7/25/09 - Teachers to Remember

***Sorry this is so late...my brain is swiss cheese and I'm on staycation.***

When I think back over the number of teachers I have had over the past years, there are several that stand out. Mrs. C in elementary school for not letting me quit and resign myself to being stupid when it came to math. Mr. T and Mrs. G in high school for encouraging my creativity and inherent rebel nature without compromising my intelligence. Drs. W, R and McP in college who all played a heavy hand in taking me from high school drop out to passionate over achiever with a mission. I will remember these teachers for the rest of my life.

And there is one more that I will also always remember. My first grade teacher, Mrs. H. When I stepped into her classroom I was bright, excited, creative and vibrant with my want and willingness to learn. I was pretty much a typical precocious six year old girl who taught herself how to read at the age of 4 because she got tired of not being able to read what was going on around her and who started writing stories not long after. And I was ambidextrous. I loved that I could do everything with both hands. Especially write. More from a place of convenience than anything else. It was just really nice to be able to write with whatever hand happened to find the pencil first.

Mrs. H answered that little piece of convenience by rapping my knuckles with a ruler every time I wrote with my left hand and a stern clucking. Whenever I worked ahead on any given assignment, she answered my want to learn more by humiliating me in front of my classmates. When I would beg to go to the nurse on the verge of tears with a migraine she would refer to me as a crybaby in front of the whole class. She was, in essence, a bitch in the first order armed with a classroom from which to rule.

The Boy starts first grade in a week. And I am equally excited and terrified for him. I am keeping my fingers crossed for him to find the teacher who encourages his journey instead of de-railing it.