Sarah's CircleFriends are blessings that sustain our journeys. |
There have been many people in my life who appeared just when I needed them. Most have been women. I suppose I feel women provide a better example for who I should be than men, though men have taught me plenty. From Lois Bekkerus, in the small Lutheran church in Lake Charles I attended for 26 years, to my older sister Karen, to my stepmother Ruby (all now gone) I learned who I am as a child of God and as a woman and mother. Of course, there are a few lessons I've had to unlearn, but for the most part I'm thankful for all these women taught me. One of the mentors I treasure most, though, is my teaching mentor, Linda. I didn't start teaching until I was 54 years old--practically ancient! I knew the subject areas well enough, but I really didn't know how to teach. Linda provided a calm, reassuring presence across the hall, always ready to listen and suggest ways to handle a situation. She suggested workshops I might find useful, and they were. She let me sit in on her classes, and she sometimes visited mine and gave helpful pointers. Always respectfully and with the best interests of my students' success in mind, a concern we shared. I learned from my fourth grade teacher Mrs. Sims, who was strict but fair, that the teachers I admire most are both liked and respected by their students. Linda fit that mold perfectly. Students knew she wanted the best for them, but she made them earn their success, and added an encouraging nudge. When I was nominated for Teacher of the Year in 2010 (all of us were eventually--it was a small staff), Linda loaned me her submission materials from the year she'd been nominated so I'd have a model to work from. I told her at the time, as though I were joking: "You're who I want to be when I grow up." But I was serious. During the next ten or so years that I taught, I tried to emulate---and not very well---Linda's confident, compassionate style. Linda and I are both retired now, and I no longer need to cry on her shoulder about my class's miserable performance on a quiz. "What did I do wrong? They didn't understand any of it!" I don't need her advice on helping a struggling student catch up, and I don't have to pick her brain about meeting the latest district-wide initiative for improving test scores. Instead, I simply cherish the friend who taught me who a teacher could be. --Janice
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January 2022
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