Thursday March 28th, 2024 8:12PM

Following the example of teachers before me

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about Mrs. Hall, the best English teacher I ever had.

She taught me composition and grammar in high school, and I suppose she, technically, was my first editor. She was the first person to truly critique my writing, and I have no doubts that she made my writing better.

Mrs. Hall was always a tough teacher. Her classes weren’t easy. But she was always fair, and I think she liked nothing more than watching her students grow and succeed.

I’ve always hoped she was proud of the accomplishments I’ve had in my career. But, honestly, I’m afraid to ask. I’m afraid she’ll hand me a copy of the newspaper with lots of red marks all over it, especially if she’s read a column where I used the word “ain’t” a lot. She didn’t like that word much, as I recall.

The reason I’ve been thinking about Mrs. Hall is because this week I begin a stint as a part-time instructor of journalism at the University of North Georgia in Dahlonega. I’ll teach two classes, one on news writing and reporting, the other on foundations of media techniques.

Two days a week, I’ll stand in front of a group of eager (I hope) college students. I’m excited about the opportunity. But I’m more than a little nervous.

I’m not sure how many skills I possess. But I do know how to write a news story, and over the years, I’ve tried to mentor many of the young, just-graduated reporters we hired in our newsroom.

Whether I can teach someone to write remains to be seen. There’s more to teaching than the knowledge of the subject matter. Good teachers inspire. They encourage. They motivate.

Certainly I’ll be trying to follow the example of Mrs. Hall. But I’m one of the lucky ones. I had many teachers who left a lasting impression on me.

Mrs. DuBose taught me cursive writing. I’d be ashamed to show her my handwriting today. It’s been ruined by a career as a reporter, where I had to write down everything someone said as fast as they said it.

Coach Williams was the football coach. But he also taught me algebra. Laugh if you want at the football coach teaching math, but he’s the only math teacher I’ve ever had who made algebra make sense. What little I can remember of algebra, I know because of Coach Williams.

Mr. Hall helped spark my interest in history and politics. He also taught me the importance of doing something for which you have a passion.

In college, Dr. Valencia taught me perseverance. As a sophomore, I ended up in her upper-level class on the American novel, where students were required to read 10 novels in 12 weeks. After the first two classes, I was overwhelmed. I went to talk to her about dropping the class in favor of something less intimidating.

Dr. Valencia, who had also taught me freshman composition, refused to let me drop her class. She believed in me, even when I didn’t. I stayed and a couple of the books we read remain among my favorites today.

When I step into that classroom for the first time, I’ll have a lot great teachers to model. I can only hope that I can make a difference in the lives of my students as my teachers made in mine.

And in honor of Mrs. Hall, I’m not going to let any of my students use the word “ain’t.”

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