If You Made It Through School, Thank a Teacher!

I can’t even think of how many teachers I’ve had through school.  Elementary, junior high, senior high, college, grad school, more grad classes.  But there are a few that I remember clearly, as if I still had to study for a test in their class.  Two that pop in my mind at the very utterance of the word “teacher” are Ms. P, 7th or 8th grade (junior high) Biology and Mr. C, senior high U.S. history/government. 

Under Ms. P’s watchful eye, we learned to dissect a frog and a worm (I know, who knew there was anything in a worm?), all about mitosis and meiosis and the animal kingdom.  Furthermore, Ms. Potter was in a wheelchair, so we also learned to move very quickly out of the way as she sped down the hallways.  Of course, to graduate high school, you need to know all about the Civil War, World War I & II, and the Constitution, which we learned from Mr. C.  But it wasn’t their subject matter that has pinned these two permanently in my memory.  They taught us how to learn and that has stayed with me for over 20 years. 

• Know your material. Almost each day, Ms. P would give us a pop quiz – 10 questions about what we were supposed to have read and learned in class and at home.  “Pop quiz” is an inaccurate description, because we knew it was coming – maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow, but then the next day.  There was no excuse, no reason to feign surprise.  We knew we needed to read, understand, and put in our memory, at least 10 important things.

• Answer the question.  As for Mr. C, he would ask us two questions on his exam.  That’s it.  Something like “explain at least three causes of World War II” and “describe the most important Amendment to the Constitution”.  They were to be answered in essay format, as long or as short as we thought necessary, completed during the class period.  And be sure to answer both.  Ohh, the poor kids who devoted all their ink to a great answer for question number one, and never made it to question number two.  Do that once, and you learn real quick about discerning the most important pieces of information and pacing.

• Show up and be present.  That’s half the battle in a lot of things in life, isn’t it?  Just get there and participate, take in whatever is being offered. 

When I went to college and then to graduate school, I didn’t need to list the parts of a cell or know the difference between a monarchy or democracy or theocracy.  But I did need to know how to learn – read and select important information, take efficient notes, study and understand.  I do not doubt that I would’ve been a different college student without the lessons I learned from a handful of really good teachers in junior and senior high, including these two.  Our teachers shape our minds and affect who we will become, in small or large ways. 

This is Teacher Appreciation Week – be sure to thank a teacher for all that he/she is doing for your kids, or for you. 

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I have 4 kids in 4 different MCPS schools.  Thank you to my kids' teachers and administrators!

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Frances regularly blogs at www.slackermomof4.blogspot.com and can be found piddlin' around on FaceBook as "just piddlin with Frances".