People always ask artists “who are your influences?” in order to get a feel for their style. As a teacher, myself, I figure I could kind of turn this question on its side, and use it to talk about teachers who have influenced to me professionally.
One would think I’d have an answer to this prompt right off the top of my head; but this is a tough question! I feel like I’ve take a little bit of so many different teachers I’ve had over the years. Some I’ve like just for their personality and their rapport with the students. Then there are others who, I’ve tried to emulate as far as their teaching approach.
Most of my favorite teachers have been English teachers – coincidentally that’s also the subject that I teach. Maybe I’ve looked to them more because that was my favorite subject in school. By that sane token, mist of my LEAST favorite teachers have been math and science teachers – my least favorite and worst-performing subjects in school.
My seventh grade English teacher comes to mind right away. She was my brother’s track coach when he was in junior high, so she already knew me through the family. I didn’t run track, but I really enjoyed English. There wasn’t really anything terribly profound that she said or taught me, but I think that’s where I really discovered how much I enjoyed the subject. But from eighth grade on, while I had really good English teachers, none of them really stood out to me and made me say “this is what I want to do for a living.”
I’m a little bit embarrassed to admit that perhaps the greatest influence in my decision to become a teacher was movie Dead Poets’ Society. I was 15 when the movie came out in 1989. It was really the first time I had learned that these novels, plays, and poems that were written by a bunch of dead old people were really speaking to us about the very nature of humanity. And by the way, Dead Poets… getting snubbed for the best picture Oscar that year by Driving Miss Daisy was an absolute travesty. Go ahead and fight me on this. I will die on this proverbial hill.
Thanks for stopping by Rebuilding Rob. Be sure to like, comment and subscribe to my blog below. It’s greatly appreciated! Also, feel free to follow me on social media as well! Check out my most recent posts as well as some earlier, related posts:
- The Extra Day: A Ten-Year Memory
- Of Training Wheels and Christmas Lights
- Charity Starts at Home (And I’m Back in My Childhood One)
- The Muscle of Empathy
- Where Do We Go From Here? Five Years Since January 6.
The article “Who Are Your Influences?” First appeared on Rebuilding Rob.
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