#teacher impact

[cranialgunk]

Remembering Sir

Right around the fifth paragraph of Marie Lee’s op-ed in the New York Times To Sir With Love started playing in my head. It’s right around there she introduces us to Ms. Leibfried, her high school English teacher. It is Ms. Leibfried who “appeared at a critical juncture” in Marie’s life and gave her the confidence to go on as a writer. In asking “how exactly do we measure the value of a teacher?”…

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[oldschoolteach]

“My Name is Idiot.” My heart broke when I read the story of this  4 year old abused girl. When the officers asked her what her name was, she responded, "Idiot." The other child living in the house said that she was called that in place of her name.READ MORE...

[rethinkela]

What I Remember About My Teachers

What I Remember About My Teachers #ntchat #teacherquality

The first day of school is less than a week away and I’m already freaking out (to use the vernacular of the kids).

What if I don’t say or do the right things on the first day and the kids mutiny two weeks or two months from now?

What if I forget to introduce a concept now, we have to backtrack, and the kids fail their high stakes test in April?

What if I am so busy I overlook a child during one…

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[lol-livinoutloud]

Teacher Appreciation for Donna Phinizy - 40+ years later

This is a blog I posted in Feb 2011 (on a different blog I use to use).   I would love to be able to thank this particular teacher some day, but the trail has gone cold.  I found out through a church group she had moved to Colorado possibly.  You never know through the power of Tumblr!

My father was killed in action in 1969.  At the time we were living in the Philippines   The night we found out, my brother and I were asked if we wanted to participate in a sleep over, about a week after that, we were moved back to the states where we lived on my grandparents on a farm in Iowa until mom got a civil servant position at Eglin AFB.  With three kids under the age of 8 my newly widowed mom moved us down to Florida where I was enrolled at Val- P elementary.  I was in second grade.  When I found out my teacher’s first name was the same as mine, I was hoping she was nice. 

I tended to be a teacher’s helper most of my life and I know it started with Mrs. Phinizy allowing me to assist her after school because she knew I was going home to an empty house and would wait with my brother for my mom to get home from work.  Mrs. Phinizy as I recall, was kind and understanding to a kid who just lost her dad and was now having to grow up a little faster.

I knew she had a daughter but at this moment, I can’t remember how much older she was than I was, but we were probably within a few years.  One day, she asked me if I would like to spend the night at her house – that it was okay with my mom.  I was excited that there was a possibility for a sleep over, but recalled the last time I was asked for an impromptu sleep over and probably went into a panic.  I don’t remember much of that year other than the fact that I truly loved Mrs. Phinizy.  Flashes of memories always cross my mind when I think of that year – some kid who’s nick name was motor mouth because he was constantly taking, the year that I won the spelling bee with the word SUPERCALIFRAGILISTICEXPIALIDOCIOUS, and the feeling I felt for this woman that had a heart for me and I for her.

When I graduated from college with an elementary education degree I went back to the Valpariso area and found that Mrs. Phinizy had transferred to a school on the base.  I managed to get on base and seek her out at the end of the school day.  When I arrived at her door after school unexpectedly, she thought I was one of her kindergarten student’s parent.  I assured her I was not a parent but she did know me from a long time ago.  I stated that I didn’t know if she would remember, but I had this desperate need to seek her out and thank her for being my teacher back in the second grade.  I then stated my name is Donna and before I could spit out my last name, she completed my sentence.  My maiden name is not one that would be easy to spell or pronounce correctly (if you had me as a teacher) so imagine my amazement that she would be able to recognize me without skipping a beat.  What floored me even more was the scrapbook she was able to locate and  find a picture of me pretty quickly.  If she had not made an impact on my life back in the early 1970’s she was certainly making it now in the mid 1980’s.

 Because of this fantastic woman, I have been a better teacher and better person.  I tried to find her a few years ago and found out through a church she attended that she had moved to Colorado somewhere.  I wish I could find her now to continue to reaffirm the impact she had and continues to have; that her presence in my life has been tremendous and now that I am a 23+ teaching veteran, I can only hope that I can make the same kind of impact on the life of my own former and future students.