August 10, 2000

Hello from Japan!  Today, I was just looking around on my friend`s computer (because there are basically no teachers here today?everyone is on vacation) and she has the internet hookup so I was trying to find some stuff for my evening students about the seven summits.  For those of you who are on the same mountaineering level as my mom (hee hee) I am talking about the highest peaks on all seven continents.  No worries?I have no plans to tackle any of them, but it is a continuation of a discussion that we began with the students, and they are interested in more information on it in English, hence my search.  Now I have come full circle and it`s only the first paragraph.  Anyway, let me move on.

Once I did this, I was feeling a bit homesick, so I logged onto the classmates.com website where various people from Camden like to go and log on and documents their memories of high school.  I like this site, because inevitably somebody will talk about �ga strip of HYW 4 going out of town where the trees completely shade the road�h or about �gthe waving pine trees and the clearing�h out across the river, or Mustin Lakehouses, or various and sundry other things that only Camdenites can really appreciate, such as Submarine Park, oh excuse me, SANDY BEACH.  Well, I read and got all nostalgic and stuff, and it was a really nice few minutes of reading. 

In there was a comment from a graduate of Camden High who said that �gMs. Welch was the best teacher�h and it just brought back a flood that I thought I would share with you because it made me laugh at myself.  Ms. Welch was my teacher for Social Studies Seminar, but she taught most of us a lot more than about how the government works or about how to put on a nominating convention.  I remember most that she was dignified and poised, even when the heathen (that would be us) were especially active.  She would never lose her cool.  She would just point out the parts of the behavior that were utterly disgraceful in such a way that you wanted to behave for her.  She did so while encouraging you, and you came out of her class feeling better than when you went in.  One thing that most impressed me was about how she made an investment in her students.  She knew all our names, and would call us by our last names.  Of course, she had difficulty with me, and so I was �gFenwiss�h in her class, but it didn`t matter.  She would listen to our ideas and give credit to each independent thought, even when it didn`t match the lesson exactly, or even when it wasn`t pertinent to the class.  She wanted us to know that she cared about us, not as students, but as PEOPLE.  She would sometimes tell us things about how she felt when she was our age.  She was like the story lady at the library.  We all liked her. 

In the past few years, teaching at Methodist, and now teaching high school kids here, I have reflected back upon many of the teachers that I had all through school.  Teaching is a scary thing?so much power when you think about it.  You never know if today you will influence somebody and have them write home about you fifteen years or so in the future.

Ms. Welch influenced me.  I strive to know my students.  I tell them about how I felt in high school.  I try to reach them as people.  I keep my cool and try to encourage them, even when I feel like banging my head on the desk and screaming.  And I strive to learn their names, albeit that they are somewhat harder to master here.  Names like Kazuki Furuta and Toshitsune Fujihito and Yokao Nakao and Daisuke Nakagawa�cI try hard, but I think maybe they come out a little bit like �gFenwiss�h�c

I don�ft think that I do as good a job as Ms. Welch did, but I can hear her encouraging me to just keep trying, to just hang in there, that there is no effort that is wasted when your heart is in it, to stay motivated, to learn something every day.  I`ll keep on working at it, naturally.  It really bugs me that I never told her how much I enjoyed her class, how much I enjoyed HER.  Great lady.

Okay, now I have taken the trip down memory lane.  The whole purpose of this is to start a discussion about the teachers in your lives.  My greatest teachers, of course, are the ones of you in my family who continue to teach me about life, resilience, strength, compassion, caring and the basics of automotive maintenance.  I hope that you will stop reading this message and think about your favorite teachers.  Who are they?  Why were they your favorite?  What was the special thing that you remember about being there as a student in that class?  What still influences you?  Think about it?have a nice moment, maybe write that person a letter�cor at the very least, share it with me!  I would love to hear about your teachers!  There is, as usual, an ulterior motive, because it will help me to fine tune those things in my own teaching!  I will be sending a similar message to various other friends online, and will compile any responses I get to it?it would be fun I think!

I hope that this finds everyone as well and healthy as humanly possible, and hope to hear from everyone very soon!  We send lots of love from all to all--Lynley