It was never part of the master plan to become a teacher. In high school the goal was to become a lawyer until I learned that it isn't like TV. After that the goal was to work in some capacity to make the world a better place. In graduate school the focus became to work in local government and hopefully to become a City Manager. I worked in local government for two decades and spent the majority of that in management, and reached my goal. When I left my last management job, the plan was to seek another opportunity someplace other than the Field of Blue, but everywhere I interviewed did not compare to where we were. So we decided that we would stay put and I would pursue something else. Since I had been keep body and soul together as a substitute teacher, and found that I liked it and had some skills that I would pursue a career change. So I come to teaching through a non-traditional route. I am completing my sixth year teaching and I love it. I get fired up trying new ways of getting my students to understand and embrace new ideas.
If I was teaching journalism, I would have to downgrade myself for burying the lead, since this is not about me. I just felt that a bit of background was in order. Growing up, I was always too smart for my own good. Couple that with someone who is easily distracted and would look for ways to entertain myself when class got dull, and you have the formula for the not so model student. Looking back, I know what a pain I truly was. Ironically, I have now taught one just like me and seen flashes of me in quite a few students; but that is a story for another day. As the not so model student, I had my share of run-ins with teachers. Laying those teachers aside, there have been several who inspired me to use my ability and encouraged my creativity. So on teacher appreciation day, I want to publicly thank them.
Stan Key - Stan didn't teach very long, but he made a big impact on me. First it is not every UK basketball fan who gets to have one of Adolph Rupp's last players as a teacher. That is not why he makes my list. Stan saw things in me that my classmates and I didn't know was there. Oh, we knew I was smart, but more of a smart ass with no direction. Stan let me know that I had the ability to do anything in life I wanted to, so long as I put in the effort. For someone who could coast and get by that was powerful stuff. What he taught me in Marketing I have used my entire life. More importantly, he taught me that what was inside me waiting to be unleashed could take me anywhere I wanted to go. As a junior in high school that was what I needed to hear.
John Hina - Papa John or Coach was my 7th grade health teacher, 9th grade history teacher, Assistant Principal, and mentor. It was not always a peaceful road with the two of us. In 7th grade he made an impact on me by picking me up by the hair and getting on me for eating sunflower seeds in class. When I had him for history he laid me out one day for criticizing the head football coach.
Coach Hina also nurtured the nonathletic sports nut by having me be part of a crew that kept statistics for the football team. He teamed me up with two of the smartest guys in school for this job and made sure we made it to every game. It was a great experience for me, and allowed me to see every game of a State Championship season.
As a teacher, he placed me in a group with a junior basketball star and a senior football star for a class project. I know now that his reason for doing this was to make sure both guys got a good enough grade to be eligible. He got what he wanted, but I got more in return. I suddenly had two older guys who I had gotten to know and had come to like me for me.
My last two year's of High School, Coach Hina was the Assistant Principal. In that capacity, he ran interference for me and smoothed the ruffled feathers of a few teachers and the Principal when I screwed up. I always knew he would hear my side of the story and treat me fairly.
Mrs Robertson & Mrs. Darnell - These were my first and second grade teacher. They were of a generation of teachers that we will never see the likes of again. Both were near the end of their careers when I had them. Mrs. Robertson had been my mother's first grade teacher as well. She loved me no matter how goofy a little guy I was. She always encouraged me to read and would let me tell about it. Mrs. Darnell, was wise enough to know that as a six year old second grader I did not have the dexterity yet to tackle cursive and did not force it on me. Both of these ladies were king and gentle and tough as nails. I am better because these masters of their craft laid the foundation for my education.
Ruth Pasco - Mrs. Pasco was our elementary librarian. She was always so sweet and kind and fed my love for books. She would always allow me to check out what I wanted and encouraged me to read, even high school level stuff. The library at Robertson always felt like home because of her.
Mrs. Russell - I am and have always been a book geek and Mrs. Russell was the book geeks best friend in high school. My junior and senior years in high school we had something called Phased Elective English. What that meant was every nine weeks you took a mini course in English. They offered a broad range of classes and I took Mrs. Russell for Nobel Prize Novels, English Novels and Biblical Literature. She introduced me to a world of literature that I had not exposed myself to yet and she helped me develop the tools to understand great works of literature. If nothing else, she just nurtured another book geek.
Dr. Winfield Rose - I met Dr. Rose when I came back to Murray for graduate school. I ended up having him for three classes. Why Dr. Rose makes the list is quite simple, he is the one who finally got me to put it all together. For years, I had always been able to get by in classes that interested me on sheer horse power. I was good enough to get a B or a C without having to make much effort.
Just enough to get by didn't work with Win Rose. He called me out on a paper he wrote and made it clear that it was not good enough to meet his standards and therefore he was not going to let me just slide by with it. If I was going to get through a graduate program in which he taught I would have to prove that I would do it the right way. He gave me an incomplete, and made me completely rewrite the paper to the proper standards.
I did as he asked, and got a B. The next classes I took from him I never wavered from what he expected, and was rewarded with the thing I needed most from him, his respect. The ironic thing is that Dr. Rose grew up in Southwest Virginia and ended up teaching in Western Kentucky. I on the other hand grew up in Western Kentucky and have ended up teaching in Southwest Virginia.
Years ago, my brother and I had a long conversation about schooling and education. The upshot of his thinking was that I should feel anger toward the school system where we grew up because they didn't know how to deal with me and my abilities. I told him that the ultimate responsibility for my education fell to me. The opportunities were there, I just did not use them to my full advantage. I created the persona that made many teachers only want me to behave and get out of their class. Even so, there were teachers that made a difference. I will refrain from writing about those other teachers.
