Guys,
I had a meeting with my thesis mentor today. At the conclusion of this meeting, we made a timeline which included “Spring 2014: Complete/Defend Thesis.”
Guys,
That’s a year from now.
I’m a junior.
Next year I’ll be a senior.
Like yesterday I was a Freshman.
Where has the time gone?
And, I’m trying not to freak out right now….
When I was one and twenty…
When I was sixteen, there was a teacher who had so much to do with who I am now that I am one and twenty.
She was very much the teacher that I want to be.
My first few weeks of school, she terrified me. She was an institution, a force to be reckoned with. I failed my first paper for her. After getting over my wounded pride, I turned out the better for it. I learned the value of doing your best, putting thoughts behind your words and deeds, and not just dishing out crap to people.
She made me a better writer, and a better person.
She loved her students. We did not have to be future great ones, but we had to pursue our dreams and do our best, and I saw so much pride in her eyes when former students stepped into the class to visit.
She was famous for being that teacher. It would be a rare thing to find a student from Jacksonville High who had not been influenced for the better by her. She was the world shaker in that corner of East Texas.
She loved her students. In her class, students read books (and actually liked them!) who hadn’t willingly read a book before. We conjugated verbs faster than we thought possible. We had to recite the greats of poetry. We learned to pay attention to detail, in literature and in our lives, and be careful about how we presented ourselves, in our writing and to others. We learned to care about the things that matter most.
She loved life. She told stories, her memories, and the twinkle in her eye gave away that she was thrilled in the joy of living.
She loved her family. A job, even a job you love, is never more important than your loved ones. She had to leave teaching because she wanted to see her grandbabies grow up. She wanted to see every moment with the people she loved – they were her world and she was not going to chance missing it. She loved her family. That was an astounding lesson.
She was a great dame, and she taught us so many lessons. Her memorial lies in her family, and the many students who wandered into her class but left with a purpose.
When I was one and twenty, I was on the path to becoming a teacher because I had this great woman as my teacher.
To change a life is an extraordinary thing.
The entire education system summed up in a three panel comic strip.
This is why I know next to nothing.
http://www.nytimes.com/roomfordebate/2012/02/26/are-people-getting-dumber/people-are-getting-dumber-and-its-no-joke →
“Look, I’m all for people earning their degrees in whichever way is most convenient and affordable for them, but if your school’s target student population includes people for whom getting dressed was previously a deal breaker, you may want to rethink your mission.”
We need to tone down the obsession with test scores and test preparation,” said Villarreal, adding that the Legislature needs to bring balance to the state testing system during the next session. “It’s hard to know if a low score is the result of a student having a bad day or if a high score is the result of a teacher putting aside enriching lessons and just teaching to the test.
