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A Teacher with Passion

I recently had the pleasure of visiting my high school drama teacher at his 75th birthday party. My two best high school friends and I traveled over 600 miles along just to give him a hug and tell him “thank you.” Three other high school friends met us at the party having traveled similar distances. We all agreed that this was the one and only teacher that we would make this type of effort to visit. What motivated us to make the journey? This teacher shared his soul with us – his former students- and he changed our lives.

When I got news of the party, I immediately felt compelled to go. Not because I wanted a weekend away, or an awesome road trip with my pals, but because I felt a need deep-down inside of me to tell this man how important he was to me, and how he changed my life. My friends may not have been as motivated, but once they heard that I was going with or without them, they decided to join me. Six of us reunited for a short time to honor our friend, reminisce about yesterday, and share our todays.

Of the six of us, I am the only one who became a high school teacher. However, we all continue to be involved in theatre in one way or another. It’s not only love of theatre that we got from our teacher; he instilled confidence in us by giving us real-world opportunities to succeed or fail at a very young age. He believed in us as individuals and pushed us beyond our comfort limits. There is no question that none of us would be the successful adults we are today without the influence and guidance of this one teacher.

In addition to being my high school drama teacher, he was also my master teacher while I was earning my teaching credential. I had the privilege of working with him as a colleague although I will never consider myself in the same league. He taught public high school theatre for 30 years to thousands of students and earned a remarkable number of awards and accolades. One of his shows earned the honor of traveling and performing in Washington D.C.

I was somewhat compelled to make the trip for his 75th birthday with the idea that someday my own students might want to come back and visit me when I’m 75. I know it was a treat for him to sit around the table and remember something special about each one of us. In fact, after we exhausted our welcome at the party’s location, he invited us back to his home to continue the visit. About a dozen of us sat around his front porch until late in the evening as if we had just completed a production and were listening to his notes.

Why do I share this very personal experience here? Every teacher has been inspired by others; many by their former teachers. All teachers inspire their students in some way. Our inspiration can be positive, like my birthday friend, or negative. Either way, a teacher’s influence on students is unavoidable and undeniable. It doesn’t matter if we “try” to shape and mold our students; we do it anyway. I believe that this is an important point for every teacher to consider: how are you affecting your students?

Teachers can choose to share their souls with their students. By “soul,” I’m talking about our passions for life and learning and our confidence in the success of our students. I liked theatre before high school, but I loved theatre after high school. I loved it because of the experience I had under the tutelage of this teacher. I can’t imagine ever becoming that inspired by algebra; however, I have met passionate math teachers who could easily inspire their students in similar ways. I’m not sure where I will be on my 75th birthday. I hope that I am well and able to enjoy the day. Of the many ways I can imagine spending such a landmark event in my life; jumping out of an airplane, driving a racecar, sailing the Caribbean; none of them are nearly as exciting as the idea that I might be able to visit and catch up with a handful of my former students. That would be a gift!

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