It’s not too often we get to thank our favorite teachers for what they’ve taught us, but it’s less often that we get to learn from them for longer than one school year. I knew that I wanted to be like her and one day make a difference in students’ lives. Gustafson saw me as an individual rather than as a number. I learned to love my small-group instruction because it catered to my individual needs. Her words of affirmation showed me that she believed in me. No matter how wrong I was at times, she gave me credit for trying. She created a learning environment where taking risks was encouraged. She created engaging lessons that helped me access complex concepts and make connections.
I remember her classroom being comfortable, welcoming, and safe. Much to my dismay, I was pulled out of my English class a few days each week to complete a reading-intervention program with Mrs. I struggled and I fell behind grade level in reading. Like many adolescents, I wasn’t fond of reading, mostly because I couldn’t relate to the stories we read or understand many of the concepts we read about. My favorite teacher and one who made all the difference in both my personal life and in my career was my 7th grade reading-intervention teacher. I can remember quite a few teachers who had a gift for teaching and continue to influence my instruction today. Some of those teachers pushed us to do our best and some of them were powerful enough to make us believe we could do anything. She enjoys cooking, watching baseball, and traveling around the world to visit her former international students:Īs educators, we tend to think back and reflect on the teachers who made a difference in our lives. She also works as a language and cultural instructor to adult ELLs. Today, Antoinette Perez, Cindy Garcia, Kathleen Neagle Sokolowski, Shaeley Santiago, Rita Platt, Jen Schwanke, and Barry Saide offer their memories.Īntoinette Perez is currently a high school ELA and ELD teacher at Buena High School in Ventura, Calif. You can also find a list of, and links to, previous shows here. You can listen to a 10-minute conversation I had with the four of them on my BAM! Radio Show. Part One shared responses from Elizabeth Villanueva, Jessica Levine, Betty Cárdenas, and Jenny Vo. Who was your favorite teacher when you were attending school, and why was she/he your favorite?
(This is the second post in a multipart series. I put thinking about and reading about our favorite teachers into that “welcome diversion” category. In this time of crisis, reading and thinking about non-coronavirus topics can be a welcome diversion now and then. Please consider contributing your thoughts.
#My favorite teacher series#
I’ve curated many useful resources about coping with school closures at The Best Advice On Teaching K-12 Online (If We Have To Because Of The Coronavirus) - Please Make More Suggestions! and will soon be publishing a series of posts here where teachers will be sharing their experiences in this new environment (see Do You Want to Write About Your Experience Teaching Online After School Closures? ).
Editor’s Note: As I wrote in Part One, our minds are obviously on COVID-19, not on our favorite teachers.
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