Thank a teacher

In honor of National Teacher Appreciation day I thought I would take the time to tell you about a few of my favorite teachers…

Mr. Adams – I had Mr., Adams for German 1 and 2 my freshman and sophomore years of high school. Not only did Mr. Adams help me get gum out of my pants but he also taught me that it’s OK to take school seriously even when I don’t take myself so seriously.

Mr. Greendonner – He was my high school US and World History teacher. I’m a history teacher today because of him. Mr. Greendonner was what my students would call a ‘Tootsie Pop”. He was hard on the outside but soft on the inside.

Ms. Gephardt – My 4th grade teacher. She welcomed me as the new kid part way through the school year. She helped me find my place and feel special when I thought I was sticking out like a sore thumb.

Mr. Bernier – My 2nd grade teacher. He taught me how to use my imagination and showed me how to put it to good use.

Mrs. Dorato – My 7th grade Language Arts teacher. She’s not a favorite of mine. She did everything she could to make a short, chubby, prepubescent, and shy little boy feel smaller than he already thought he was. I am a teacher today because of her as well. Nobody should treat children the way she treated me and I hope that I never have and never will.

Most of my teachers made a special effort to push me beyond what I thought I could do, to make me consider others, wheedle and cajole me into looking beyond my present and fully consider my future. I didn’t thank them then. I feel kind of guilty about it now.
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Insight

With only 22 school days left on the calendar this is how I feel…

-I feel 10 years older than I am.
-I seem to have lost my ability to problem solve and think creatively.
-My sense of humor went out with last week’s trash. The trashman returned it though and now it smells like moldy banana peels and week old coffee grounds.
-I have no attention span.
-I have no attention span.
-A weekend does not refresh me.
-An eight-hour span of sleep does rejuvenate me.
-The smallest things annoy me

You may say that teachers are over paid and under worked. I will happily trade places with you for a year. Then we'll talk.
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I swam this morning. It sucked. No rhythm. No flow. No fun.