What about a school system that pushes guided reading and busy work?

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Coming soon! Jane Frick's retreat writing

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Prairie Lands Alums published in Missouri Teachers Write: Read the 2008 edition of Missouri Teacher’s Write, Literary Magazine of the Missouri Association of Teachers of English, especially the original writings published by NWP alums and friends from throughout the state. See “Just One Week and Transcend,” by Melissa Camarda (2006 Institute); “November” by Elizabeth Latosi-Sawin (1987 Institute); “First Stirrings of Awareness Even Out Here,” and “Witness” by Joyce Stohr (2003 and 2005 Institutes); and “Stories of Health” by Jenna Whittington (2004 Institute). Pieces—“Here We go” and “Welcome Home”—by Mark Henderson, PLWP Research Assistant, is also included in MATE’s annual publication. Copies of Missouri Teachers Write are distributed free to MATE members; information and membership forms are available at the MATE website at http://www.umsl.edu/services/gwp/mateweb/mate.home.html. Or, to purchase a single copy of this year’s Missouri Teachers Write, email Mary Kim Schreck, editor (marykim@aol.com).

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Tom I loved this piece when I read the draft on the web board. I am so glad you have posted it here.
Do you think we could get others that read their work at the When Writing Teachers Write to post here?
Mary Lee

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Many freshmen feel like a stranger in a foreign land on his/first first days of high school, and I was no exception. However, the highlight of my first days as a 9th grader was walking into Mr. Upton’s English class. Stepping foot into his room I knew that this was going to be different. Where the uniform rows of single-seat desks, and what were were these big round tables with multiple chairs all about? This was before the writing workshops were a part of many English classrooms, and I was unfamiliar with any teacher trusting his/her students enough to actually let them sit at the same table together, and a round one at that.
Mr. Upton was sarcastic and honest; most of the time was spent trying to figure out when he was putting on his serious face and when he was trying to get a reaction from us. We watched a Metallica music video as an illustration of the pain that WWI veterans went through. He offered us an automatic ‘A’ in the class if we could fully explicate the lyrics to Simon and Garfunkle’s “The Sounds of Silence.” I read The Catcher in the Rye and felt that my angst was real and justified. I found out that class could be inspiring. I realized that there was a reason that I always did well in my language arts classes and felt the overwhelming urge to become an English teacher after that school year.
Along the way I lost sight of that urge. Always in the back of my mind I knew that no matter what I did, being a teacher was what I wanted to do. I traced that epiphany back to Mr. Upton’s classroom and I can still picture its walls and the round workshop tables that I sat at. So many influential teachers and mentors have been apart of my pursuit of my dream, but Mr. Upton still stands in my mind as the most important. I never received my ‘A’ for explicating “The Sounds of Silence,” but I have been trying ever since.

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Memorable English Teacher


Many teachers have come and gone throughout my educational experience. Most of these teachers have a faint place in my memory, several have been thought upon often, but few have been as profoundly memorable as my freshman English teacher.
Mrs. “G” was well into her teaching career when our paths crossed. She held all of the attributes most students would find pleasant in a teacher; kind, compassionate, patient and understanding. However, Mrs. “G” is unique in my memory of language arts class, not because of these personal character traits, but because of the way she made literature come alive.
Mrs. “G” would cry, laugh uncontrollably, and share personal connections to stories as we read in class. The fact that she showed such emotion, such genuine interest in the literature made me become more enthusiastic about reading. I began to make the connection that reading could indeed be meaningful and even entertaining. Mrs. “G” made me become a more avid reader, not necessarily by what she tried to teach us in the traditional sense, but through her actions. Mrs. “G” will forever be one of my inspirations for becoming an English teacher, and an enthusiastic reader.

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History has never been my thing; I am not in any way shape or form a history buff. However, when I was in high school I had a history teacher who made a big difference in my study habits, the way I read a text, and how I looked at history. His name was Mr. Hartong. He was a wonderful teacher. Mr. Hartong happened to be a boy’s basketball coach as well as a teacher, which made me apprehensive as to how he would teach at the beginning of my time with him. Not because I don’t like basketball, but because I had found some teachers only taught because they wanted to be coaches. This wasn’t something that I worried about for very long, because he didn’t seem to care what sports I was good at (or in my case not so good at), or how I had done in my other classes; all he cared about was how I was doing in his class. This was wonderful; he cared about me as a student! When people asked me how his class was or if I enjoyed it I would tell them yes, I loved it. He was a teacher, a real teacher who cared about the things he was teaching. That is what I liked the most about Mr. Hartong, he wanted to teach and he wanted us to learn.
I am not saying that he was an easy teacher either. I had to work harder for my A in Hartong’s class than I did in any other class I had in my four years as a high school student, I also learned more from his class as well. Hartong let us know what we would need to do to succeed in his class at the beginning of the year, and he kept his word throughout. Mr. Hartong was the kind of teacher that made me want to do well. I had other classes that were hard, but I never enjoyed them as much as I did Hartong’s. I think it was because I thought so highly of him I wanted to prove to him that I could do well, that I cared about his class and him as a teacher.

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The human mind has a habit of dwelling on negative experiences, and all too often we think about the teachers who were a negative force in our life, far more often than those who were positive. However, it was a positive experience I had with a wonderful teacher that shaped who I have become today.
Up until I began high school I had never really known what I truly wanted to do with the rest of my life. I had always enjoyed reading and writing, yet the thought of going into a profession dealing with that, never occurred to me. That is, until I took Language Arts 4 my senior year of high school. I had loved the teachers I had before in my other English classes, but that year Mrs. Zieber was an exceptionally influencing one. Perhaps the main reason was because it was in her class that, for the first time, I really enjoyed doing a project. I have never been an artistic type of person when it comes to building a diorama, but at that time in my high school career we were studying Dante’s Inferno and had a project set before us. We were to choose one of the levels of Hell described in the book, and then essentially create it out of different materials.
This opened my eyes at how a good teacher can really get their students interested in something they never cared for before; in my instance, projects. After that I became much more creative in projects I did and I enjoyed them so much more. Mrs. Zieber allowed the students to choose their level, and in doing so, we really committed ourselves to what we were doing as it held some interest for us. Her teaching style was effective and she would do whatever it took to explain a concept to a student that they could not quite grasp. I remember thinking how I wanted to be able to make a difference in other children’s lives as she had in mine, and then began to pursue the idea of becoming a High School English teacher.

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Favorite Teacher

I was dreading a new English teacher on the first day of my junior year in high school, but I soon found out that this teacher would change my life. Mrs. Collins (Connie Collins) is probably around 55 years old. She has dusty blonde hair with a little white poking through. She has glasses and dresses nice. Like every other English teacher, she always corrected me when I said “ain’t”. She was hard on me and taught me many new ideas. Her class was the hardest I had that year, but she made this class different and exciting. Mrs. Collins cared about us as students, she would work with us individually and as a group, she would have fun in class, and she was a friend.
Many teachers just teach the class and go home. Mrs. Collins was different. She would stay after to help many students that needed it. She came to all of the football and basketball games. These things showed me that she cared about the students, the school, and the community. When our class graduated she stopped by my graduation party and gave me a funny Dr. Seuss book. In the book were some old papers I wrote. I wondered why she took these extra steps. I wondered why she cared so much. I soon realized that she was a real teacher. She was the whole package, and she made a difference in my life.
Ever since I had Mrs. Collins as my teacher, I have loved English and teaching. She pushed me to the limit but still kept English interesting. When I become a teacher I want to be just like Mrs. Collins. I want the students to know that I care about them, and I am there to help them excel in life.
I still see Mrs. Collins from time to time when I go back to my home town. I give her a hug, and she makes sure I’m behaving. We will talk for a couple minutes about life, and then, before leaving, I will get another hug. I always say, “Good-bye Mrs. Collins” and she always replies, “Travis, I’m not Mrs. Collins anymore…call me Connie.”

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I was fortunate enough to spend three years with my favorite teacher. Not because I failed her class, because she frequently changed grade levels. I entered first grade at Webster School in 1989 without knowing a single name or face. Miss Thurnau immediately changed this by reaching out to me in ways that no one had before. She got to know me personally, not just as another student filling a desk. At the time, I didn’t realize how much effort she put toward me that went beyond the expected responsibilities of her job. Before and after school, during recess, and even on the phone with my parents, Miss Thurnau always had my best interest in mind. Those who know me today may be surprised to learn I was extremely shy in the classroom. However, Miss Thurnau quickly discovered that my nature changed when I was in the spotlight. That is why she cast me as the lead in our class play. I played Mr. Henderson, a teacher. How is that for destiny? At the end of the school year, Miss Thurnau awarded me with a “Best Actor” trophy, which still sits proudly in my home today. As I look back on who I am now, I cannot imagine where I would be without Miss Thurnau, the teacher that opened my eyes.

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