Today as I drove the boys to school I thought of my search for Ms. Becky Ralphs, my 8th and 9th grade Honors English teacher. If I ever had to name the teacher that taught me more than any other teacher, it would be her. I remember where I sat in her room, I remember her voice, I remember how excited she would get when talking about writing. She was my biggest inspiration for becoming a writer and my desire to teach. For weeks I have been trying to find her, looking her up on the internet, sending out emails and talking with the secretaries at my middle school. Unfortunately she was my teacher 14 years ago and it is hard to find someone from that long ago. I have spent so much time on the internet trying to find her, probably should have been studying.
In our 9th grade year our class wrote a collaborative historical fiction together entilted Emerald Iron. It is actually really good and we all learned a lot from it. I think I will hopefully do the same with my own class someday. The dedication in the book reads:
To my students
May this experience be a
springboard that launches
you into worlds of your own writing.
I believe in you.
Keep me posted.
Ms. Ralphs alsp wrote, "In my esperience, I have never seen a more gifted group of adolescent writers. It has been my privilege to teach them for two years, and I would match them against any other class in the country. I love these people." She was not just an average teacher, she cared about each and every one of us. She did not think of us as just children either, she spoke of us people, writers. I want her to know what she meant to me and how she has inspired me as a writer.
I think I may have finally gotten in contact with her. I am excited so talk to her, she taught me so much. She is one of the most creative writers and teachers I have ever known and if I can be half as great as her I will be lucky.
1 comment:
This shows me what I lacked as a teacher. Excitement for the subject and open expression of my appreciate for my students.
Two things that I had, but I was too deeply buried in emotional baggage to be able to express either very well because of my stoic childhood training, depression and abusive marriages choices.
My family continually extinguished my exuberance, from which I am finally emerging. My childhood family is riddled with depression, from which I have emerged. And I wish with all my heart I had not been so foolish in my marriage choices, from which I survived and learned!
A good marriage is fantastic and worth the wait! Poor marriage are nothing short of misery and FAR worse than being single - particularly when children are involved!
Rebecca, remember, YOU ARE THE BEST! Experience the best in return - or avoid it like the plague. I always remembered what your mother told me, "Know that after marriage you get one tenth of what you got before marriage."
Experience has taught me this is true in poor marriages, but just the opposite in a good marriage!
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