I think we can all look back and think fondly (or not so fondly) on some of the teachers that had the incredible job of cramming information, morals, and life lessons in our busy youthful brains. I think being a teacher is a very noble occupation that has the ability to either lift you up or crush you into the ground. It's not a job for everyone.
I moved. A lot. In all, I went to 11 schools in 13 years (we had grade 13 in Ontario at the time). So it's a little hard to get attached to teachers because I usually was gone by the time I got relaxed. But I did have a few that made an impression on me.
My first memorable teacher was my art teacher in grade 6 at Palm Beach Elementary. For the life of me I can't remember her name but I can picture her like it was yesterday. She was actually not well liked, she was elderly and cranky. I think she was a little burnt out and just waiting for retirement. She didn't make my life easy when, on my first day at the new school, mentioned that she had been a friend of my mother's long ago and hadn't seen me since I was this big. Yeah, that went over well at that ultra snobby school. But, she was my first art teacher and she sparked a life-long love affair with the arts. If it wasn't for her would I be a graphic designer now? She and my BFF Cindy were the only bright spots in that dismal, miserable, school.
At the same time I also had an art mentor. Behind the school was a little building that had after-school arts and craft activities. The lady that ran the place let me run loose and I became her little helper. Through her I learned how to make cool stuff like copper enameled jewelry. This was not your average 12 year old paint-by-number gig, I had a job, and I was learning cool adult art! Since I was underage she couldn't pay me so I was paid in art supplies. Can I say I was in heaven! I practically lived there when I wasn't outside playing tennis. Considering how horrible I was at tennis it's a good thing I chose art.
The next memorable teacher was at Westminster Elementary in Brockville. Mr. Edmunds. What can I say about the first male teacher I ever had. I was in LOVE. Heart pounding, 10 year old, fantasy-driven love, day in, day out. And, I can't remember anything else about that class. Ah, young love, it sure does muddle the mind.
Finally in grade 10 I settle down at Thousand Islands Secondary School in Brockville for the rest of my high school academic life. I had some pretty good, and a few not so pretty good teachers there, but two of the best stand out.
I loved home economics. I'm sad that it doesn't exist anymore and I was glad that it wasn't coed when I what there. Not that being coed is bad, but Mrs. Holmes really made that class interesting and we didn't always talk about food and sewing. First, I sucked at cooking then. Everything in my house was boil-in-bag (the precursor to microwaves), Kraft Dinner, or leftovers. My stepmother didn't really cook unless it was a special occasion and then her famous spaghetti or cabbage rolls would be cooking all day...sending aroma feelers out to her whole family who would mysteriously show up around dinner time. I almost lost my fingerprints rolling hundreds of hot cabbage rolls for her. The funny thing is we always had a lot of leftovers but I never remembered her cooking the original meal!
Anyway, I digress. They always taught us stupid things like baked Alaska in cooking class (one day I will make that again and succeed!) so I didn't do well during that portion. I always loved to sew so I enjoyed the sewing part. But truthfully I don't remember if Mrs. Holmes was really that good at teaching cooking or sewing. What she was good at was handing out advise to us girls. Girl stuff. Like how to buy a good bra, frank talks about our periods, and other body issues. Stuff that we were too embarrassed to talk to our mums about. Somehow she was approachable. She even took us on a tour of her newly renovated kitchen when we were studying interior design. I loved her class. She was kind and approachable, and that's why I was glad it wasn't a coed class. We could be girls and ask girl questions without feeling inferior or giggly like we were in sex-ed class.
I'ved save the best teacher for last. Mr. Gable, my art teacher at TISS. Mr. Gable was different than the other teachers. He was bohemian because he didn't wear a suit and tie like the other male teachers. He wore a jacket and turtleneck. In 1975 that was pretty rad. He taught me a lot about art. For a long time I wanted to be an art teacher just like him so he arranged for me and another student to teach art for the summer to middle school kids. That's when I discovered I really wasn't fond of the children part of being a teacher! In hindsight, I probably would have been a good high school art teacher but those 8th graders almost killed me. He showed me how to do a lesson plan that those kids destroyed in about 30 minutes. They didn't want to be there and I didn't realize that I would have to spend most of him time corralling and disciplining them instead of teaching art. We were all pretty miserable those 3 weeks.
I did have a life lesson moment with those kids though. The school board had arranged for field trip to the national gallery in Ottawa. We were sharing the bus with a group of special needs children. The bus picked us up first and when we arrived to pickup the other kids, mine started making all sorts of inappropriate comments when they saw who they were sharing a bus with. Before I could say anything, the driver turned around and told them to shut up. Apparently he was also their teacher. My kids sat in the back and his kids sat in the front of the bus the whole trip. At the museum we had to stick together and that's when I saw something wonderful bloom. My kids started interacting with the other kids and on the way home on the bus they all sat mingled together showing each other what they bought in the gift shop. It was a good moment.
My last year of high school I ended up being Mr. Gable's senior scholar, which was sort of a teacher's helper. You had to have a spare during the day and good enough grades in that subject to be one. Thank goodness it wasn't good grades across the board, because, trust me I would never have been a senior scholar in English or math.
A few years back I accidentally discovered him on the internet. I was reading the Globe and Mail online and happened to come across an editorial cartoon. I immediately recognized his cartoon style and sure enough the signature on the bottom said "Gable." I was so thrilled to find him again. I sent him an email asking if he remembered me and he replied back that he did. He asked if I was still in the arts and I said I was, which he was very happy to hear. We've not kept up any type of "Tuesdays with Morrie" type correspondence, just a few emails. But it was nice that he remembered me.
So there are the few teachers that I was fond of who made an impression on me. I did have others that were good teachers. I can say I had more good ones than bad ones. It's a noble profession that I thought I might do but in the end I wasn't cut out for it and I knew it. But sometimes I do dream of standing in front of a classroom ready to mold little minds.
Here is a list of schools that I attended to the best of my knowledge:
Kindergarten: Palm Beach Gardens Elementary, Palm Beach Gardens, Florida
Grade 1: A school in Boynton Beach, Florida (can't remember)
Grade 2: Toniata Elementary, Brockville, Ontario (half year) & Northboro Elementary (I think), West Palm Beach, Florida (half year)
Grade 3: Roosevelt Elementary, West Palm Beach, Florida (schools were segregated back then in Florida and I was one of a handful of white kids at Roosevelt. I still remember my best friend, Shantel Mahoney.)
Grade 4:Wellington Elementary, Prescott, Ontario (for 1-2 month) & Westminster Elementary, Brockville, Ontario
Grade 5: Westminster Elementary, Brockville, Ontario
Grade 6: Palm Beach Elementary School, Palm Beach, Florida
Grade 7: Westminster Elementary, Brockville, Ontario
Grade 8: Palm Beach Jr. High, Palm Beach Florida
Grade 9: Rideau High School, Ottawa, Ontario
Grade 10-13: Thousand Islands Secondary School, Brockville, Ontario
