So we’re in beautiful but foggy Monterey for the Internet @ Schools West conference where I’ll be doing some blogvangelism tomorrow morning before heading back East. Somehow I managed to get my jet-lagged rear end through the 10K Big Sur River Run yesterday morning through a beautiful redwood forest. I’m paying for it today, however.
But here’s the quote of the day, overheard in a restaurant: “You know, if you’re lucky, you’ll get one good teacher in your life.”
And there were general assents at the table where the comment was made. And it started me thinking about my own teachers, and how many of them I really remember as having an impact on my desire to learn. There were three, at least in my traditional schooling. I guess I’m lucky. But it also got me thinking about my own teaching, and the thousands of kids I had in my classrooms, and how many of them I left an impact on, not in terms of journalism or media or literature but in terms of loving learning. I wonder…
And it also got me thinking about how many teachers I have now who constantly help me learn. Many more today than in all of my past.
You know… I think a lot a lot depends on how much you open yourself up to be taught. I had several very good teachers at every level. I think about the high school teachers who made a huge difference. In college, there were the professors who changed the way I looked at literature and philosophy. In graduate school, I was lucky enough to study with Tom Sobol, and he is both life-changing and life-affirming in his teaching.
And those are just the traditional teachers… being at Beacon, I was able to learn from Steve Stoll and Ruth Lacey, the founders of the school… as well as learning from the amazing teachers who taught there.
And then there are all the students I’ve learned from… and the friends who have been mentors… and my parents… and the writers, both on-line and off, the list goes on and on.
One good teacher? No way. I, like you, have had more than I can count.