Tag Archive - influence

To my high school Advanced Comp. teacher

February 12, 2010 in MISCELLANY with 4 Comments

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First things first.  The winner of the Starbucks giftcard for suggesting blog topics for me is Jan Johnson.  I didn’t count the exact number of ideas.  But I didn’t need to.  It wasn’t even close!  Thanks, Jan, for the time you took to write.  And thanks to all of you for your suggestions. I will not use all of them, but you’ll see some of the ideas turning up from time to time.  Please feel free to write to me anytime, or suggest in a blog comment that I post on a certain topic.

In my last post I wrote about the teachers who have had a massive influence on my life.  That post was prompted by an email I sent to someone on that list this past week, Mary Jo Hobart-Parks.  I got her permission to publish that note here on my blog.  My hope is that it might inspire some of my readers to write your own letters of thanks to the giants in your lives.  You don’t have to (and many won’t want to) write something this specific, but maybe something between “You rule” and the note below would suffice!  I think most people would be surprised to know how little it actually takes to make a thank you meaningful.

Here is my edited note…

I think the reason I loved you was because you inspired me.  Your class was one of very few places where I felt positive energy.  It just poured out of you every second of every hour of your class.  It lifted me, encouraged me, and planted in me a vision for how I wanted to make people feel some day.   Continue Reading…

Remembering Our Giants

October 29, 2009 in REFLECTIONS with 1 Comment

I could almost count the number of teachers who really inspired me on one hand.

  • 5th grade – Mrs. Leep.  Made my rough transition to a new school district a little less bumpy. I knew she cared about me.
  • 7th grade – Mr. Creech.  Gym teacher.  I hated gym, but he loved his job, loved his students, and treated us with respect.  Great sense of humor.
  • 7th/8th grade – Mr. Abitz.  Incredibly gifted vocal music teacher who believed in me and invested in me as a person.
  • 8th grade – Mr. Yoder.  English.  Inspiring energy, enthusiasm, and love both for his students and his job.
  • 10th grade – Mrs. Hobart-Parks.  American Lit.  Passionate, enthusiastic, inspiring, amazing.
  • 12th grade – Mr. Hardy.  Advanced Creative Writing.  Energy and enthusiasm off the scale.  In class, that is.  Very introverted outside the classroom, which constantly reminds me that I can be who I am and still leave an impact.
  • Miss Bird, my high school vocal music teacher, goes into a special category.  Though I  never sensed a deep personal connection with her, she had a knack for creating intense feelings of community in her classes, and many of my closest friends today are friends I made in choir.  In her 1st hour Show Choir class in 1985, I became good friends with Christy Weidman.  This February Christy and I will celebrate our 22nd anniversary.  Thank you, Miss Bird. Talk about a gift that keeps on giving…
  • College – Dr. Wrobel.  Testing and Assessment (Psychology).  Energy and humor that helped me do well in a class I dreaded taking.  Dr. Wrobel took a personal interest in me and helped me find my way.
  • College – Dr. Frank.  Personality Theory.  When I found out I had MS in 1990, Dr. Frank said to me, "Here’s what I want you to do.  I want you to get up every morning and say to yourself these three things – 1. It’s a beautiful day.  2. I’m going to do everything I want to do today.  3. I’m in control of all my muscles.  You can still make your life what you want it to be."  Know why I remember all three of those lines today?  Because I chanted that mantra every day for a year.

Okay, not quite one hand.  But not quite two either.

These were my giants – teachers who towered far above the rest, even above some who were fantastic in their own rite, excellent people, and skilled communicators of their subject matter.  Still, these were my giants.  Most of us have a few giants.  Nearly all of us can recall teachers who deeply impacted our lives, and usually their impact had little or nothing to do with the subject they taught. 

Continue Reading…