Tekkah.net

I love teachers. Where would you be without them? Would you know how to read? Would you know how to write? Would you be able to do your job? Would you have the skills with which to best express your creativity?

Highly unlikely.

My family is full of teachers. Both of my mom’s parents were teachers. My aunt is a teacher. I’ve grown up surrounded by teachers. All my life I’ve understood the pursuit of knowledge to be the ultimate life goal to have — it’s a quest without an end, and a quest that brings nothing but benefits as long as you continue to follow it. There are infinite possibilities.

This week’s Girl Talk Thursday is to talk about your favorite teachers. And oh, I’ve had quite a few. I’ve had a few I’ve disliked, to be sure, but in the long run I’ve had far more that I’ve valued greatly — and besides, that’s the point of today’s exercise: discussing our favorite teachers.

• My senior lit teacher, a man who introduced us to senior year by sitting us all down and asking us, “How many of you read The Great Gatsby last year?” When everyone raised their hands, he continued. “How many of you spent half the year ripping symbolism out of every page and nitpicking every metaphor to death?” Again, everyone raised their hands. He then took the rest of the first class of the year teaching us that you do not have to like every book — but you do need to know how to appreciate a book and understand its themes. A classic is a classic for a reason.
• My 10th grade world history teacher gave the most intense, involved lectures I ever had in high school. Tons of note-taking and overhead-copying, really intense tests… and every time we began a new chapter, she gave us a blank map of the region we’d be studying and let us spend a day marking down the important cities and locations of important battles that were coming up in the chapter.  With crayons.
• From 9th to 11th grade, I had a band director who saw my talent and potential and nurtured it — he pushed me to try out for section leader in the marching band (I performed leader duties for 11th and 12th grade, despite only being the official section leader in the 11th grade), he pushed me to try out for drum major (I chose to keep playing my instrument), and he pushed me to try out for the symphony orchestra (which I did). Without him I may have missed some serious opportunities for advancement.
• Senior year, I had a different band director, but he was just as valuable to me as a teacher. He listened to his students when they had complaints, he treated us like equals, he didn’t show any favoritism, and perhaps the best thing he did (which I hated at the time, but see the value in now) was that he encouraged improvisation and “moving off the page” in the jazz band, where I played the piano.
• Last, but most certainly not least, my piano teacher. I was with her from the age of 7 until I graduated high school. She not only taught me how to play the piano, she was also a great friend and confidante. As I moved from childhood to young adulthood, there were often things I felt uncomfortable discussing with my mother for some reason or another, and she was the person I would talk to. She gave me advice on everything from piano technique to friends and boys. She wasn’t just a piano teacher — she was a teacher of life itself, and my favorite of all the instructors I’ve ever had.