^^ my fourth grade teacher taught me the most important lesson of my life. He taught me that I can actually learn if I want to.

I want a good student at all, but with the proper motivation (a weekly trivia contest based on the week's lessons) I could retain facts and recall them on command. I was never able to do that before his class.

I wasn't alone in respecting him. I remember being brought to a random parent/school event and when they announced his name, he got a standing ovation.

@0x56 I want to speak up for my grandson's 2nd grade teacher she is exposing him to so many things. He loves her and he loves to learn. He will remember her for the rest of his life. God bless teachers who care about teaching kids.

@0x56 My middle school music teacher, Mr. Correll, followed our class to the HS. I then had him for 4 years of chorale, jazz and madrigal singers, show choir, and music theory. I scheduled my lunch to be in the music room where I could listen to everything from Bach to Ellington to Beatles to Dylan.

I was always frustrated that he would just wing the set lists for our public gigs. But with a rating of 6-O at state levels, he just believed in our abilities & I started to believe in myself.

@0x56 In High School in the late 90s, we had a music teacher who had us listen to different genres of music each week. That day we listened to him play folk songs on his guitar. It was the first time many of the kids there heard songs like Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald, House of the Rising Sun, Sound of Silence, or Calypso.

Most kids mocked him at first, but by the end of that lesson, everyone was riveted. I carry that with me to this day. He taught a love for music goes deeper than the radio.

@0x56
Last night, my neighbor was outside talking on his phone, smoking, and wearing a T-shirt that said:
I became a teacher for the fame
💔

@0x56
Junior History. Teacher Larry Taylor said;
"You're smart. You just don't know it."
Changed my life.
#NationalTeacherAporeciationDay

@0x56

I don't remember which teacher, but they got into an argument with Ernie, a new (surly, rebellious) student who got failing grades, and implied that he might be stupid. Ernie then got straight As next term. We all held him in high esteem, even as his grades slumped again. He proved himself, and lived his own way. And he turned out alright.

I'm still friends with that kid.

@0x56
My college choir director, and one of my music history professors.

Both treated their students with such care and compassion. I wanted to be my best version of myself for them.

Both were hugely influential on me as I entered teaching.

The kids don't do their very best for that activity / elective / whatever because they are super motivated by achievement alone. They do it for YOU. I was not told that explicitly, but it is a fact.