nhiallys inquired: "Peach! ^^"Who is your favorite teacher so far?
Oooooh ooooh going to break this down! :DD
Primary School
When I was in primary school, I was poor. We’re talking dirt poor. Little House on the Prairie living for a bit. I remember having to take baths in an ice chest full of water heated up via wood burning stove, because we just didn’t have the money for hot water and heating and all that jazz. And, you know, people unintentionally (intentionally? I donno, giving the benefit of the doubt here) look down on people who don’t have a LOT. We have those terms: trailer-park trash, white trash, etc. etc.
I was too young to recognize it then, but there was a lot of erm… misplaced maltreatment in schools. So there were a lot of teachers who didn’t exactly show favor towards me? But hey, I was really naive and delusional so I wasn’t entirely aware of it. (Until fifth grade. I will never forgive her. I can’t remember her name. Mrs. Lor.. something? Either way. So much resentment towards her.)
My third grade teacher, though, was the one who ever showed any true CARE for me, genuinely as a student and as a person. A human being. (Cos I was treated like trash a lot. Guess you are what you live in…?) I’ve written about her, Mrs. Hottman, because she’s the one who not only inspired me to write but encouraged me to and she was so kind to my overblown ego and my outrageous attention needs. Like, I think there are some people who are MEANT to be teachers and Mrs. Hottman is one of them. I was ostracized a lot (because I was a general twit who embarrasses myself even to this day), I would hang out with her at recess and she just had this way of making me feel better. I may not have had a lot of true friends, but I had companionship in a teacher who treated me really special.
At the end of the year, she gave everyone books. Little flimsy paper backs that she probably got in bulk trough a book order. They weren’t special or anything - everyone got to select a wrapped book and if you didn’t like what yours was, you could trade it. Except for me, she gave me a special book, not from the bin. It was one of those Dear America historical fiction diary books? Hardcover and everything. And I treasured that book. God, it was because of her I wanted to write EVERYTHING and to teach because basically I wanted to grow up and be her because she was the first teacher who treated me as a student.
She’s a very special woman.
Middle school
Much harder question because I really enjoyed a lot of my teachers but uhm. I never got SUPER SUPER close to them? Or rather that’s a lie. I was close to quite a few but I don’t know if any were ever FAVORITES. I loved my science teacher in sixth grade, history teacher Mr. Vansickle (may you RIP Mr. V) in seventh grade, and Mr. Flickner (you were probably the best Mr. F) my science teacher in eighth grade.
You probably were the best Mr. F cos, wow props to you for handling Jade and I and our inabilities to focus, and my squeamishness about the cow eye and the frogs, and letting me hang out after class to play with the gerbils and always pretending my friends and I didn’t amuse you.
High school
Mr. George! He taught me senior English, creative writing, independent lit study, and the history of drama. Jeeze were sure did spend a lot of time. But I liked him a lot because, even though he was a football coach (as coaches in my high school had the tendency of, you know, being teachers secondary to coaches) he really enjoyed teaching. You could just tell. He had a lot of enthusiasm, even for the most boring of subjects. Also he found the Phantom in Phantom of the Opera just as much of a turn-off as me. He was always entertaining and entertained by us. I remember when we figured out his birthday and he tried his best to deny it even though we brought cupcakes and everything for him. (Don’t worry Mrs. Ast, you were a close second!)
College
Oh god oh god oh god. Toss up between Meg (my newspaper adviser) and Marlys Cervantes (my creative writing/story-telling writing/Comp II teacher) and I think I choose Marlys, simply because Meg was much more an adviser than a teacher. I looked at her a lot like a friend and someone in whom I could confide, more than a teacher.
But Marlys was great. She had that enthusiasm for teaching and seemed to REALLY enjoy what she did. It’s hard to dislike a teacher who loves what she’s doing, right? And she was pretty lenient with me. She’d give me assignment extensions when she knew the staff was putting together the newspaper, which was cool. But she also encouraged my writing and waxed philosophic about my voice and just made me feel REALLY GOOD about myself. She was genuine - she didn’t make things up just to make you feel better - which made me feel even greater. She’s so interactive with her students and talks to them and stuff. Yes. I adored her.
