I spent an afternoon and evening celebrating the retirement of two (a married couple) of my college teachers. They had spent some 33 years teaching at this small college in North Carolina. Tell us about some of the best teachers in your life, whether Sunday School, music/instrumenet, grade school, middle school, high school, college, or graduate/professional school.
For some reason, none of my teachers ever cared about me. Except for two, Mr. Aoki my Bio teacher and Mrs. Moreau, my English teacher, both from high school. Oh I mustn't forget my AP art teacher, who loved me, but she loved everybody because she had several screws loose.
I had a computer science teacher named Bill Topp when I was a freshman in college, and again as a sophomore. He must be pushing 70 at least, but he had an incredible amount of energy. The guy would start lecturing on his way through the door, and he would continue non-stop for the entire period. He was always in motion too. One time we had class in an auditorium instead of the classroom, and he falls off of the stage. He immediately popped back up and kept right on talking without missing a beat. Sometimes he would say crazy stuff like, "Don't delete the header (in reference to doubly linked lists), because if you delete the header, its like riding your bike off of the cliff." Definately my favorite professor. He is also very approachable. Last year I hadn't had him for any classes in like two years, but I had trouble with a program I was writing, so I went to see him and he immediately put aside what he was doing and helped me out for about half an hour.
I remember when I played the flute in my school band, the conductor (Mr. Farrugia) got really pissed of at one kid and threw a shoe at him. We all had a good laugh that day. The most intimidating teacher I've ever met was my old school vice principal (Mr. Nelson). He had this really low voice, and everyone stood still when he walked through the corridors. Fourtunatly, I got on his 'good side' and I found out that he was quite friendly. But if you got on his 'bad side'.....that's bad news.
Had a high school history teacher I still keep in touch with. Just an amazing man who dedicated his life to the education of young people. Had a high school government/economics teacher who had us writing college-level papers...great preparation Most memorable is my kindergarten teacher who had me reading very well very early. I'm so thankful for her.
I had a number of really terrific teachers at North Harris County Community College if you can believe it. Apparently, the pay there is outstanding so they get really good professors. Better than my UT or UH professors for sure. But, by far the most influential teacher for me was my 11th and 12th grade English teacher, Mr. Ryan. Imagine being a terribly opinionated, closed minded 17-year-old at a conservative Christian high school whose English teacher was a former prison inmate instructor who fully admitted to practicing transendental meditation and taught us Throreau and Whitman. I would spend almost every afternoon for at least half an hour or so just talking with him about school, life, spirituality. He was my first introduction to spiritual beliefs outside of Christianity though he NEVER mentioned anything other than that. He just simply was open minded and talked about being open to the possibilities. I read more stuff those two years than I had probably read in the previous 16 combined. I learned how to understand AND APPRECIATE Shakespeare. I discovered concepts that were, until then, extremely foreign to me and they helped to shape who I became. What was interesting was that those ideas never shook my faith in Christianity (that would come later). In fact, they just strengthened it though I know now that most of the things he taled about were held in high suspicion by the church. In fact, he was fired the year after I left because he was too liberal (according to my cousin-in-law who is still the guidance counselor there). Nevertheless, those classes were the best definition I've had of the quote: "Education is designed to replace an empty mind with an open one."
