believe it or not, i had seven teachers who inspired me.
the first teacher was my 7th grade english teacher who was strict about the rules of grammar. if you forgot to dot an "i" or cross a "t," an "a" paper could easily turn into an "f." although i loathed her at the time, i've come to really appreciate the fact that she cared about her students enough to make sure they had excellent grammar skills. if it weren't for her, i wouldn't have won a writing scholarship in high school or competed in state forensics/oratory/public speaking competitions placing 2nd (missing nationals by only 2 points) and 3rd respectively.
the second teacher was my 8th grade english teacher who told me i had a gift for writing and encouraged me to write for our middle school newspaper. to my surprise, she gave me a writing award at the end of the year at our school's awards assembly for the papers i wrote in class and the articles i wrote for the school newspaper.
the third teacher was my 9th grade english teacher. he was a published author who took my interest in writing seriously. he read me articles from various writing magazines that he subscribed to and read me excerpts from his books so i had examples of what good writing is supposed to be. he also told me something i'll never forget. he said, "you may not have the outer (i.e. physical) vision of a writer, but you'll always have the inner vision."
the fourth teacher was my 10th grade biology teacher. he was someone who had high expectations of his students and placed a very strong emphasis on the importance of education. every week he would set aside an entire class period to lecture us about education and how important it was to focus on academics and college so we could achieve our dreams. although 95% of the students in my class rolled their eyes every time he started to lecture, for some reason something "clicked" inside me. i listened to his every word with interest and really began to re-evaluate how well i was doing in school. until then, my grades had been average ("b's" and "c's"), but after 10th grade, my culmulative gpa shot up to a 3.7 and i started participating in honors courses. i also began to seriously consider attending college -- something i never really thought i would do. i'm now at university in my final year of study working towards my bachelor's degree in social work. from there, i plan to earn my master's and finally, a ph.d. thanks to this teacher who told me i could be anything i wanted to be despite deafblindness, it was then that i knew i wanted to obtain a ph.d. i had a renewed thirst for education and he was the one who inspired me. i owe my college success to him and will never forget what a positive difference he made at that time in my life.
the fifth teacher was my 11th grade history teacher. he was compassionate and really cared about his students. if one of us was struggling for one reason or another, he would always take the time to speak to us after class. if we were having difficulty understanding class material, he would take extra time to explain the lesson so that we wouldn't fall behind. he was also one of the first teachers i ever had who accommodated all of my needs in class. when he used notes on the overhead projector, he arranged to have them transcribed into braille so that i could follow along. since i had difficulty hearing in every part of the classroom except for the front row, he always set aside a desk for me so that i could hear. he also brought me close to tears (of happiness) a few days before the end of the school year when he told me if there was anyone who could successfully deal with deafblindness, it was me. he also told me to always believe in myself and to never let people tear me down.
the sixth teacher was my advanced choir teacher in 12th grade. he always told me i had a talent for singing and encouraged me to persue further study in voice after high school. he had a wonderful sense of humor, was always happy and said nothing but good things about our choir. (this was a huge change from my previous choir teacher who was impatient, blunt and used to yell at us if we didn't give the kind of performance he thought we should have during a concert. in other words, he wanted us to make him look good in front of the audience. :roll
even after high school, he used to post to classmates.com to find out how we were doing and encouraged any of us who had an interest in music to persue our dreams. he showed a sincere interest in what we were doing despite the fact that he was living out of state and handling a demanding job that took up most of his time.
the seventh teacher was the advisor of our high school newspaper. like my 9th grade english teacher, she was also an author who encouraged me to write as much as i could. because of my love for writing, she allowed me to have four regular columns in the newspaper and gave me a position on the editorial staff during my junior and senior year. she always showed an interest in the entire staff of the newspaper (she considered us to be her "extended grandchildren") and often invited us to her house for a snack or dinner. she said her home was always open 24/7 whenever we needed to talk or vent our frustrations. since i couldn't afford a prom dress, she was kind enough to let me choose the dress i liked and paid for its' entire cost (she offered). one of the things i remember most about her was how she loved to play word games (for example, taking a word and seeing how many other words you could make out of it). she and i would spend hours on end after school playing various word games. this meant a great deal to me because i never had that kind of loving support in my family (because of my deafblindness, i always felt like an outsider). i don't know whatever happened to her, but she is one person whom i will never forget.
i consider myself fortunate to have known all of these wonderful teachers. if it weren't for them, i wouldn't have the ability to be the best person i can be nor would i have been able to face the many challenges i've had since high school.
