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Author Topic: What school teachers influenced your life that made you what you are? Paul G. Thompson The Weenie Man Posts: 4718 From: Mount Vernon WA USA Registered: Nov 2000 posted 04-23-2003 02:15 AM                     From time to time, I experience reflections of good and bad things that has influenced my life. I would like to share the feelings with all of you of the names that shaped my life. The following list of middle school and high school teachers did just that...with their words and wisdom that many young kids and teen-agers will always remember. I will not go into details, but I can assure you that all of these educators I am listing had some personal quotes that stopped me in my tracks when I was young and cocky. Many have since passed on, but their words still echo in my mind with those teachers that are are still living today. I owe them alot. They have shaped my life to what I am today. I provide this list to you as an honor to those who have helped me through this mess called life. I am greatly appreciative to these teachers who have went above and beyond their call of duty to help me and the other kids they cared about. This was 45+ years ago. Erwin Kletzein Paul Larson Frank Granitz John Jung Nobel Anderson Jack Troupe Harry Olestad Richard Frailing Robert Kupper Gordon Heffernan Bernard Bender E.B. Young William Malinski Rex John William Barringer Claude Zach Thomas Williams Kenneth Korb All of them are deserving of my deep appreciation and respect for their guidance. Without their guidance, I might have been lost in a painted sky. Do you remember yours?  |  IP: Logged Michael Schaffer "Where is the Boardwalk Hotel?" Posts: 4143 From: Boston, MA Registered: Apr 2002 posted 04-23-2003 06:58 AM                        All my teachers influenced me in a way, of course, but most of them in a negative way. When I was a small kid, I was curious about everything. When I left school, I had lost interest in a lot of things due to horrible, unmotivated, and often very unfair teachers. It then took me a while to find interest in many subjects again. My mother is a fashion artist, and she taught us to draw and sketch when we were children, but our arts teachers made us fill huge sheets of paper - quality didn't matter, they just wanted the paper full and then all kids got a "3" (=American "C") anyway. I have never taken a pencil in hand since if not for writing. But there were also very good influences, especially the physics teachers we had, one of them was an actual research phisicist who had worked at the Max-Planck-Institute and decided to go to school teaching to help kids understand physics. The single most positive influence however was my Latin and Greek teacher. I studied Latin for 7 years. And while it is very difficult and sometimes enormously frustrating, it has really helped me a lot in my life. Latin may be a dead language now, but if you understand it, you can easily understand and learn many other languages - higher English with all its Latin-based vocabulary included. He also knew how to make it interesting by linking the texts we read to the historical context and explained how European culture evolved from these sources. Right now, I am on a short vacation in Rome. Everything is very easy for me here, because if you know Latin, Italian is no problem at all for you.  |  IP: Logged Jon Bartow Master Film Handler Posts: 287 From: Massachusetts Registered: Nov 1999 posted 04-23-2003 07:22 AM                     I had several as well, Marlene Adley Betsy Found Jen Craig Gordon Gilles Karen Chapman Forrest Perkins and as far as being a theater tech: Dewey White Bud Shepard (Both of whom I blame for getting me into this stuff )  |  IP: Logged Ken Layton Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1452 From: Olympia, Wash. USA Registered: Sep 1999 posted 04-23-2003 08:18 AM                     The ones who most influenced me were these in San Mateo, Calif.: Mrs. Lani Leydig (science at San Mateo High) Mr. William Graham (electronics at Bayside Jr. High) Mr. Stuart Hayes (electronics at San Mateo High) in Olympia, Wash: Mr. Tilford Gribble (audio-visual dept. at Olympia High School). He told me he learned electronics and projection equipment repair in the Navy during WW2 and I will always remember his strong leadership and technical abilities. Sadly, he passed away in 1996. Mr. Ron McCabe (film at Olympia High) He missed every single changeover in the feature films he projected in film class! This made me strive to be sure every changeover I did was spot on. [ 04-24-2003, 10:42 PM: Message edited by: Ken Layton ]  |  IP: Logged Don Bruechert Mmmmmmmmm, bird! Posts: 340 From: Manitowoc, WI, USA Registered: Jan 2003 posted 04-23-2003 08:35 AM                        In common: (Fundamental) Frank Granitz was still around Bill "Moe" Molinski was the Principal Claude Zoch fixed my ass a few times.... I would add: Bob Ayers, PE Who had a positive influence Bill Twichell, PE Who made a significant difference in my life, and crom whom I had heard the term "clusterf**k" long before Clint Eastwood ever said it, and who also extolled that some of my classmates were so stupid they would stick their foot in the urinal and think they were taking a shower! Ed Coffin, Vice Principal, who also kept me in line and Hugh Foster, English, who had an interesting outlook on life!  |  IP: Logged Ray Bernardi Expert Film Handler Posts: 120 From: Antrim, NH, USA Registered: Feb 2003 posted 04-23-2003 08:38 AM                     Mr. Sears - Science teacher - 1975  |  IP: Logged Mike Blakesley Film God Posts: 12767 From: Forsyth, Montana Registered: Jun 99 posted 04-23-2003 12:17 PM                        My favorite teacher was Mr. Charles R. Sweeney, who taught English and Journalism. I credit him with my interest in writing and reading. I was editor of the school paper when I was a senior, and Mr. Sweeney went to bat for me more than once with the school mucky-mucks. Mrs. Dorothy Reichman was an "office" (typing) teacher when I was in 9th grade. Everybody in my class ridiculed me for being interested in typing, but it is now the most useful skill I have. Mr. Eli Urbaniak was my biology teacher. He was certifiably nuts, but his classes were excellent. You never knew what to expect in his class. Finally a nod to my high-school principal, Ed Goyette. Probably the most well-liked principal here in the last 50 years. He retired just after I graduated but still lives here, still coaches the high school golf team, attends every sporting event and even runs the PA system at basketball and football games. (He doesn't go to movies, but nobody's perfect.)  |  IP: Logged Bobby Henderson "Ask me about Trajan." Posts: 10973 From: Lawton, OK, USA Registered: Apr 2001 posted 04-23-2003 01:18 PM                     I attended a small high school aboard the Quantico, VA Marine Corps base. We had really good teachers (some were part time instructors at Mary Washington College and Virginia Tech). With a low number of students, the teachers could also concentrate harder on getting more out of the few of us in the class. There were only 21 or so people in my senior class of 1985. I have to give props to these teachers specifically: Mrs. Petsa Stathopolous (Art) Nancy Brown (English, Creative Writing) John Burton (English) Edgar Drake (Music) Wayne Craig "The Plaid Man!" (History) James Carlson (Government) Patty Murphy (Computers) Linda Hurff (Computers) Don Alvey (Math) Education is a subject that angers me these days with regard to what is happening to the teaching profession, misuse of education funds (much of it going to administrators and not teachers) and a general declining rate of standards. Oklahoma is especially bad in this regard. The state spends close to 60% of its budget on education. Yet Oklahoma has the LOWEST paid teachers in America --not just the 50 states either. Puerto Rico pays their teachers more! Perhaps part of the problem is that we have over 500 school districts and all kinds of non-teacher people sucking off the funds in ghost employee jobs, redundant jobs and other bullshit. The education system in this state operates almost like a kind of white collar welfare for the good ol boy's network.  |  IP: Logged David Stambaugh Film God Posts: 4021 From: Eugene, Oregon Registered: Jan 2002 posted 04-23-2003 01:24 PM                        Joe B. Pulliam, Math (Stacy Jr. High) Give that guy a medal.  |  IP: Logged Rachel Craven Madam Moderator Posts: 2190 From: Pensacola, FL Registered: Dec 2000 posted 04-23-2003 02:47 PM                     Ms. Hilary Anderson (High School Band) Mr. David Benjamin (Middle School Band) Ms. Grace (10th Grade English) Music always influenced my life greatly and it was only natural for me to cling to my band teachers!  |  IP: Logged Barry Floyd Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1079 From: Lebanon, Tennessee, USA Registered: Mar 2000 posted 04-23-2003 02:58 PM                        I'd have to say Charles Jewell at Donelson Jr. High in 1981, and Mr. McWilliams from DuPont Senior High from 1983-1985. Mr. Jewell was a "shop" teacher, but really sparked my interest in mechanical drawing. Mr. McWilliams was the Graphic Arts and Mechanical drawing teacher at my High School, and really helped my start the developement of my career as an Architectural and Engineering draftsman. The guidance councelor at my High School told me that I should not explore any career in drafting, Architecture or Engineering... because of the math required. I guess she never realized that almost 20 years later, I'd have a degree in Architecture, worked for an Architectural firm for 3 years, been with the Engineering firm I'm at now for 13 years... and I've YET to use any trigonometry, calculus or statistics!! That's what we have computers for. I learned more from Carrie Ea***** (Sophmore Cheerleader) than any of the teachers!  |  IP: Logged Gracia L. Babbidge Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 709 From: Bowdoin, Maine Registered: Aug 2000 posted 04-23-2003 04:29 PM                        hmmm... I really got a lot out of being in classes taught by the following people (all at Mt Ararat High School): Barbara Franklin (choir, music theory) Chris Chapman (visual arts) Genie Wheelwright (foreign language) Jeff Fisher (ap english) Walter Milligan (ap calculus) Dennis Edmondson (history) Diane Pelletier (physics) ...and even though he caused me a great deal of anger* - - I learned a lot in Doug Rollins' academic ancient & medieval history class... *It's too long of a story for me to want to post it!  |  IP: Logged Gerard S. Cohen Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 975 From: Forest Hills, NY, USA Registered: Sep 2001 posted 04-24-2003 10:20 PM                     I haven't consulted the calendar, but Paul's heartfelt introduction to the topic and the replies make me think this may be "Teacher Recognition Week." Dr. Ball at Queens College began every class in Shakespeare's Tragedies with an oral quiz. That required us to be well prepared, and some students excelled at researching each session with such scholarly zeal that they raised the standards to near-graduate level. I'm grateful to Professor Durling who had his students study Milton's Areopagitica and John Stuart Mill's essay On Liberty, during the Joe McCarthy witch-hunting madness, championing the right to express unpopular ideas in an era when it was dangerous to do so. And for causing me to knuckle down and write my first sonnet in his class in English Romantic Literature. Gerard  |  IP: Logged Rick Long Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 759 From: Toronto, Ontario, Canada Registered: Nov 1999 posted 04-25-2003 01:35 AM                     Paul's original post dealt with tribute to our middle and high-school teachers that influnced our lives. To be sure, there were some exceptional (and unfortunately not-so-exceptional) teachers in those years, many of which to which I am quite grateful. I am of the opinion, however, that the basics of what we are today, what we beleive, what we find acceptable, our basic moral core is instilled within us when we are at our most indefensible age, that of early childhood (say up to about age 8-12). Some of the basic priciples instilled in us (honesty, religion, perception of right and wrong, ect.) were stamped into our brains during this period, some of which can never be removed or radically changed. As we grow older and develop a sense of logic and, thus judgement, however, the black and white of our youthful beleifs fade into shades of grey. There is no absolute right or absolute wrong, just divisions on a scale. Our teachers in life were not only found in school, but in the playgrounds, in the streets, and on the job. They took the form of parents, friends, bullies, supervisors, ect. We dont, after all, stop learning once we leave school. In fact, the opposite is true, we have only begun to learn. With your kind permision, therefore, I should like to take this opportunity to pay tribute to one of the men who was a mentor to me in my early days as a technician, my supervisor, Elmer Beatty of General Sound, and Theatre Equipment, Toronto. It was Elmer Beatty who taught me to think as a technician, in a logical pattern. He taught not only in the shop but in the field as well. Well known for his expressions such as an oil-felt pad being "dryer than a cow-turd in August" or a shaft being "sloppier than a prick in a widow", it was he who taught us the pride in our proffession; that if it is worth doing, it is worth doing right. He might not have known every faucet of the particular technology on which we dealt with, he had the communications facility to suggest possible cures to problems we had, as well as asking difficult questions (I suspect in order to decern how much we actually knew about the subject). He never followed the company line but often argued with them on our behalf. One of the hardest days of my life was when I had to tell him that I was leaving to go work for the competition. At his funeral, our buisness agent remarked, very accruately, that "his men would follow him through hell". RIP Elmer, you earned it.  |  IP: Logged Bill Langfield Master Film Handler Posts: 280 From: Prospect, NSW, Australia Registered: Apr 2001 posted 04-25-2003 08:34 AM                        My Art/Photography teacher. She was HOT She always got me to fix the 16mm when the lamp when out or when the film ended up all over the floor. I guess that's why I am where I am. Later on the movies changed to the 'A/V' room. Bill.  |  IP: Logged

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