Teachers that Mattered

From grades 1-12, I had a handful of teachers who motivated me in different ways. Each one was unique and memorable. Each left a mark that served me well. I was a child who didn’t adapt well to classroom discipline. By the third grade, I was taught to behave by my teacher, who made me stay late and write *I will not talk during class * an increasing number of times until I learned to behave. Ms. Ginther taught me the hard way because I was stubborn. She never raised her voice. When I interrupted class, she calmly told me how many times I had to write the sentence on the chalkboard. Staying thirty minutes after school ended—writing I will not talk during class one hundred times civilized my behavior. My eighth-grade English teacher was Mr. Black. He was a mild-mannered man. Mr. Black’s class was the first time I was given a writing assignment that required several days to complete. We had to read a poem and interpret what the author was conveying. I was assigned The Raven by Edgar…