You’ll be able to answer this question without thinking twice: What was the name of the teacher who had the best impact on you?
Then pause to think twice before you answer this question: Have you told him so? Have you thanked her?
We revered a high school English teacher in a small-town in Missouri named Sally Bailey. She loved great books and understood how to encourage good writing; we loved to read and wanted to write well. Her freshman- and senior-year classes were high points for us. Yes, we had her twice. How lucky was that?
Your own story may be more moving. The impact that teacher had on you may have been life-changing or even lifesaving.
Or perhaps not. Nicholas Clement, the retired superintendent of the Flowing Wells School District, has written a book with stories about 10 teachers who were especially important in his life, “How to Catch a Swamp Frog.”
One such educator was a driver’s ed teacher didn’t give up on the young Clement even though he struggled to learn to drive.
Clement says the great teachers, those who give the most to their students, have some things in common. Here are just a few examples: “One is listen to the kids, to their students. They really listen — and they change their teaching based on the feedback they hear. They’re fair in how they treat students. They’re committed — they do things after school, they’re there for kids when they need help. And they don’t give up.”
That’s not a complete list. You could no doubt add your own attributes based on your experience as a student. Kindness. Passion. Humor.
Clement, who now holds the Ernest W. McFarland Citizen’s Chair in Education at Northern Arizona University, also has asked and answered that second question.
The odds are, you have not told your own great teacher what she meant in your life. We like to think Mrs. Bailey understood how much we enjoyed her classes, but we never told her — and now it’s too late.
“Those teachers who really had an impact on the path we took sometimes don’t get to hear about it; they’re not there during your 30th or 40th reunion to hear you talking about them,” Clement says.
Thus Clement has founded and is promoting “Legendary Teacher Day.”
The mayor will proclaim the day on Thursday. Many local education leaders will show their support. The Jim Click Automotive Team and the Sundt Construction Co. will be encouraging their employees to participate.
You should take part, too. The way to do that is to pause to think of your own “legendary teacher,” and then pick up the phone or write a snail mail or email note to thank him and describe why he was important in your life. Get on the Internet. There’s a good chance you’ll find them.
As for Clement, his dream is that Legendary Teacher Day will take off and soar, and that in five years there will be a National Legendary Teacher Day every year.
“But if one teacher gets a call or a note from a student who graduated 30 years ago, then it’s worth the effort,” he says.
