My Inspiration - Another Meme

Rules

1. You are to copy the rules at the start of your post.

2. You are write, in 150 words or less the story of ‘Your Inspirational Teacher’ from your school days.

3. Name and link 4 other bloggers and leave them a comment on their blog to let them know they have been tagged.

4. Tag your post ‘myinspiration’

Thanks to being on the top of her twitter roll for the day, Lisa Durff has tagged me to participate in this meme. Someday I will get her back for this!
This meme asked me to write about my inspirational teacher. This should be easy. Afterall, twelve years of public school, plus pre-K for two years, plus college for six or seven (I forget) adds up to a lot of teachers. Somewhere in there, there has to be one that inspired me.

So, ever since this meme came my way, I've been thinking about that one teacher. And, much to my dismay, there has been no one coming to mind. Not my first grade teacher who constantly reminded my class that I was younger than them. "Just a baby" is what she always said. Not my fifth grade teacher who allowed me to read in class because, as he told my parents, I already knew the material and didn't need to participate in the lessons. Not my middle school English teacher who returned my papers with a big red F on them if I forgot to leave a margin on the side. Not my high school chorus teacher who told the boys in class to stop singing, it was hurting his ears. I certainly was not inspired by any of the work that was assigned. I was not excited, enthusiastic, inspired. I was never taught to be a student, nor taught the excitement of learning.

So I'm faced with having to find an inspiring teacher in a sea of muck. As I look back at my years in school, I am stuck. So who inspired me to be who I am today? Well, first, my husband, who taught me to be competitive, working for grades. (My master's graduation grade was a 4.0, his 3.95. I win!) Then, I must move to teachers I work with now or have worked with in the past. There was Anita who, when she announced her retirement, shocked me. She was always learning and growing. Why was she leaving? She was not the old lady sitting at her desk, waiting for the bell to ring, signaling the end of the day. There was Barbara, who taught me to never accept the status quo. This is my trademark saying now. She showed me there was always more to reach for, for myself and my students. And, mostly, my students inspire me now. They constantly remind me to have fun, enjoy life, be proud of my work and theirs, and learn, learn, learn. I strive for greatness because of them. They are my true inspirations.

So now it's your turn. If I tagged you, I hope you enjoy this trip down memory lane. If I didn't tag you, try it out any way. Hopefully, you will all find teachers who are inspirations. I hope I, myself, am turning out to be somebody's inspiration.

Tagged:
Christine Southard - a new blogger, who needs to be tagged
Jen Wagner - because I gave her two free conference opportunities
Chrissy Hellyer - for being such a good sport with our class
Steve Dembo - because I met him in person yesterday and figured he could have fun with this