Teachers that Make a Difference

Working at AllofE, I have the opportunity of working with school districts and teachers across the nation. I love it when I find the ones that are truly dedicated to their profession and simply focused on educating our children.

I recently started thinking about my favorite teachers that I had growing up. The first teacher that I really loved was Mrs. Boon, my 3rd Grade teacher at Sherwood Elementary school. She was loving and funny and really seemed to enjoy being a teacher. Then there was Mrs. Seward, my 5th Grade teacher, originally from Mississippi whose favorite phrase was “Pray tell”. I remember Ms. Geiger (10th Grade Advanced English at Sylvan Hills High School), whose class everyone was afraid of, and even though it was a difficult class, she was not as scary as she wanted students to think. This is when I read the Count of Monte Cristo, one of my favorite books and The Catcher in the Rye (which I hated).

In high school, there were 3 teachers that were absolutely amazing people: Mrs. Bertalone, Mr. Walton, and Mrs. Weir. Mrs. Bertolone, my Government teacher, was this little bitty lady with a fire cracker spirit that would light up the room with her fun and exciting personality. She was a wonderfully caring person and even came to my graduation party when I graduated from the University of Kansas.

Mr. Walton was my Modern Literature teacher who selected some amazing but sometimes controversial books for us to read. We read the Lords of Discipline and I could not put it down. We also read The Catcher in the Rye (yes, I had read this before, but for some reason, this time I loved it.)

And then there was Mrs. Weir, my World Literature teacher who had a wonderful and optimistic outlook on life in general. On top of that she was pregnant during a good portion of our school year which seemed to make her even happier so sometimes she could not stop laughing (it was the craziest thing I had ever seen) and we would spend an entire class time just laughing and having fun.

These are the teachers that made a difference in my life. These are the teachers I am thankful for. I hope that the work we do here can help make a difference for them, too.

Who were your favorite teachers and why?