I was watching a video on YouTube just now that Klinkman was telling me about (namely, this one: YouTube - Meiosis Square Dance ) and it made me remember my middle and high school days, that now seem so long ago. I thought it might be a good discussion if everyone here posted about their favorite class in school and/or their favorite teacher. As an aspiring teacher myself, I truly believe teachers are worth their weight in gold, and I am lucky to have had some great ones. I'd love to hear your stories too, so post them here. They can be from any grade or year, elementary school through college. I'll share mine first.

The first teacher that really had an impact on my life was coincidentally my fifth grade science teacher, Mr. Morris. He believed in his students' success and he always made class fun. Some of my favorite memories from that class include watching numerous episodes of Bill Nye The Science Guy, having "guest lectures" from my teacher dressed up as a mad scientist whose "mustache" kept falling off because of "jumping mustache disease", and totally kick-arse experiments with liquid nitrogen. I also fondly remember our chemistry unit from that class- I'm not sure why, but I became really interested in chemistry in 5th grade (mainly because I was yet to be exposed to the mathematical aspects of the subject, which I hated in high school) and therefore was encouraged by my teacher to learn all I could about the subject and read everything I could get my hands on; he even recommended texts to me that were out of the normal bounds of our curriculum. At the end of the year, my portfolio with all of my assignments came back to me with a gift of a hardback novel about Chemistry with a note inside- I still have that book, and it is very special to me, even though I'm no longer interested in the subject or an aspiring chemist.

My favorite classes however, and most inspirational teacher in my life, were my high school Latin courses, taught by Mr. Palma. I have so much to say about those classes that I could talk for hours. The short version though is that I learned just as much, if not more, about life in Mr. Palma's classes as I did about Latin. Whenever we would have a guest speaker at school over a controversial subject, or there was something on the news that was interesting, or even if there was an issue on a student's mind, class would often be spent discussing the "issues of the day" as it were, with our teacher sharing his life lessons with us instead of bothering to try and teach us Latin, which he taught us incredibly well anyway. One of my favorite such memories was when our AP Latin class surprised him by throwing a birthday party for Rome, as it was the anniversary of the day of the founding of the city. Best class ever, and he had a blast, despite any semblance of class being completely scrapped for the day without his prior knowledge. Mr. Palma always told us that his view on teaching was that he was meant to use his position as teacher to play the role of the "midwife" and help us produce and realize the knowledge that we already had in us. Perhaps most importantly though, I will always thank Mr. Palma for believing in me and giving me a chance. There were two subsequent courses of AP Latin offered at our school, and I really wanted to continue my education in the subject as it was something I had grown to love. The only thing standing in the way were my grades- they fell just short of his cutoff to be accepted into the class. However, Mr. Palma took a chance on me and admitted me anyway, provided that I would do extra work over the summer with a tutor so I could be on par with, if not ahead of, the other students. And I am so thankful and blessed to have had that chance. Because of the chance I was given, I was admitted to a class that I will never forget, with a subject matter that has become such an integral part of my life that not only have I completed a Bachelor's Degree in field, but I have been inspired to impart my knowledge and love of Latin on to others. I have already had several opportunities for tutoring students of my own and am seeking a career as a Latin teacher, either in a high school or preferably a home-schooled setting.

So, suffice it to say, I have been blessed to take a class and have a teacher that has truly inspired me and literally changed my life. I can only hope that I will be half as inspiring to my students as my teachers have been to me. I'd love to hear your stories if you have them!