Speaking of Teachers…
March 16th, 2010
Speaking of teachers…
We recently received a wonderful nod to Grammar Punk and how it impacted a student’s life and learning for the better and it got me thinking about teachers and the impact they had on my life. “I have been at war with school since 4th grade— Best of luck to Grammar Punk! It made me want to sharpen my pencil and write.”
We moved around a lot when I was a kid. All together I attended eight different schools and lived in ten different towns and two different states. Which means, among other things, that I had a lot of different teachers. Several stand out. One I can definitively point out as the teacher who pointed me to my muse: writing.
Her name was Mrs. Carter and she taught English and Speech in my freshman year. It should also be noted that in this particular year of school I attended two different schools in two different states. This particular teacher was no taller than most of her students but she had a gift that put her head and shoulders above so many others. And she was funny. Really funny.
She had a shtick she did that still cracks me up. It’s hard to describe, but she would end up kind of upside down , with the top of her head under a tablecloth with her chin painted like a face and she would use great voices and—I told you it was hard to describe—but she had us, a classroom of jaded, hard to amuse ninth graders ROFL. Big time.
She was a great teacher, who obviously loved what she did. And one day after an assignment to write a short story—mine had to do with a small-statured man who all but sold his soul to the devil for a pair of “elevator shoes”—and this particular teacher saw through the amateurish idea and said the magic words: “You really have great potential as a writer. Keep it up.”
And that was that. I am a writer. I’ve published 5 books and am working madly on more. I love to write this blog and I love working with Grammar Punk which is all about the love of writing disguised as grammar instruction.
I’ve always loved words and reading and language but would I have continued writing stories and books and such if not for Mrs. Carter? I guess I’ll never know. I do know that I have never forgotten that one moment in time, the sound of that one sentence, and Mrs. Carter and her funny faces and funny voices and the invaluable gift of teachers.