GETs or Gorgeous English Teachers need love like everyone else. Reply to this post with a story about a great teacher, inspiring learner, or gorgeous classroom moment you had.
My first inspiring language teacher was actually a GST, not a GET, in high school. It was a difficult time in my life, and honestly his teaching didn't bolster my learning the way it should have, due to my general distrust of schools and education. He was a Mexican teacher of Spanish Language in Indiana, which is a state well-known for its suspicion of outsiders and meddlers. Since education is severely underfunded in Indiana (now made worse, incidentally, by Mike Pence), my high school was not unique in being an overcrowded institution mostly dedicated to athletic and vocational achievement. On the other hand, our perseverant Hoosier optimism and proximity to what is arguably the best university in the country for languages and education, meant we had quite a few teachers eager to make a difference. Enter Mr...Sanchez, let's call him. Exotically short for Indiana, he had more than perfect posture and a purposeful grin. He commanded attention by pacing left to right in front of the class, triumphantly shouting our names alongside the outrageous nicknames he'd given us the first day of class, and he'd memorized them all by the second week (40 students x 2 names each = 80 names). With his commanding and engaging style, he immediately won over the class clowns, followed by the rest. Initially, my peers and I had had no interest in learning any other language besides the one that had rumbled around in our mouths since childhood, yet Mr. Sanchez kept us engaged and competitively communicative in Spanish the whole semester. Even though I did poorly in his class, as I did in all my classes that year, I can reflect on his exuberant teaching style as having informed mine over any other teacher. There have certainly been other teachers who've performed lessons I more deeply admire, or whose approaches are more relevant to my teaching context, but stubbornly I grew up to be Mr Sanchez. How grateful I am to him. Which teacher from your past do you resemble most?
My first inspiring language teacher was actually a GST, not a GET, in high school. It was a difficult time in my life, and honestly his teaching didn't bolster my learning the way it should have, due to my general distrust of schools and education. He was a Mexican teacher of Spanish Language in Indiana, which is a state well-known for its suspicion of outsiders and meddlers. Since education is severely underfunded in Indiana (now made worse, incidentally, by Mike Pence), my high school was not unique in being an overcrowded institution mostly dedicated to athletic and vocational achievement. On the other hand, our perseverant Hoosier optimism and proximity to what is arguably the best university in the country for languages and education, meant we had quite a few teachers eager to make a difference.
ReplyDeleteEnter Mr...Sanchez, let's call him. Exotically short for Indiana, he had more than perfect posture and a purposeful grin. He commanded attention by pacing left to right in front of the class, triumphantly shouting our names alongside the outrageous nicknames he'd given us the first day of class, and he'd memorized them all by the second week (40 students x 2 names each = 80 names).
With his commanding and engaging style, he immediately won over the class clowns, followed by the rest. Initially, my peers and I had had no interest in learning any other language besides the one that had rumbled around in our mouths since childhood, yet Mr. Sanchez kept us engaged and competitively communicative in Spanish the whole semester.
Even though I did poorly in his class, as I did in all my classes that year, I can reflect on his exuberant teaching style as having informed mine over any other teacher. There have certainly been other teachers who've performed lessons I more deeply admire, or whose approaches are more relevant to my teaching context, but stubbornly I grew up to be Mr Sanchez. How grateful I am to him. Which teacher from your past do you resemble most?