The topic of the "activity" was: talk about a teacher you have had who has inspired you, who has motivated you, or who has been able to connect you to the material through their teaching methods.
I feel very fortunate to say that automatically three teachers came to mind.
Number one: Pottsy aka Momma Potts!
I was lucky enough to have Momma Potts as my social teacher in grade nine. She is one tough old woman, and I admire her so much. In grade nine I will admit that I was a bit of a handful... I would sit in the back of class with my best friend Jenna, and we would torment her (and the other students). We were loud and obnoxious, definitely not any teachers idea of "model students". But through everything we did, Pottsy never gave up on us, even to this day she is still my biggest cheerleader in anything I do. I think that her support, even despite our bad attitudes, has really been a contributing factor in who I have become.. because no matter how stupid I acted she would always tell me how smart she knew I was and how much potential she saw in me. If I can be even half the teacher that she is... then it's all worth it.
Number two: Lisa Ryckman
Mrs. Ryckman was my psychology 25 and 35AP teacher, so I was her student for 2 years, and through those years we grew very close... so close that we were more like friends. She was also a councillor at my high school, so if I ever had any problems, no matter how big or small, I would talk to her about them. Now, after 2 and a bit years, she knows everything that a person could possibly know about me, and I know a lot about her as well. She is even a reference on my resume! I think that her openness, her non-judgmental approach to people, and her willingness to listen to any little problem I had were the main factors in how close we became. She is an amazing teacher, and believe me it's not easy to teach 30 grade 11s about Aristotle, selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors, or the Stanford Prison Experiments.
Number three: Sue Merry
In my final semester of high school I had the privilege of being a student in Mrs. Merry's English 30-1 class. For anyone who is struggling in English, this is the woman to talk to... she has the answer for everything you could possibly want to know more about, and she knows how to explain it so that it makes sense to every one of her students. Throughout the semester I spent in her class I learnt not only about your typical "English crap"... we, the class, also got to do improv routines (her way of making Shakespeare less "dry"), we watched movies such as Shawshank Redemption and we corrected each others work.. to name a few. We did everything you can imagine, all in our short 85 minute class. Mrs. Merry had a way of breaking concepts and ideas down into smaller, easier to understand pieces and by the end of the semester she had the majority of our class ready and confident to take one the diploma. It was through her diverse teaching methods that I actually came to realize that I wanted to become an English teacher, just like her.
All three of these teachers have had major impacts on my life and my decisions. Momma Potts believed in me... even at my worst, Mrs. Ryckman listened to all my problems... no matter how stupid they might have been, and finally, Mrs. Merry taught me how to love English in its entirety... even Shakespeare.
Once again, thank you to anyone who took the time to read this, it means a lot.
Sincerely,
Natasha.
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