The question this post is a great one! “Was there a teacher or class that has had a great influence on you? Why?”
As before, I’m going to go through different parts of my life.
In elementary school, it would have to be my Gifted and Talented teacher whose name escapes me now 😦 . She made learning fun and helped my understand logic puzzles, things that I still love today.
In middle school, I loved the math teacher who taught the MathCounts (competitive math) team. (again, I can’t remember her name). She taught me so many math tricks that allow for fast mental math. Now those techniques are being used to teach ALL children math.
In college, it’s an easy one, Dr. Troy Comeau. He was my adviser in the Department of Communication and taught sports broadcasting (among other classes). He oversaw all broadcasts of sports (football, basketball, others less regularly) for the sports broadcasting class. His patience is outstanding. I have no idea how many mistakes we made yet he was always there to help us fix them and show us how to avoid them in the future. He was always available to talk to about issues that I was having in class and help me decide what I needed to do to get my degree. If I had listened to what he said and applied it, I would have gained my degree much quicker than I did. Even now, when I have a question about broadcasting, I can turn to him and get the answers that I need.
You may have noted that I skipped high school. I wanted to save it for last as there are a few teachers who really influenced me and my life. During my high school years, my parents went through a divorce. This is tough on any child, regardless of what else is going on. Having it happen while you are in high school and dealing with all the stresses added there doesn’t help. Luckily for me, I had a team by my side to help me get through, literally. I was the manager for the football and men’s basketball team, as well as the statistician for the baseball team. All the coaches made sure I stayed on task and kept my grades up so I could graduate. None of them however did as much for me as Coach Tim Bart.
Coach Bart had built a reputation for taking struggling teams and making them better. He did just that. He took our struggling basketball team and helped us become a regional powerhouse. We won tournaments, we went to the state tournament. But even as this was going on, he found a student struggling with life and determined to make him better. He was tough on me but was tough because I wouldn’t listen any other way. Even though I was just a manager who recorded film, washed jerseys, and ran the clock during practice, he held me (almost) as accountable as his players. There were a few times he had ME run during practice. He understood that physical well-being is as important to someone going through a depressive state as well as the mental well-being. I had to run the same running drills the players did, including completing them in (close to) the same times he expected them to run them. These were not without pressure. He would say, “If Jon can run this down and back in (whatever time) then we’ll end practice. If not, more running.” So I had the fate of the whole team in my hands. (I don’t think I failed once, but I could be wrong.) These activities and pushes kept me in school and kept me wanting to do well as I was also held to the academic standard the athletes were. I can say with some certainty that without Coach Bart and the rest of the coaches, I would not have graduated high school, I may not even still be here without them.
Thank you.
What teaches have influenced you? How?
Jon Eastman's Musings on... whatever I feel like. 