Teachers

Mercy, it's hot out there! We had such a nice break mid-July to mid-August, and now we're spoiled. Yesterday and today were the days that really felt unbearable – the heat index has hit 100 both days. And something's in the air that's just killing the allergies. I'm perfectly content to stay inside with the air conditioner. That'll work for one more day, then we'll have to give in and get out long enough to mow the yard. Ah, yes, I love summer!

A Facebook group I belong to, from my hometown, has had a wonderful thread going the past few days on our school. We truly had a unique school experience in that little town. We didn't have a wide variety of classes offered due to the size of the school – but the depth of our education was unbelievable.

Our teachers had longevity of careers, which allowed them to know us very well. The superintendent when I graduated had been at the school since my mother's senior year of high school. He continued until the school closed in 1980. The principal when I graduated had been teaching since she was 16 – she started in the one-room schools that educated grades 1-8. She, too, had been teaching when my mom was in junior high and high school.

A longtime neighbor was my first grade teacher. She was great – we just had to remember not to call her by her first name at school! The teacher I had for second and third grades had been teaching there for some time. For fourth through sixth grades, my class had the same teacher.....thanks to a teacher retiring at the end of our fourth grade. From then on, we had three instead of four elementary teachers, with each teacher teaching two full grades (prior to that, second and fifth grade students were split between two teachers).That poor teacher knew us all too well after three full school years!

When we transitioned “upstairs” to junior high, we had teachers who had all been at the school longer than we had......with the exception of the music teacher, who had started when we were in second grade. We didn't have much transition in high school, because the same teachers taught grades 7-12. We had a few changes, but that teaching team stayed pretty steady.

This kind of longevity makes for an unusual relationship. These men and women knew us well. Our math teacher was a former student who got his degree and came back home to teach. So we had a caring relationship whether we were at home or at school.

This kind of longevity can be good. It can also be bad. Sometimes, in spite of their innate caring nature, a teacher can be touched by something in the past. There was one particular teacher that I had for 7^th grade, 9^th grade, and 11^th grade. It was obvious to me from the first year that she had some kind of issue with me, but I had no idea what it was. By 9^th grade, I had this teacher for two different classes – in one class we were fine, but in the second class that bias was still obvious. Finally, near the end of 11^th grade I found out the source of the bias. One day the teacher asked me something about my “brother” - my reply was that I don't have a brother. The teacher said, “Yes you do – ____”(blank, to protect the obviously guilty). I replied again that I was an only child, the person in question was my cousin.

From that day on, this teacher and I had a totally changed relationship. I went home that night and told Mom that I had no idea what my cousin had ever done to this teacher, but it must have been memorable!! I should also add that this was ten years after my cousin's graduation.

If you were fortunate enough to attend a smaller school, you know what I'm talking about. If you weren't, I truly hope that you had many caring, dedicated teachers to help you through your school journey.