For the last week of the Dream Job series I tried to tackle my hardest job yet….an elementary school teacher. I had an absolute blast. Special thanks to Matt Singleton for his as usual excellent work (Matt’s wife Holly is expecting a baby very soon) and to Harpeth Valley Elementary School for allowing us to wreak havoc on their campus.
[vimeo http://www.vimeo.com/2322200]
Did you have a teacher who just stands out as making an impact on your life? Mine was Mr. Jameson in 8th grade. Eight grade was a tough year for me. I was in transition from a small Christian school to a large, very diverse, public school. Mr Jameson went out of his way to make sure I felt included and a part of things.
He talked me into trying out for the basketball team. Even though I only scored one point the ENTIRE year, I met some great friends and started to feel right at home. I’ll never forget the kindness he showed me and the courage he instilled in me.
So who was your favorite teacher?
I think I’ve been using my cell phone too much I can’t think of any at least not this morning. I’ll get back at you later, hopefully with a favorite teacher to share. {Sorry to all my teachers I have forgotten}
That was hysterical. I’ve been passing over the Dream Job vids…thinking they were too long.
Guess I’m gonna have to go back & watch them all.
Mrs. Pappas.
My home ec. teacher. Kids would come to her for councel and advice during their free period.
She always looked you in the eyes, would cry and laugh with you. Gave great advice. And hugs. Always smiling.
* I was a horrible seamstress, and still managed to feel good about myself in her presence.
SHe passed awayseveral years ago and at her funeral, there were HUNDREDS of students lined up to tell her family their story of how she had touched their lives.
I’ve got tears in my eyes now, just thinking about her.
Since I loved school, there were several. However, Mr. Jackson fueled my love for history and politics through 4 yrs of sitting in his classes.
My dear hubs least favorite teacher, Mr. Jackson…they just did not get along. Funny how different personalities react to one another!
(yes, hubs and I were high school sweethearts)
Okay, here it goes…..
From my elementary days, Mrs. Foley–she was my 4th grade teacher. I can remember being sick as 4th grader and she was great with me. I still have a few notes that she sent me.
From my Junior High days, Mr. Harvey. He was my geometry teacher. Great guy…had some great conversations. Great motivator. He recently passed away with a brain tumor.
From High School, Mrs Phillips….she was my chemistry teacher. She taught me everything I needed to know for College chemistry. I saw her recently and realized how young she was when she came to teach…I had her in her 2nd or 3rd year of teaching. She kept us motivated.
From college….hmmm that gets harder…Dr. Higa and Dr. Karnack….they both had a passion for what they taught and transferred that passion on their students.
Teachers can have a great impact on our lives….and I have a new respect for those who teach. It is not an easy job. It takes dedication, it takes a passion, and it takes a thick skin. For those who teach, my hat is off to you…
Be Blessed!
S.
@Scott Williams, you should be ashamed of yourself.
There is no question. It was my biology mentor / teacher Peggy Carnahan . She has received all kind of honors in the state of Texas and recently had a school named after her. Sorry for the link referral, but you really need to read about her accomplishments.
That video was stinkin AWESOME, I’m cracking up!
Favorite teacher…Mrs. Collins…the woman sweat blood trying to teach me Algebra…God love her. She didn’t succeed in helping me master Algebra, but I did get some small sick satisfaction from knowing how frustrated I left her that year…
My favorite teacher had to be Ms. Bruckner in 1st grade. She was the nicest lady in the known universe. She must have been old as dirt. Sometimes her mother would come in and help, she was older than dirt.
Pete, I thought you made a great teacher, see I just don’t think the BCS system is taught nearly enough, and like you, I agree kids need to learn it early. Field & Stream is ok, but SI or ESPN would have been my choice.
I was basically, a slacker in high school, got decent grades with very little effort, my favorite teachers were the ones that gave me the most leeway in being a goof. Mrs. Marsh, my home ec teacher was great for this, and by the way, her class actually taught me how to be a darn good cook.
Hands down it was my 2nd grade teacher Mrs. Regas. She is one of my favorite people of all time. she just touched my life beyond words.
Well, mine was a professor in college. Her name was Karen Patterson. Not only did she get my attention I felt as though she cared about what she taught us and hada passion herself for teaching. As a teacher myself I hope that one day I will have had an impact in someones life. Being a teacher in not something I thought I would have as a career but God thought differently. Although the days can get pretty long and very trying I love what I do because I know that this is where and what God wants me to do. Touhg job or not.
Mr. Taggert…10th grade history. Worst grade I ever made, but the hardest I ever had to work. I was more proud of that C than I was any of the A’s.
Mr. Martin, he taught all types of advanced math topics in high school. He taught us some tuff stuff but had a way of making you understand. It was amazing. He would write some equation on the board that would just make your jaw drop and you would wonder what in the heck is it and how will I ever understand it. He would see that dear in the headlights look in our eyes and always say “Now before we jump into this let’s just hand wave over it.” Then he would ease us into the concept before drowning us in the expressions, equations and functions. That phrase became like taking a Xanex to a group of distressed high school students. We were ready to take on the manh world.
You know Pete, you have had a lot of great sports in all your Dream Job videos. They really deserve a lot of credit for taking so much time out of their jobs to help you with yours.
GREAT JOB! – pun completely intended.
I would have to say Mrs. Green (Hillwood English Teacher)was my favorite…second to Mrs. Craighead (Art). I was terrible at art, but she was so unique (come on Pete, I know you remember her!!)
My favorite teacher by far was my aunt Kay in kindergarten. I had to make myself call her “Mrs. Kay” for the full year!
Miss Evans 4th grade. She was kind, caring, and considerate. Great teacher in every way a child needs them to be.
My favorite teacher was Ms. Yost – in high school. Her favorite person was Miss Piggy and she resembled her down to her hoof-like feet (mental image – her ankles spilled over her shoes – you’re welcome).
She was my English teacher and she always had awesome projects for us to work on … oh and on due dates for papers, you had until midnight to turn it in at her apt. There was a trash can outside her door and she’d pull it inside at midnight. One time a couple friends and I sat outside quietly in the bushes and waited to see her pull it in at midnight. It made us feel grown up that we could say, “be back in a bit Mom, going to drop off my report at Ms. Yost’s place” at 11:30 pm.
I loved School, had quite a few teachers who I loved and respected. I liked the science teacher, Mrs.Lakshmi and the Kannada Language teacher, Mrs. Leelavathi best. Of course, this being India, we never called them by their Names, they were always Sir, Ma’am or Miss to us. Only in High School it occurred to us that the Teachers had Names too. They made the class interesting, engaging and most of all that sense of caring about every student there was.
Mrs. Bullock. Junior year, Memorial High School, Tulsa, Oklahoma. She was my Creative Writing teacher and told me I was a great writer! Ohhhhhh, how I wished I’d listened to her way back then instead of waiting til I was 40-*cough*-something to discover my passion for crafting stories! Alas, better late than never, eh? And Pete, thanks for a GREAT series to put it all in perspective. You’re the best!
Thanks for the encouragement Diane. That means a lot coming from you!
I had tons of amazing teachers throughout my childhood…probably a big part of the reason I became a teacher. As far as a fave: Susan Ireland was my high school English teacher (I had her for something all 4 years), and she taught me soooo much…
cool random thing about her…we had a bunch of our senior class dress up as the 101 dalmations for halloween and she dyed half of her hair white and dressed up as our Cruella Deville. means a lot to teenagers when adults don’t take themselves too seriously!
I’d have to say Mr Otto. He was my 10th and 11th grade history teacher. He also was the only teacher who was able to use an ABBA music video to drive home a point (Battle of Waterloo) that I’ve ever known/heard of.
He was the best teacher I had.
@ash- that’s totally awesome about your english teacher. Ironically, the one female vice principal at my high school did that with a bunch of juniors the halloween of my sophomore year. It was interesting to see her go from talking with students dressed up to meeting with the school board dressed up like that.
Ironic that this would be your topic of the day. One of my favorite teachers was just laid to rest this morning, in a beautiful ceremony celebrating his short 51 years on this earth. He was a phy ed teacher for 27 years, and a coach for almost as many. He battled a rare form of thyroid cancer for the past 8 years, and finally said he was ready for his “next new game”. The ceremony had to be held in the school gymnasium to accommodate the amount of people whose lives this amazing man touched. His mantra was always, “No shoulda, woulda, coulda!” He taught more than just phy ed – he taught his students how to be good people, how to make good decisions, how to use your God given talents to the best of your ability. And that’s just what he did every day. He taught us all how to live, and how to die … fighting to the very last.
Another one of my favorite teachers would of course have to be my Mother! I had her in 3rd grade and 6th grade. She doesn’t ever realize it, but she too teaches her students more than just what’s in her lesson plan. She is in her 44th year of teaching – at the same school! – and says she’ll retire when she stops enjoying it!
my favorite teacher, as hard as it was to pick from them, was Mrs. Millet. She taught Speech at my high school. It was one of the hardest classes to get into, and rightfully so. She had a trailer with round tables instead of desk. We had lamps and Christmas lights. There are many reason why she was amazing, but the most important to be is that she believed in me.
She took a very shy and insecure fat girl, and helped he find her voice (and calling). I was a completely different person after that semester. As a believer, she was able to speak life into (before i understood what that meant) and she was able to hold up a mirror to me and start the process of healing and open my heart further to understand that call that God has on my life.
Mrs. Garlinger, second grade.. but I remember Miss O’Neal kindegargten…but she wouldn’t let me put glitter on my picture because I was misbehaving and I think it scarred me for life. I love glitter everything to this day. LOL
I was blessed to have a lot of fabulous teachers, except for Ms. Downey in 4th grade – she should have never been a teacher – anyway, Mrs. Meeks has to be my most favorite of my favorites. She was my 5th grade teacher and made me love school and was instrumental in me wanting to be a teacher.
My high school photography teacher was a fantastic teacher… I learned a TON in his classes. He was also a believer and talked me off of a few ledges with great concern for me. I should look him up and call him… He deserves a big “thank you” from me!
I had some amazing geography teachers in high school. The 2 teachers that probably had the greatest influence on me were my Physics teacher – I slept through his classes, blatantly didn’t do my work and didn’t bother to study at all. But he let me have my teenage rebellion so long as it didn’t disrupt anyone else. My geography teacher was the same. He was the one who told me I would get the grades, he provided my reference for uni applications, he challenged me and let me work in the way I learned best instead of trying to force me to learn in one particular way (like so many teachers did). I would have quit school earlier and would not have gone to university if it hadn’t been for their encouragement and them not trying to control me, and showing that they trusted me.
Field and Stream?!?! Haha that was great.
Favorite teacher.. geez thats hard.. I think I have a few.. Mrs. Mertz 2nd grade..
Mr. Ravert 4th grade.. and Mrs Dean 11th grade Honors English.. she really believed in me… and that made a HUGE difference.
School teachers are amazing – I could never do it. I do have fond memories of a couple of my high school teachers. High School Biology was Mr. Tyndol… very cool guy.
But the BEST TEACHER award goes to Tina Drakulich, who was my daughter’s 3rd grade teacher. When my first husband died, Tina took my daughter under her wing and sheltered, protected and loved her during the school hours when I could not. I wrote a letter to the editor of our newspaper, to publicly thank her, and the other teachers that were supportive for my son. For my daughters remaining years in elementary school, she was Tina’s aid. Anytime my Alison was having a rough ‘I miss Dad day,’ she was able to go help out the 3rd graders.
God blessed me with Tina.
I had a couple…My first was my kindergarten teacher Miss. Myers. I had such a CRUSH on her but in the middle of the year, she ran off and got married so I had to pull her from the “favorite” list! The other was Mrs. Harbin…4th grade! Her husband passed away during that year and she seemed to just pour all of her love into her kids in my class! I didn’t realize it at the time but she really was like a second mom! Cheers to all elementary teachers!
Thanks for giving us teachers the great shout out!
That was the best video yet! Especially since I was a teacher’s kid and a teacher’s grandchild! I think you better stick to pastoring!
“Past….present…..future!” Made me laugh out loud. Getting your groove on. Very good video!
this was cute and funny, I am actually married to a High School teacher who has been teaching 36 years now. He still loves teaching and truly beleives that God put him there to teach teenagers. He has gotten most inspirational and for the month of November got teacher of the month he was nominated by one of his students.
I thought you did a great job on the craft activity..lol
my favorite teachers and the ones that inspired me the most were Ms. Nakatsu my shorthand teacher, Mr. Rowe my woodshop teacher and Mr. Nicholson my art and electrician teacher from Jr. High.(these classes came in handy since being a sahm I’m the fixer around the house)hehe