the school ...

So pleased the Band Director, Mr Yehle, Ms Marylee Ruddle and Mr Neerhof came up trumps for you ...

I'll pop over to AJs post .. cheers Hilary

Have a peaceful weekend if you can ... Hilary

Stratoz said...

Hope you are feeling better. Thanks for celebrating teachers. Hope they see it. When a student from my past says nice things, it surely makes my day. Stratoz goes from A to Z

Cassmob (Pauleen) said...

What a great array of teachers you've had and don't they make a difference in your life :-) We even have some in our family.

Pauleen at Tropical Territory
A to Z 2013