The fourth journal assignment for the course I’m taking asks us to reflect on a teacher who acted as a mentor – we’re supposed to think about what this person did, how we felt, and how we’ve grown as a result.
A few years ago at a one-day motivational teaching seminar, the group leader asked us all to imagine a dinner table, around which were the people who’ve most influenced our lives. He then asked ‘how many of you had at least one teacher at the table?’
Everyone raised their hand – except me.
Maybe it’s just a question of what you think a mentor is – for me, a mentor is someone who makes you feel as though s/he has taken a special interest in your development. While I’ve had many great teachers, for whom I am thankful, there is no one teacher that made me feel as though I was a special project, as it were.
After much soul searching, however, I came up with this reflection.
Grade 1, Miss Hazel K. Cross, in Longueuil, 1946. She certainly got us off to a good start in life. Years later, in 1974, I took all the kids to meet her, as elegant and wonderful as ever. I think they named a school after her.
Grade 12, Lewellyn Shekmar, English teacher, in Fort Lauderdale, 1957. She was a wonderful teacher, and I had the pleasure of taking an English class from her again in community college. I managed to track her down two years ago to a farm in Alabama, and we keep in touch.
Not a teacher, but my best mentor was my maternal Uncle Joe. He was an exceptionally decent gentleman and I thought the world of him.
find your soul mate