When I was a kid, it never occurred to me that teachers were like the rest of us. I assumed they lived in special teacher enclaves. I was in middle school before I learned the truth. My illusions were shattered in the Model Market. Mama was checking out packages of chickens when, to my astonishment, I saw a teacher in the vegetable aisle. Flabbergasted, I whispered, “Mama! Look! There’s Mrs. Novak! She’s a teacher at my school!” Mama smiled, “ Oh, really? Do you have her for a class?” I said, “No, but what’s Mrs. Novak doing in the Model Market? Doesn’t she have her own place to shop?” Mama replied, “ Well, apparently she lives around here.” I was stunned. “ You mean there’s a teacher village around here?” Mama stopped inspecting chicken and looked very closely at me for a long moment. Then she said, “Honey, we need to talk.”
That’s when I learned the truth. Mama toId me that teachers lived in regular houses. They had children of their own. They shopped. They made doctor and the dentist appointments. They went to the movies. In short, they were ordinary people, just like the rest of us. Talk about boggling the mind! The funny thing is, I still don’t believe it. Mama was wrong. Teachers are not ordinary at all. We carry their lessons in our pockets for our entire lives.
I would love to say that I came away from my academic career brilliant and bursting with facts and figures that I remember to this very day. Alas, I cannot. But my teachers taught me far more than mere facts and figures. They taught me how to live my life. They taught me right from wrong, how to share, care and be fair. They modeled behavior I wanted to emulate. I admired everything about them. They didn’t all admire me back, but the ones who did had a profound and very positive effect. A smile, a wink, a pat on the shoulder, or a “Good job!” could keep me going for a week. I would savor every nuance of the moment and bask in its glory, replaying it over and over in my mind.
The teachers who shared their personal experiences and interests had the greatest impact on me. My third-grade teacher, Mrs. Carlson, was a birder who signed all of us up in the Junior Audubon Society. I was extremely proud of my Junior Audubon Society card ~ carried it around for years. I maintain my passion for birds to this day, in spite of the fact that I was covered in poison ivy after a field trip to look for bird nests.
In middle school, my main goal was to be a class clown, inserti n g what I considered clever whispered quips to teacher lectures, delighting the students around me. But my natural science teacher was my idol. She was young with a passion for science and for instilling that passion in us. I kept a close eye on her— watching, watching. She was cool, calm and collected. She was a woman who had a job she loved, her own apartment and a little car. I had those same goals! She showed us by example that it was possible. I wanted to be exactly like her. She regularly told us that middle school was the time when students reach a fork in life’s road, and each must decide which path to take. Some chose to buckle down and do the hard work necessary to be successful; others took the opposite path. She said the choice was ours alone but cautioned us to choose wisely because the path we took might determine the direction of the rest of our lives. That was powerful. That was profound. And she was right. By mid-term, nobody was giggling at any clever quips from me in Miss Taylor ’s classroom or in any classroom.
By high school, I was a very serious student indeed, but I still liked the teachers who taught life lessons along with the academic ones. Although she was my English teacher, Mrs. Bronosky taught me more about history, patriotism and freedom than I ever learned in history class. She shared stories about her Eastern European parents and the hunger and deprivation they endured before coming to America. We swelled with pride as she reminded us how blessed we were to be Americans. She warned us never to take our freedoms and blessings for granted. And I never have.
I know today’s teachers have a lot more on their plates than teachers did when I went to school, but I hope they still find a little time to share a few life lessons, for they are valuable lessons indeed.
To all teachers, I salute you! I admire you! I want to be exactly like you! You are not, nor have you ever been, ordinary. You are extraordinary! As far as I am concerned, you still walk on water!
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