Welcome to Stuff I Learned Yesterday. My name is Barb Rankin, my birthday is in October so I began 1st grade when I was 5 years old, and I believe that if you aren’t learning, you aren’t living. In today’s episode of Stuff I Learned Yesterday I talk about my gratitude for all types of teachers and all they do – one of the many things I am thankful for as we approach Thanksgiving Day.

Fun Fact:  

Here are a few facts about the first public school in the United States:

  1. The name of the school was the Boston Latin School.
  2. The school was founded on April 23, 1635, by the Town of Boston, and students attended classes in the home of the headmaster, Philemon Pormort, until the building was constructed.
  3. The original building was completed in 1645.
  4. The school offered a free education to boys regardless of their families’ financial situation.
  5. The building was demolished in 1745, but the school continued in other locations, and a statue of Benjamin Franklin stands at the site of the original building.
  6. Five of the 56 signers of the Declaration of Independence were pupils of the Boston Latin School – John Hancock, Samuel Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Robert Treat Paine, and William Hooper.

Today’s fun fact comes to you from Reference.com and BLS.org (Boston Latin School’s website).

What I Learned Yesterday:

I came home from school, crying. I was only 5 years old and I was struggling in class. I remember really liking kindergarten, but the first grade was not fun. I just couldn’t understand how the letters that I practiced writing could become words on a page that I could read. They made no sense to me.

I don’t know who called whom first – my teacher or my mother. But talk they did, and together, they worked out a plan to help me learn words, then simple sentences, and before long I was reading about “Dick, Jane and Spot.” “See Spot run. Run, Spot, run.” Does that bring back any memories for you?

Mrs. Pedigo, my first grade teacher, and my mother changed my attitude and my life. They took what was, at that time, a terrible experience for me and turned it into a rewarding one – a lifelong love of reading. Mom appreciated my teacher’s efforts to help me learn and I am forever grateful for her investment in me, as a student.

Each year at Christmas, as a “thank you,” we gave our teachers a linen towel printed with the calendar for the new year, and the traditional apple. It retrospect, it doesn’t seem like enough.

The Merriam-Webster on-line dictionary defines “teacher” as a person or thing that teaches something, especially a person whose job is to teach or instruct students about certain subjects. That definition seems lacking to me. I don’t think it describes the care, nurturing, confidence building, and investment that a good teacher can make in the education and life of his or her students.

As we get older and move into the workplace, it is often said that employees spend more waking hours on the job with their co-workers than they do with their families. Can’t the same be said about the teachers who taught us, perhaps when we are as young as 3 years old, through our high school, college, and perhaps post graduate years? How many hours did we spent in the classroom growing up? According to Reference.com, we will spend about 15% of our life at school, from kindergarten through the 12th grade. That is a lot of time for teachers to be devoted to us, as students.

I was fascinated with history at an early age, and read as many biographies of historical figures as I could in the 5th and 6th grades. When a poor experience in my 8th grade history class turned me away from my interest, a wonderful high school teacher, Coach Bovenkamp, brought it roaring back to life for me. He also encouraged me when I got a “D” in economics, and gave me the confidence to pursue business studies in college despite my poor showing in that one segment of our education course.

A college professor, Dr. Bennington, encouraged one of my roommates and me to continue our accounting and business studies in college, despite the fact that there were only 3 women in our Intermediate Accounting class. It was the 1970’s, and women were just breaking into the traditionally male fields of business and accounting. He was our advisor, our coach, and our friend. When we had issues with other classes or professors, he was there to provide advice and guidance. I have so much appreciation for his encouragement and his assistance, which I believe help propel me to a successful career in business today.

Another college professor, Dr. Gratiot, crafted his courses to hold his students’ interest, while telling us little known facts about history and political science. He went out of his way to accommodate his students’ schedules, and he held events at his home to encourage us to more deeply experience the topics we were discussing, such as Greek or Roman history – the food they ate, the topics they might debate – and how the lessons they learned and what they experienced in those times could apply to life today.

Many of my teachers are gone now – but there are so many more that have embraced teaching and are giving our youth, the next generations, the education that they will need to be successful in life.

While we do tend to focus on teachers and what they do for us, school is not the only place where we find teachers. About 30% of our time is spent at work, and we often receive guidance from our managers, mentors, other leaders and peers. Each of those individuals can also make a difference in your life, just as parents teach their children. Each of us can take the time to invest in our co-workers, to coach them, to encourage them, to guide them, to help them be better at what they do.

Here’s what I learned. 

I have so much gratitude and appreciation for the education I have received, and the time my teachers invested in me. It helped make me the person I am today.

As I got older, I said “thank you” to the teachers that made a difference in my life, but other than those linen calendars and ruby, red apples, I’m not sure I thanked the ones from my early youth. As I’ve gotten older, I’ve learned the importance of thanking those around me and expressing appreciation for what they have done.

And so I say:

Thank you, Mrs. Pedigo, Mrs. Collins, Mrs. Hawkins, Mr. Danske, Mrs. Houston, Mrs. Turman, Mrs. Megathlin, Coach Bovenkamp, Mr. Geertsema, Reverend Davis, Mr. Schrader, Mrs. Lindblom, Mrs. Aldrich, Miss Mejeur, Dr. Bennington, and Doc Gratiot, for being some of the influential and positive teachers in my life. This Thanksgiving I will, in gratitude and appreciation for the education you gave to me, give thanks for each of you.

Thank your teachers, whether they are your current teachers, your kids teachers, or teachers from your past. Whether they are your teachers and mentors at work or at school.

Thank them. Send them an e-mail. Write them a note. Give them a call.

Let them know how much they have done for you.  Their greatest reward is you.

Happy Thanksgiving!

I’m Barb Rankin and this has been stuff I learned yesterday.

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