School was always something I loved because I always enjoyed expanding my knowledge. I never dreaded going to school early in the mornings, and I never tried to get out of any work. I stayed after school every chance I got. I took the heaviest course load I could, got the best grades I could, and in the end, I graduated high school with honors, an almost perfect GPA, and a full year of college credits done.
This drive and love for education followed me into college where I am a double major with a great GPA and looking at early graduation. All of my success, love for education, and desire to do well was because of the teachers I had that helped me, pushed me, and made learning a fun process.
There have been a few outstanding teachers that I especially attribute my success and love of education to. The first was my second-grade teacher. I had gotten the same teacher as my sister had a year prior, and she had loved her. At the beginning of the school year, I had a lot of trouble leaving my mom in the mornings, but Mrs. Trainer always sat with me, talked with me, and helped me feel OK without my mom.
She was understanding, kind, and always made the classroom a comfortable place. As many people know, seven-year-olds are not always the easiest to teach or spend time with, so the fact that she not only sat with me and helped me was, what I would like to believe, a huge reason I enjoyed going to school. Mrs. Trainer also sat down and helped me learn; I was, and still am, the worst speller, but she tried her hardest to help me.
The second was my freshman and senior high school English teacher, Mr. Stonerock. Mr. Stonerock was able to make English and writing fun, especially when we had eight-page papers due. Some of my favorite high school memories occurred in his classes. For example, we had class movie nights where we watched classics and ate pizza.
Mr. Stonerock also taught my class APA formatting which to me is invaluable. I use it every day in my life. Mr. Stonerock put up with so many shenanigans from my fellow classmates and I and always did it with a smile. I became a better writer, a better person, and a much much better student in his class. I will never forget the valuable lessons Mr. Stonerock taught me along with the rest of my class.
The third was one who arguably had to put up with me the most. I had this teacher for three consecutive years for all of my math classes. I was not the best at math, and to be totally honest, I really did not like math at all. But Mr. Shores never failed to make math fun.
He taught me things I thought I would never be able to learn because he explained them in an understandable and reasonable manner. Mr. Shores taught me how to solve a problem, including problems outside of math, even when I had no idea where to start. Mr. Shores is one of the many teachers that showed me teachers really do care a valuable amount about their students.
Every time I asked Mr. Shores if I could stay after to get help, which was almost every day, he almost always said yes. If he had a conflict with it he would schedule time to make sure I got the help I needed. Without Mr. Shores I would dread going to any math class ever. Mr. Shores showed me what a caring teacher who wanted their students to succeed looked like.
My point to all of this is that there are terrific, amazing, and caring teachers out there whether they teach college level classes, high school level classes, or elementary level classes. I have had more influential and impactful teachers than I can count.
I am still in contact with some of my high school teachers I still talk to them regularly. They help give me life advice and guide me. Teachers are an invaluable resource that can never be replaced. So next time you have a professor or teacher that you think is doing an outstanding job, tell them. Let them know that they are making education fun and enjoyable for you, because teachers are truly irreplaceable people.
