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It’s only August and already I’m seeing back-to-school commercials. It seems every year school starts earlier and earlier. This year my little one will be going to “school” two days a week for a few hours. I can’t believe what a big girl she is getting to be!
I know when I was a kid, the weeks before school began were always filled with thoughts about who my teachers would be. Would they be nice or mean? Would they give lots of homework or none at all (hey, I could dream!)? Would they be funny and playful or serious and boring?
I suppose in all my years at school I had just about every kind of teacher. My favorite was also one of the nicest. Her name was Mrs. Fannett, and she taught eleventh grade English. The class was not easy. Mrs. Fannett was not easy. We had to learn about infinitives and gerunds (something I never understood until I taught 10th grade English myself!) and read books like The Scarlet Letter and Faulkner’s The Bear. Now I love a lot of classic literature. I adore Shakespeare and Dickens and Twain and many, many more. I did not, and never will, love Hawthorne and Faulkner. I respect them and their talent, but they’re not fun when you’re sixteen and would much rather be hanging out with your boyfriend or shopping for earrings than reading about some lady with a red A on her dress.
But somehow Mrs. Fannett made those books accessible. Somehow she got me to read them and, if not enjoy them, understand them. She pushed me to be a better writer. She pushed me to go deeper, work harder. Writing was easy for me. I could get an A with very little effort. Mrs. Fannett made me want the A+.
When I taught middle and high school English I tried to be a teacher like Mrs. Fannett. I don’t know if I succeeded. The most frequent comment students gave me was about how calm I was.
Hmm. Well, I guess calm is a compliment of sorts, considering some of the chaotic places I taught. I would have preferred inspiring or fascinating, but kids tell us the truth, not what we want to hear.
Do you have a favorite teacher? Give him or her a shout of appreciation today!
Filed in: Jaunty Post
Aug 5th
2010
5:44 am
MJ Said:
Mine was also a high school English teacher. In fact, I found her recently on Facebook, Doris Polak. She was just so much fun. She acted flightly, which helped me, anyway.
My fifth grade teacher, Miss Moen, was also really awesome. We had class pets and we rotated weekly to see who got to take care of them. Those teachers were really inventive back then–but then, they didn’t have the state testing to worry about!
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Aug 5th
2010
6:40 am
Kristan Higgins Said:
I had some greats as well, Shana! Mr. Sage in 5th, my first male teacher; Mrs. Wheatley in high school; Mrs. Mitcowski in 8th grade. They made me love learning. I don’t remember my grades with them, but I remember the books I read, and the feeling they gave me that what they had to teach mattered. That has to be the essence of a great teacher. Thanks to all of mine!
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Aug 5th
2010
9:21 am
Deb Said:
My fave elementary teacher was Miss Sally Gearhart, my second grade teacher. She was fun, pretty, and hip. She always smiled. We kept in touch for years. Sadly, she died at the age of 45 from cancer, but I am grateful I was able to visit with her a month before her death.
My other fave instructor was Dr. Hosier in college. I had him for two classes, but he wanted me in one of his classes the year I was a junior and it was a senior-only class; I got in! It was a fun, but hard class (Teaching Reading and Language Arts). One section of it was syllabicating words and he first made us syllabicate supercalifragilisticexpealidocious. 14 syllables, BTW! Then, he made up nonsense words. Yikes!
Dr. Hosier was older, early 60s, but he related well to all of us and always had us laughing.
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Aug 5th
2010
10:11 am
Emily McKay Said:
My favorite teacher was also my 11th grade English teacher. (Coincidence? Hmmm…. Maybe that’s just where they stock the good ones in Texas. Maybe they know no one would read Faulkner otherwise.)
Her name was Ms. Didzinski. She was completely amazing. She wore these silver dangle bracelets that would jangle as she marched back and forth at the front of the room gesturing passionately while she lectured us about transcendentalism. She was also the first teacher who made me believe I could really be a writer. Thanks, Ms. D. You called it!
Hurray for fantastic teachers!!
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Aug 5th
2010
10:56 am
Shana Galen Said:
Emily, I remember transcendentalism. I thought it was the coolest thing ever (obviously I was kind of weird in school). I was asked to teach 11th grade English one year, and I was like, “no way!” I’ll stick with my Fahrenheit 451, A Separate Peace, Julius Caesar, A Tale of Two Cities, and Lord of the Flies, thank you very much! Even though my students complained that the books were so depressing because people always died at the end, give me doom and gloom over The Scarlet Letter!
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Aug 5th
2010
11:20 am
Katie Said:
Ms. Fanett was my all-time favorite teacher as well!
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Aug 5th
2010
11:45 am
Margo Maguire Said:
I think my favorite teacher was Sister Mary Ellen in high school. I doubt she stayed in the convent many more years after I graduated — she was young and fun, and made learning really interesting. What a concept, right?
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Aug 5th
2010
1:48 pm
Nancy Robards Thompson Said:
My favorite teacher was my 6th grade teacher Mr. Scholdiner. He never talked down to us and instilled a love of learning. Great post, Shana!
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Aug 5th
2010
5:08 pm
kris Said:
The only teacher that sticks out in my mind is the college professor that got me to switch my major to geology. It was a brilliant move on his part and I’ve never looked back!
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Aug 6th
2010
10:59 am
Karen H in NC Said:
Mr. Robart, my high school Government/Economics teacher was my favorite HS teacher. Anyone who can make a teenager like those subjects grades A+ in my book!
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