Learning to Listen - Teaching

The classroom has always been, and will probably always be, my Summerland/Heaven/Joy AND my Hades/Hell/Eternal Frustration.

I was an awkward child. One could probably say that I'm still an awkward adult, but I've grown into my awkwardness. And even though I struggled back then with my lack of brain-to-mouth filter, some of my first kindred souls were teachers.

Sixth grade year, I had the first teacher ever that I could have hated. She taught Algebra, was one year away from retiring and would YELL at us for not getting a concept the first time. Even so, she still circled the entire inside of the middle school with me, TWICE and with a gimp leg, to find my purse that I'd lost.

In eleventh grade, I met Mrs. A -- she is the inspiration for the craziness in my classroom. Her methods ranged from singing operetta while standing on her desk to giving us a packet of worksheets on grammar to finish until we could "relocate our respect, for her and for our education". She had a Santa Snoopy that lit up and sang, even though she was Jewish and she instilled in me the love for American literature that I cannot shake til this day.

I've known, for longer than I can remember, that I would teach one day. The subject switched, from Sign Language (I was told I'd be fully deaf by 25, I'm not), to Spanish (gave that up in fear of a life of teaching Spanish I to kids who HAVE to take it), and finally, to English....for one reason:

You can use English as an excuse to teach/do almost anything.

Critical thinking skills, safe discussions of controversial issues, writing to learn. You can let kids explore a topic they've always wanted to know, read Twilight for their semester book report, and possibly admit to caring for something outside of themselves.

Subject-of-love for me aside, EVERYONE is a teacher of something...or should be. Just because a person can't control small hordes of teenagers, like I prefer to do, doesn't mean their lives and knowledge are not worth the sharing.

So, my suggestion for anyone who bothers to read me tonight - GO find something you love and GIVE it to someone else...by teaching THEM how to do, be, say, find it themselves.