nine: the toothless teacher

You were definitely an eclectic teacher, not many PhD's choose to teach sixth grade. But there you were teaching that class for a good number of years, including my year in sixth grade. At the time I thought you were unreasonably hard, and I remember a comment on my report card about my less than ideal penmanship that seemed almost harsh. In reality you were challenging our narrow view on the world, by introducing us to things outside of the box.

Of all the actual material I learned, I gained the most out of our morning listening exercises tuned to CBC Radio One. No other teacher before then had encouraged us to seek information on what was going on the world outside, and there we were listening to the latest reports on advances made in space and the outbreak of Avian Influenza in Hong Kong. Just knowing what was going on in the world, we were transitioning from children to global citizens that have the potential to make a difference in the world.

The one book I remember reading that year was 'Free the Children' and to hear about children in Asia working themselves to death was such a contrast from suburbia. I went home and told my mom about the book, and she began to recount her experiences of working as a child because she had come from a hard life. I can't tell you how much that story scared me, because work for me was having to practice piano and dry the dishes. The story was also inspiring because the author was only a few years older than our class, and before he got really big he actually corresponded with us via e-mail.

Even though we were all at a point of time in our life that was supposed to be simple, you challenged us in a way that wouldn't overwhelm us with the darkness of the world. I don't think I fully learned what you taught me in sixth grade until much later on, when the news would get closer and closer to home. As serious as you often made class and learning, there were always moments of laughter. Including when you took out the projector by tripping on an extension cord and showing us that you were indeed human and not some evil short statured dictator out to get us. There was also that time you showed up to class without your two front teeth because your denture was taken out by some sort of accident and you had long lost your teeth to a hocky accidnet.

Overall of all the teachers I've had you had the right balance down to the tee, putting fun and learning hand in hand and making it challenging. There was even learning disguised as fun, when we had our valentine's party, which was an afternoon outside in the field building a quincey. I hear you're now working at the University, putting your PhD to good use. I wonder if your students there are learning as much as we did in sixth grade? I sure hope you're teaching them more life skills because after all those years not much else has stuck.