To teach a brilliant mind...

I like a teacher who gives you something to take home to think about besides homework. ~Lily Tomlin as "Edith Ann"

Thanks to Salty, I have had Michael Bolton streaming in my head relentlessly all day long. I could also start into a litany of complaints as to how poopy I'm starting to feel, but I won't. In honour of it being the 'first day of school', I will instead recount the teachers that have influenced me through the years:

Kindergarten - Mrs. MacRae - she was a plump, red-cheeked lady with short dark hair. She reminded me a lot of my mom, and I think that fact helped secure a love of school as that 'comfort of home' sort of followed me to school. She also helped me shed my uncertainties and fear in walking to school on my own with the deal (bribe?) she posed whereby I got a special present if I let go of Dad's hand and walked to school by myself every day for a week. I won the challenge...my prize? A deck of "Old Maid" cards. I played that game til those cards were nearly faded.

Grade 1 - Mrs. Runion - I remember the name because she introduced her name with, "it rhymes with onion". Sadly I don't recall much about the woman...but I do remember a day in her classroom where I sneezed into my hands and it was messy. Very messy. And I was too shy to ask for a tissue so just rubbed 'em on my pants. Classy, I know. To this day I plug my nose when I sneeze unless there's a tissue in my hand.

Grade 2 - Mrs. Lamb - she had short, curly hair (like a 'fro) and wore quilted vests (as were likely the 'rage' in the late 70's I'm sure). No exciting events from this year that I can recall, either. I remember studying the wall above the chalkboard to learn my letters though and always had issues with "Q".

Grade 3 - Mrs. Darnley - she was a straight-laced conservative woman who spoke with a British accent, and had her grey hair styled in a Dorothy Hamil mushroom cut. I remember her being very strict, but nothing glaring about our time together. I do remember one of the kids puking on his desk in her classroom. Amazing what the memory retains, eh?

Grade 4 - Mr. Ferdinand - he taught my older brother and that gave us a bit of a 'bond' that the other pupils didn't have with him. Our classroom was in a portable outside the school, and it was a split class with Grade 5 and Grade 6. He was always smartly dressed in a suit & tie, and was very soft-spoken. I took a real shine to him, and even sent him a letter after we'd moved to PEI, to which he responded to in his best teacher penmanship & proper letter format. I still have the letter.

Grade 5 - Mrs. Smith - One of her most common phrases was, "alrighty, alrighty". She influenced my love of Judy Blume and reading in general with our required RSSR (? required silent scheduled reading?) intervals. Some days we read our own books; some days she read to us. Years later when I was working at Harveys she remembered me, claiming, "I'd never forget those eyes".

Grade 6 - Mr. Whelan - I remember Mr. Whelan to be very dynamic and very involved with his teaching. It wasn't a surprise to later find his name on cast lists for various plays I've attended. He falls into my 'top 3' favourite teachers of all. He was very encouraging.

Grade 7 - Mr. May - He looked a little like a chipmunk and sometimes would spit when he talked. I adored him, though, and I think he was a very positive role model for me, especially when it came to English. He always praised my handwriting too.

Grade 8 - Ms. Sutherland - she had a deep voice and the stature of a football player. She drove a convertible. She would always catch Lori & I chatting in class and we got in trouble a lot for it.

Grade 9 - Mrs. Smith - She was always the teacher people feared the most in junior high. Behind her back, students nicknamed her "killer Carma". She was strict, yes, but an excellent teacher. I actually felt guilty when receiving my geography mark that year (or, as she pronounced it, "geographreeee"). She pushed her pupils to their fullest potential and as such, also falls into my top 3 teachers of all time.

Grade 10 - Mr. MacInnis - if you're an avid tv fan and pay attention to commercial ads and recall an ad where a monotone voice states the obvious, "Slight shedding problem?", after seeing a fluffy kitty sneeze and blow all her fur all over the staircase, then you have a picture of what Mr. MacInnis sounded like. He was my homeroom teacher as well as my science teacher. I didn't excel in the science department, put it that way. He didn't spawn any excitement for learning it, either *yawn*.

Grade 11 - Mrs. McQuaid - she was the French teacher and her personality took a complete 360 between grades 10 and 11 (or 11 and 12?) when she hit the 'change'. She was short, had dark hair and glasses...and now in retrospect, reminds me a lot of Judy Judy. She was always nice to me and I thought her fair.

Grade 12 - Mrs. Cannon - I adored her. She was the chemistry/geometry teacher and was one of the kindest and gentlest people you'd ever meet. She reminded me of a typical 'grandmotherly' figure. Her credited quote was "no worky, no marky". She loved Dilly Bars from DQ.

A big "thank you" to one and all, and those in between... be kind to your teachers, for it is they who shape who you are meant to be :).