Our Three Weeks of Thanks-giving for a teacher that inspired us
brought back a lot of memories. I went
to a small school, which means there was only one teacher per subject. And unless they quit and were replaced, we
had the same teachers every year. That
is a good thing, if you had a great teacher. It is not a good thing, if the teacher was
not so great.
Without naming a name here, I can tell you I had a math
teacher that could really DO math. But
she could not explain to me how to do it.
So I don’t feel as though I learned much about math. Surely it had nothing to do with the fact
that I hated math and looked upon a word problem as if it was the very essence
of all things evil. Yet, somehow I
learned enough math to get into and succeed when I went to school of Radiologic
Technology-which I found out to my dismay-would require lots of math.
I have a theory that people are either “numbers” people or “words” people. I’m a “words” person.
From the day I arrived on the
planet I loved books, so English and Literature class was a good fit for
me. But aside from that natural bent, I
had two excellent English teachers. I
can still remember the excitement Miss Jordan generated in class for Roman
mythology. When Miss Jordan left, Mrs.
Thurmond took her place. Her passion for
literature showed through every day, in my memories I can still hear her reading poetry to
us. It was also in her class when I
delivered my first “speech.” No one in
the room would have ever guessed that I would become a public speaker and book
author.
A great teacher rains down what they know over their students. The lucky ones absorb some of that rain to germinate the seeds of future writers…
and maybe even mathematicians.
Carla Killough McClaffertyClick here to find out how to enter to win the book Pet Crazy.
Love your closing words, Carla.
ReplyDelete>>A great teacher rains down what they know over their students. The lucky ones absorb some of that rain to germinate the seeds of future writers…
and maybe even mathematicians.<<
Unfortunately, I'm one of several people I know who can disprove your theory. I'm BOTH a "numbers" person AND a "words" person. (My undergraduate degree was in Math and Computer Science.) I will admit, though, that people like me are uncommon. Or, as some might say, "weird." :-)
Carla, I think you should teach a class on how to write succinctly. That’s a challenge in and of itself—offer a master class!
ReplyDeleteMarti, you are one of the lucky ones to get the numbers "thing" along with the words! I really wish I had. However, I can figure out how much a 40% sale means to a blouse at Chicos. Ha.
ReplyDeleteThank you April, for that kind comment. I've never really looked at my succinct writing as necessarily a good thing. Especially when I read beautiful flowery passages from other writers -including my fellow TAs.
I need to figure out how to offer some sort of class to help make a living in this rough business!