Teacher's that have inspired me

Sorry Geoff, but if I put your name on this post you'll just think I'm sucking up, and if I don't you'll think I don't appreciate your teaching, so I'll just tell you ahead of time that whether or not you inspire me, which you do, I won't discuss it here, but I did want to mention some of the teacher's I've had and explain what it was about that teacher that I enjoyed.

Mr. Parson - A PE teacher in my middle school. There are some teacher's who inspire us because they like us and though they may have a rough attitude you still know they think highly of you. Mr. Parson was one of these. His attitude was Be hard and stern, yet energetically encouraging. One large part of why I liked him was because I was one of the more athletic kids my age so I received a lot of compliments and praise from that man.

Mrs. Rothrock - a freshman math teacher in my high school. She was crazy! but it was a good crazy. She had an excitement about her and was able to teach extremely well. She remembered her students long after they left the halls of her school and greeted her students that would return to visit her with a smile that let you know that you have been missed.

Mr. Kirkwood - A computer science teacher in my high school who focused on preparing his students for college and the work force. He sought ways to improve his program as well as increase the number of minorities in his class, and by minorities I don't only mean racially, but he sought to increase the number of girls in his class as much as Mexicans. He didn't favor anyone, he was stern and was so into teaching that 1/2 way through every lesson he'd be sweating. He had an excitement about him that made you want to learn what he was teaching. He encouraged his students to take tests to help them skip certain classes in college, as well as introduce students to internships for various State Departments.

Mr. Shumway (he doesn't need to know I wrote this about him) - Electronics teacher in the TEE Program @ BYU. He reminds me of a more likable Mr. Kirkwood. Shumway's goal is for his students to succeed. He has a plan and will do everything he can to help those students meet his expectations. He's not afraid to hold things back to help further understanding, and he gets excited when he sees people go beyond the expected work. Shumway is a lot of the type of teacher I want to be because he loves what he does. When I teach people things I love the "Aha" moments where the figure something out, do it, and find it to be fun and exciting. Shumway is a lot like that.

What I learned from teaching

I use to work at a cubscout camp, so teaching today was like a blast from the past, the difference being that these kids were roughly a year older than the kids from cub scout camp, there were no parents to help the kids out, and we had to create our own lessons as oppose to having a lesson given to you and being told to do it. I enjoyed teaching today, though I wish I could have taught the ice cream portion with groups of 10 as oppose to the group of 31. Getting the kids to shake up a storm is really difficult in such a large group, and maybe that's true in teaching overall. Perhaps that's the real reason deacons quorums are suppose to be no larger than 12, because any larger and they become unmanageable. I enjoyed the group of 10 because it was much easier to maintain control and keep students on task. I can see why so many teachers fight against the growing number of students per classroom.