Peg Herring's Blog - Posts Tagged "students"
Old Teachers
I get it all the time. People I taught in years past introduce me to their children, their significant other, their friends: "This is my old teacher."
I don't mind a bit. Running into an "old teacher" you liked and admired is a moment of being 16 again. You remember every single time you acted up in her class, can't bring yourself to call her anything but "Mrs. ---," and walk away feeling a little younger, no matter how old the rest of the day has made you feel. At least that's how it was for me. It was Mrs. Braidwood, who never became "Mary," even though we served on church committees together and such.
For teachers it's much the same, a trip back in time to when we were actively trying to make the world a better place. So even if I don't remember your name, who you married, or what you do for a living, know that I'm always glad to say hello to you, my "old student."
I don't mind a bit. Running into an "old teacher" you liked and admired is a moment of being 16 again. You remember every single time you acted up in her class, can't bring yourself to call her anything but "Mrs. ---," and walk away feeling a little younger, no matter how old the rest of the day has made you feel. At least that's how it was for me. It was Mrs. Braidwood, who never became "Mary," even though we served on church committees together and such.
For teachers it's much the same, a trip back in time to when we were actively trying to make the world a better place. So even if I don't remember your name, who you married, or what you do for a living, know that I'm always glad to say hello to you, my "old student."
Reading, Good Writing, and Kids
Coincidentally, in the last week I've had two former students write and very kindly give me credit for introducing them to their favorite authors. Not the same author, of course. I get it quite often, "I've loved Emily Dickinson ever since having your class," or "You introduced me to John Steinbeck." It's a former English teacher's greatest joy.
The world is wide, so wide, and there are so many good authors. A teacher's job, in my opinion, is to give students a peek at as many authors as possible, give them the tools to discover their greatness, and then get out of the way. Some will hate them all. That's okay; we need millwrights and technicians as well as lit lovers. Some will become fascinated with one author. I had a student once so enamored of Stephen Crane's poetry that he ignored everything else the class offered. I guess that's fine, too.
What a teacher hopes for, though, is students who understand the range of talent in writing. Is Dickens too wordy? Try Hemingway. Is cummings too out there? Try Frost. The goal is students who know not only what's out there, but what's inside them. Today they may get a laugh of our Shel Silverstein or a thrill out of Robert Browning. The day may come when they want more depth, and Hawthorne may actually appeal to them.
And if not, there's always someone else some long-ago English teacher introduced.
The world is wide, so wide, and there are so many good authors. A teacher's job, in my opinion, is to give students a peek at as many authors as possible, give them the tools to discover their greatness, and then get out of the way. Some will hate them all. That's okay; we need millwrights and technicians as well as lit lovers. Some will become fascinated with one author. I had a student once so enamored of Stephen Crane's poetry that he ignored everything else the class offered. I guess that's fine, too.
What a teacher hopes for, though, is students who understand the range of talent in writing. Is Dickens too wordy? Try Hemingway. Is cummings too out there? Try Frost. The goal is students who know not only what's out there, but what's inside them. Today they may get a laugh of our Shel Silverstein or a thrill out of Robert Browning. The day may come when they want more depth, and Hawthorne may actually appeal to them.
And if not, there's always someone else some long-ago English teacher introduced.
