Teacher That Changed Your Life.

[chelsea24]

OK, get your perkin' minds a-werkin'! Is there one teacher that had such an impact on you that she/he changed your life?

For me, it was Mrs. Dale in my Junior year of High School. I has not shy in a social sense, but was terribly shy of speaking in front of the class. She was an Oral Interpretation teacher and we would have to chose poems or scenes from plays and read them in front of the class.

Well, I pretty much mumbled through most of the semester barely passing. Then in the last few weeks, we had to chose a favorite scene from a play to do and I chose a scene from Our Town by Thornton Wilder. It was the scene where Emily has passed away but is allowed to relive one more day of her life. One of my all time favorite scenes.

On the way to class, I had had a fight with my boyfriend. And for some reason, when I got up to do the scene, I forgot myself completely. When I looked up from reading the scene, you could hear a pin drop.

I first looked at Mrs. Dale in the back of the room, who was sobbing. She stood up and said "Linda! Where have you been! Do you even know your potential?" And as I looked around the room the entire class was in tears, even the tough guys and theatre queens. I was shocked. Now with all due respect to Mr. Wilder, his words are absolutely moving, I must have done something right. And Mrs. Dale jumped on that chance to bring me out of my shell.

Later in college and then in my career as Copywriter, Copy Supervisor, and then Creative Head at an ad agency, every time a big presentation would come up, I would still hear her words. "Where have you been? Do you even know your potential?" Those words changed my life and forced me to raise the bar higher for myself. I have made presentations in front of groups of over 500. Me! I know I wouldn't have had the wonderful career that I've had without those words and Mrs. Dale.

So Thank you Mrs. Dale for showing me that I could do anything I set my mind to. :#1:

[nONIE]

I really dont think I had a teacher that changed my life. All I can think of is Our male Gym teacher who informed us that we needed to take a bath everyday!

Well back in those days how many people took a bath every day?

[redwitch]

Mine was Mr. Hetrick, my history teacher in 7th and 10th grades. I was always the odd man out. We traveled so much when I was younger that it made me gunshy about making friends. Acquaintances I had by the dozen but very few I would call friends (still that way, sadly). Most of the kids in my school had both parents. My dad was dead. We went from upper middle class to below poverty. These were all factors that made it hard for me to feel like I fit anywhere.

To make matters worse, I questioned everything. I wasn't trying to show off or harass the teacher and class, I honestly wanted to know the whys. I didn't care about dates. I didn't care about who did what to whom. I wanted to know WHY. I was constantly going, but in Japan, we learned ... in Germany, they said ...; the French don't believe that; and so on. It did not make me very popular with my teachers or my classmates who just wanted to get on with it.

Mr. Hetrick not only let me ask, he actually answered! He let me know it was okay to question. If he didn't know the answer, he told me to do the research and let him know. He encouraged me to audit classes at the local JC, helped me get out of classes so I could do this. If I started to stray from my goal of college, he would march me into his classroom and guide, push and downright shove me into doing the necessary. I probably would have dropped out of high school if not for him -- either due to boredom or frustration. He made sure that didn't happen. He appreciated me for me and taught me that it was really okay to be different, that people would accept me for myself if I gave them a chance.

When I got married, I went back to my high school in the hopes Mr. H would still be around. He was. He walked me down the aisle. I was so lucky and happy to have this wonderful man be part of my life. So, once again, I thank you Mr. H. You are part of what I am.

[KathieI]

Can't remember his name!

BUT, HE WAS MAGNIFICENT!!

[Taltarzac]

Mine was high school English teacher Mrs. B. Mitchell in Reno, Nevada who got me reading books like Anna Karenina while I had been only interested in books like the latest Alistair MacLean thriller http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alistair_MacLean.

She even gave me along with another boy-- John P.-- in her class a small scholarship in the name of her recently deceased daughter Michelle. Michelle had been murdered by a group of people on February 24, 1976 in a house garage bordering the University of Nevada, Reno campus. These people were finally caught in 1979. As some probably already know, February 24 is also my birthday.

I got two BAs from the University of Nevada, Reno with GPAs of around 3.61 and 3.63 (1980, 1981) mainly due to Mrs. Mitchell's prodding of me in 1975-1976 to read heavier books.

I also managed to skip my senior year in high school and go directly to college by taking correspondence courses through a second Reno high school.

[swrinfla]

I consider my most significant teacher was not really a teacher, and his impact was negative!

Second semester of my sophomore year in college. My mind pretty well made up that I'd major in math, after a number of highly successful classes with outstanding and inspiring professors (both of them tenured).

Then, an advanced calculus class under a guy who'd only just graduated from the same college in that same January! I'm sure he must have known his math, or they'd have never let him stand in front of the blackboard (which was, in fact, green). BUT, he had absolutely no skills, nor interest in developing them, to teach kindergartners, let along college sophomores!

I changed my major to French, for which I only regret that it was totally impractical!

SWR

[graciegirl]

OK, get your perkin' minds a-werkin'! Is there one teacher that had such an impact on you that she/he changed your life?

For me, it was Mrs. Dale in my Junior year of High School. I has not shy in a social sense, but was terribly shy of speaking in front of the class. She was an Oral Interpretation teacher and we would have to chose poems or scenes from plays and read them in front of the class.

Well, I pretty much mumbled through most of the semester barely passing. Then in the last few weeks, we had to chose a favorite scene from a play to do and I chose a scene from Our Town by Thornton Wilder. It was the scene where Emily has passed away but is allowed to relive one more day of her life. One of my all time favorite scenes.

On the way to class, I had had a fight with my boyfriend. And for some reason, when I got up to do the scene, I forgot myself completely. When I looked up from reading the scene, you could hear a pin drop.

I first looked at Mrs. Dale in the back of the room, who was sobbing. She stood up and said "Linda! Where have you been! Do you even know your potential?" And as I looked around the room the entire class was in tears, even the tough guys and theatre queens. I was shocked. Now with all due respect to Mr. Wilder, his words are absolutely moving, I must have done something right. And Mrs. Dale jumped on that chance to bring me out of my shell.

Later in college and then in my career as Copywriter, Copy Supervisor, and then Creative Head at an ad agency, every time a big presentation would come up, I would still hear her words. "Where have you been? Do you even know your potential?" Those words changed my life and forced me to raise the bar higher for myself. I have made presentations in front of groups of over 500. Me! I know I wouldn't have had the wonderful career that I've had without those words and Mrs. Dale.

So Thank you Mrs. Dale for showing me that I could do anything I set my mind to. :#1:


So wonderful to hear and so interesting and not at all surprising to hear of your career. Good for you Linda/Chelsea! :bigthumbsup:

[sschuler1]

I was always an under achiever in school. Never did my homework, got by doing as little as possible. When I was in 8th grade, our math teacher let anyone who wanted to do independent study sit in an empty classroom and take 8th grade math at their own pace. The only proviso was if you fell behind the class, you would have to return to the regular classroom. At least 75% of the students took him up on that offer. Well, by the second week of school there was only myself and one other girl that was left in the independent study. We decided to take the tests for the rest of the year and just get it over with so we could goof off the rest of the year. So we took all the tests for the rest of the year..and then we proceeded to goof off during that hour. The seventh grade math teacher had his classroom right next door to the empty room we were goofing off in. He caught us playing hangman on the blackboard one day, and came in to find out why we were always in that room during that hour. We told him that we had tested out of the rest of the school year, and he made it his mission that we were going to learn something that year. It turned out that his prep hour was at the same time as our independent study. So every day he came in and taught us algebra, which gave me a huge head start when I started high school. I ended up going to a state competition in math when I was a freshman. The 7th grade teacher's name was Mr. Kladder.

[samhass]

My eighth grade teacher, Janice Rule, gave me harder assignments and tougher books to read. She recognized that I needed the enrichment and would have been bored without it.

[Jim007]

After getting my knuckles smacked by a ruler all year in kindergarten. My first grade teacher, Sister Sibella, told me, that if God had wanted me to be right handed, I would be holding my pencil in my right hand. Since I was not, she had guessed that he wanted me to be left handed. And if that was OK with God, then it was OK with her, and should be OK with every one else as well. I left class that day with a broad smile on my face, and haven't stopped smiling since. :)

[MMC24]

The only teacher that truly changed my life is my wife, a now retired teacher with 38 years of teaching at the elementry level. Didn't teach me much about the 3 R's but she sure changed my life!!!

[RCT]

This is such a hard question, having grown up with across the board such excellent teachers. I have to go way back, for not necessarily an impact in the sense of a change of thinking, drive, or something of that nature, but an act of kindness above and beyond, in my mind. Second grade, Virginia Strawderman. I was 6, and going through the process of being adopted, and she, after only having me in her class for 5 months or so, took a week of leave, vacation, whatever it might have been called, to go to court with my family and I. This still amazes me, and she followed my progress, and we kept in touch, all through the remaining years of my education, and beyond. She just passed 6 years ago, at the age of 98. I remember feeling so special, that not only was I being adopted, but that my teacher was there for it also. I am eternally grateful to her, and have feelings that are very hard to describe.
Chels, thx for the topic, is a very nice thing to remember those special people that shaped us for nine months a yearand beyond.

[RCT]

OK, get your perkin' minds a-werkin'! Is there one teacher that had such an impact on you that she/he changed your life?

For me, it was Mrs. Dale in my Junior year of High School. I has not shy in a social sense, but was terribly shy of speaking in front of the class. She was an Oral Interpretation teacher and we would have to chose poems or scenes from plays and read them in front of the class.

Well, I pretty much mumbled through most of the semester barely passing. Then in the last few weeks, we had to chose a favorite scene from a play to do and I chose a scene from Our Town by Thornton Wilder. It was the scene where Emily has passed away but is allowed to relive one more day of her life. One of my all time favorite scenes.

On the way to class, I had had a fight with my boyfriend. And for some reason, when I got up to do the scene, I forgot myself completely. When I looked up from reading the scene, you could hear a pin drop.

I first looked at Mrs. Dale in the back of the room, who was sobbing. She stood up and said "Linda! Where have you been! Do you even know your potential?" And as I looked around the room the entire class was in tears, even the tough guys and theatre queens. I was shocked. Now with all due respect to Mr. Wilder, his words are absolutely moving, I must have done something right. And Mrs. Dale jumped on that chance to bring me out of my shell.

Later in college and then in my career as Copywriter, Copy Supervisor, and then Creative Head at an ad agency, every time a big presentation would come up, I would still hear her words. "Where have you been? Do you even know your potential?" Those words changed my life and forced me to raise the bar higher for myself. I have made presentations in front of groups of over 500. Me! I know I wouldn't have had the wonderful career that I've had without those words and Mrs. Dale.

So Thank you Mrs. Dale for showing me that I could do anything I set my mind to. :#1:
BTW chels, I played the drunk choir director in our high school performance of Our Town.

[chelsea24]

Aww Ron, great memory! Thanks for posting. And thank you to all.

Ron, about that choir director, did the shoe fit???? LOLOLOL :joke:

[Lil Dancer]

Mine was Mr. Hetrick, my history teacher in 7th and 10th grades. I was always the odd man out. We traveled so much when I was younger that it made me gunshy about making friends. Acquaintances I had by the dozen but very few I would call friends (still that way, sadly). Most of the kids in my school had both parents. My dad was dead. We went from upper middle class to below poverty. These were all factors that made it hard for me to feel like I fit anywhere.

To make matters worse, I questioned everything. I wasn't trying to show off or harass the teacher and class, I honestly wanted to know the whys. I didn't care about dates. I didn't care about who did what to whom. I wanted to know WHY. I was constantly going, but in Japan, we learned ... in Germany, they said ...; the French don't believe that; and so on. It did not make me very popular with my teachers or my classmates who just wanted to get on with it.

Mr. Hetrick not only let me ask, he actually answered! He let me know it was okay to question. If he didn't know the answer, he told me to do the research and let him know. He encouraged me to audit classes at the local JC, helped me get out of classes so I could do this. If I started to stray from my goal of college, he would march me into his classroom and guide, push and downright shove me into doing the necessary. I probably would have dropped out of high school if not for him -- either due to boredom or frustration. He made sure that didn't happen. He appreciated me for me and taught me that it was really okay to be different, that people would accept me for myself if I gave them a chance.

When I got married, I went back to my high school in the hopes Mr. H would still be around. He was. He walked me down the aisle. I was so lucky and happy to have this wonderful man be part of my life. So, once again, I thank you Mr. H. You are part of what I am.


What great story, Red.

I can't remember the name of my teacher, but I had a phys ed teacher in college who nurtured me. On the first day of class, she instructed the class to run around the track. I took off like a jack rabbit,and was ahead by about 1/2 the length of the track. She tried to get me to go out for the track team, which I didn't have time for, but she also lent me some of her books on running which piqued my interest in phyical fitness. Since then I have always been somewhat of a fitness buff thanks to her encouragement.