WEDNESDAY, MAY 5, 2021 TEACHER APPRECIATION

 WEDNESDAY, MAY 5, 2021 TEACHER APPRECIATION

Yesterday was National Teacher Appreciation Day.  The link says this:

“In 1953, Eleanor Roosevelt stood up to Congress in hopes of convincing them that teachers needed a day to be recognized for all that they do. Until that point, the celebration of the day wasn’t clear. It’s believed that some schools in certain states were already observing the day, but there wasn’t a clear consensus and she wanted to make it official. 

The National Education Association (NEA) in partnership with the Kansas State and Indiana State Boards of Education, lobbied Congress in order for the day to be recognized. Despite her best efforts, the first National Teacher Day didn’t become an official national day until 1980. 

“At its inception, National Teacher Day was celebrated on March 7 until 1984 when it was moved to May. Thanks to the assistance of the National PTA, it evolved into Teacher Appreciation Week, giving teachers more time to bask in appreciation. A year later, the NEA  established that the first Tuesday of the week would be National Teacher Appreciation Day.

Yes, and this whole week is National Teacher Appreciation Week.

I’ve had many great teachers (and some maybe not quite to the great stage).  Some were challenging, and some were there to help me succeed.

I wanted to highlight a few of them.

LYNN SCHWANDT - High School Geometry and Advanced Algebra Teacher.

Lynn was a guy who went the extra mile.  I remember a particularly tough geometry assignment.  He asked me to work through the last three problems labeled “C” in the book for “Challenging”. They were tough and I did most of it and met with him about three times to go over my logic.  One was about two circles that were tangent to each other and something about ratios, congruence, and proofs.  

He was very willing to meet with me and any others before school, after school, whenever.  (If it was today, we’d have his email address and maybe even a phone number).

Then some crazy student (me) wanted to start a chess club - and he became our sponsor.  He loved teaching.  Sometime after I graduated he went to Northern Iowa University as a professor of math education.  

BUT - it wasn’t his knowledge, it was his ‘love’ of teaching and learning.  I may not have recognized it then, but I do know.

LUCILLE ANTHONY - Junior High Speech and Theater

I was actually fairly shy, but I loved Mrs. Anthony’s speech class.  And, now, I think in most cases where it is apropos, I’ll stand up and talk. One thing that I remember in the fall semester of 1960 when the Kennedy and Nixon debates occurred, was that another student and I debated in class.  Honestly, neither one of us was qualified to debate and threw out the same rhetoric that was being spouted by the candidates and political parties. 

I did miss out when I got to high school.  I went to two debate club sessions, and could have been a debater, but decided with the band, choir, theater, and chess club that I didn’t need to be a debater.  [Aside, both of our children were very active in debate and won statewide recognition as debaters and speakers!!]

That led me to be in the theater.  In junior high school, I did lights, and the sets and was a backstage person.  By high school, I was an actor as well as involved in sets and the technical side of the theater.  

BILL EMMONS - College Math Professor

In my freshman year, the first semester, I had Bill Emmons as my math instructor.  Behind his back, he was called “Wild Bill”, and he told people he was a DOM - and we thought that meant he was a “doctor of mathematics”, but he corrected us eventually that he was a ‘dirty old man.  (I doubt that, but he had humor in his classroom.

My test papers were generally the first ones turned in, and Bill Emmons used my answers to prove his own answer key.  (In retrospect, I maybe should have started with Calculus, but getting an easy “A” out of Bill Emmons class cemented my math major decision.  

There were others.  My senior English teacher, Mr. Spellman “made” me come early every day and bring an essay for him to review. It seemed like a couple of months before my essay earned a “Very Good” out of him.  

He was also my high school German teacher.  (I wish I had retained more German skills!!!)

One negative (or not), someplace he said “Don’t ever read Ayn Rand”.  (So, of course, I did - in college).  Atlas Shrugged, to me, has to be one of the most provocative novels of all time.  The Fountainhead was also an inspiration to a college man.  

Dr. Theland was my freshman philosophy professor - boring - but gave me a deep love for philosophy.  

My junior history professor (whose name I have forgotten), was my stereotype for professors.  He had a cold, and blew his nose into his handkerchief, and then took a minute to look at it.  (These days, I might think he was looking for some specific illness, but it seemed just ‘odd’ then). He wore the same tie day after day and by the end of the year, the tie was frayed on the sides from too much handling.

 I was in his French Revolution history class and doing an independent study had to visit his (eclectic) office.  It was stacked full of books in cardboard boxes and he would reach into one and pull out a book on the French Revolution written in German (or Russian or French).  While disheveled and seemingly he was (at least to me) a genius - reading knowledge of multiple languages, 

*****

So, what might be my ideal teacher?

A person who is passionate about teaching

A person who is passionate about students

A person who is able to share that passion and love to others.

*****

Some years ago when I became a teacher, I wrote Lynn Schwandt to thank him for his teaching.  Have you ever written to a former teacher to say “THANK YOU”? 

I say LOVE WINS - and my teachers over the years have shown love and inspiration to me.

HUGS!!!

Karen