Somewhat fond memories of a public education

I couldn't wait to go to school when I was young. My Mom fed me plenty of pro-school propaganda, my favorite being 'The Berenstain Bears Go To School'. I insisted she read it to me the night before I started Kindergarten. I have friends and family members who are teachers now, and I have a great deal of respect for them. It's a profession that truly is a calling! In honor of the teachers of my past, I've decided to see what I can remember to share of them.

Kindergarten - My teacher called me Christe all the time, but she made school fun and exciting. When I started school in Bridgeport we had all day classes. None of this pansy half-day stuff they do now. It was a hardcore kindergarten. When our egg-in-an-incubator never hatched into a baby chick, she took us outside to crack it open and look at the 2/3 grown bird. It was a little gross. Apparently I was a holy terror and a bully. With the exception of the one time I beat that little boy with a block, I think Mom and Dad are exaggerating the facts. I don't remember being that bad!

1st Grade - There was a rumor going around school that the cafeteria was serving rattlesnake. I totally believed it and brought my lunch every day. I don't remember much of my teachers this year, we moved at the semester break so I only had each for a few months.

2nd Grade - Mrs. Lauterdale!! I LOVED this woman's class. My bookworm tendencies were encouraged and she was always enabling us push our abilities, no matter where we were individually. Our classroom was a portable building, and at some point a kitten took up residence under our steps outside. Even though it was 'illegal', she let us keep the cat in the classroom as a pet for a month till she found it a home. I will never forget that it took me 4 spelling tests to be able to get the word 'beautiful' down correctly.

3rd Grade - Mrs. Sowell. Mean, old, smelly Mrs. Sowell. I don't know how old she really was, but she looked about 100. She took away my 'self manager badge' for passing notes in class. She taught us how to quilt and churn butter. Probably passing on lessons from her childhood.

*At some point after being one of the last school districts in the nation to desegregate, Midland Independent School District (in all of its divine wisdom) implemented the 'cluster' system. This meant that all the 4th graders from 3 neighborhood schools across town attended school in the same place, the 5th at the 2nd school and the 6th and the 3rd school. Plus their gifted and talented program was a full 2 day curriculum housed in a school of its own. This all means that I spent a little over an hour each day being bused all over town in the name of 'a diverse classroom environment'. It also meant that while my mother had three children in public school, they all attended schools in different zip codes. Not the best system.

4th Grade - Rusk Elementary - The dreaded Mrs. Patrick, who openly lamented the days when she was allowed to beat her students. She assigned homework to be turned in on the last day of school. What a B*&$#! Mrs. White, my kind and motherly homeroom teacher, ripped up all of our homework pages that day. She stuffed them in a ziploc bag and put a post-it reading 'Have fun grading your papers' on the front. What a student advocate! She was definitely my hero. I won the school spelling bee that year. (Thanks, Mrs. Lauterdale!)

5th grade - Back to the neighborhood school - Mrs. Kelly! This was the first teacher who I feel really made a definitive impact on me. I truly developed an interest for science in her class and her teaching style really promoted creative and critical thinking. I had an affinity for science after that year. I lost a classmate and friend Julianne Powell that year to a horrible crime and tragedy, Mrs. Kelly did a great job of helping us to cope with the gravity and terror of the situation in a healthy way.

6th grade - My ghetto-tastic and terrifying year at Travis Elementary with Mr. Batey. Mr. Batey was a short, slightly overweight man with advanced male pattern balding and a very heavy early-era Burt Reynolds mustache. I sat next to a girl who cheated off of my Excel math tests. One day, I intentionally wrote the answers in reverse. When she got up to turn hers in, I fixed them. Got an A and nipped that little nuisance in the bud. Cheaters never prosper, you know. Mr. Batey was an unpleasant sort of fellow, but a decent teacher.

7th grade - moved to White Oak, America! Enjoyed most of my teachers but more than that enjoyed all of my friends and quickly acclimated to spending every weekend on a bus trip giggling, eating too much sugar and probably shrieking entirely too much for whatever sponsor was unfortunate enough to chaperone us. This was the first year where I felt like I had a modicum of autonomy in my class selection. I feel like I probably enjoyed them more just knowing that I had helped 'choose' them, insomuch as you can choose a middle school curriculum.

8th grade - back to the dust bowl to begin my tenure in Greenwood. Had a difficult time making friends and hated my parents for moving me away until I met the one and only Callie Thurman. Gotta love her. The only one of my educators that stands out from that year is my athletics coach. She offered zero inspiration and was probably most of what a coach should not be, at least to someone who wasn't particularly gifted in sports. I was a hard worker, but this was the year I finally admitted to myself that coordination is definitely not my strong suit. I quit playing for the school at the end of the year.

High school - Experienced a gamut of teaching styles and personalities.

Worst: HATED with a passion the teacher who cared a little too much what their teenage students thought of them. It's one thing to be compassionate and help a teenager deal with their angst. It's quite another to jump into the juvenile drama. It's strange to watch an adult who lives on that level. I wonder if high school teaching can be a draw to people who are prone to that?

Best: Mostly enjoyed my math teachers. Math isn't something that has ever come particularly easily to me, but they were all committed to helping me grasp the concepts. If I was willing to do the work, they were willing to work with me. In retrospect, I think that taught me quite a bit about human nature and work ethic. Mostly I mean by observation. Being there early every day and explaining the same thing to me (and the other kids who didn't quite get it) 15 times until we each had our 'lightbulb' moments required dedication and a true response to their calling. I definitely didn't see that same dedication in all of my teachers and certainly respected those who offered it.

In any case, I applaud teachers for what they do and all they sacrifice. I'd love to have a job with summers off and guaranteed holidays, but I just don't have what it takes to do the job.

Kudos and a happy school year! I'll try to stay off my phone around your buildings so I don't run any of your students over.