Myth 5 revisited

April 12, 2008
Revisiting Myth 5 - Good Teachers begin with the curriculum they are given and find clever ways to enhance it . I have been thinking about this one all week, and I think I have to disagree with it. I have thought back over my own teachers and the ones that really stood out for me. I made a top ten list of my favorite teachers. It is funny to me that 4 of them I had when I was in ninth grade. At the time I didn’t think that year was anything spectacular, but looking back it turned out to be a real turning point for me. I was at Horace Mann Junior High. At the time I had no idea who Horace Mann was, and when I asked, didn’t really understand what he did to deserve to have a school named after him. Maybe his name on the building did something to inspire the teachers there. Of course the teachers I had in seventh and eighth grade didn’t really do anything special that has stuck in my head.

The four teachers I had in ninth grade that have stuck in my head were Mrs. Ferrarini- Geometry, Mrs. Sutton – English, Mrs. Ryan – Civics, and Mr. Crumb – Science. I feel like each of these teachers took what was outlined for them, then built upon it, went above and beyond what would be standard. Because of them, I think they really helped forge who I am today.
Mrs. Ferrarini was a crazy, brave woman, who thought Geometry was fun, and tried to make it fun for everyone else. I can still hear her little song for A squared plus B squared equals C squared. And the copy dot flip dance when dividing fractions. She was fighting cancer that year, and going through chemo therapy, and losing all her hair. As a fourteen year old girl, the thought of losing my hair was unimaginable. I would have stayed home and never left my room. Mrs. Ferrarini showed up every day, with loud colored head scarves covering her patchy scalp, and never acted like it was any big deal, or that there were any worries in her life at all. Again, as an adult looking back, I have no idea how she did it. I know now all the pain, fear, sickness and uncertainty that goes along with cancer and chemo, but at the time I was blissfully unaware of her struggles. Even though I was terrible at proofs – I couldn’t prove my way out of a paper bag with a pair of scissors—I still remember many of the formulas she taught. Her class was never boring, and she taught us many “tricks” for remembering things. I had another teacher who said that tricks and songs were not the “real” way to learn. All I know is that 30 years later I can still figure out the area of a square.

Mrs. Sutton was my English teacher. Her encouragement of my writing gave me a sense of pride and a love of literature. I had always loved reading, but she introduced us to many “classics”, like Shakespeare, Thoreau, Hardy and others. She also told us that just because a book wasn’t a “classic” didn’t mean you couldn’t enjoy it. While I can’t think of any specific things that she did that went above and beyond, her quiet confidence in me is still with me many years later.


Mrs. Ryan taught Civics. Prior to ninth grade I was a quiet, insecure girl, who tried to blend into the walls and stay out of people’s way. In fourth quarter of ninth grade the three Civics classes came together in what they called “Mock Congress”. We chose parties, elected majority and minority leaders, and a Speaker of the House. It was one of the scariest things I ever did, but I ran for Speaker of the House. I thought there was no chance I would win, since I was running against a member of the popular click. Mrs. Ryan told me it didn’t matter, to base my speech on my experience, and stay away from the popularity issues. I did, and was so surprised when I won. We spent the quarter writing pretend bills, debating them in committees, introducing them on the House floor, and voting them into law, or defeating them if they didn’t get enough votes. While many would say( and did) that spending a whole quarter pretending to be the House of Representatives was a waste of time that could be spent studying real stuff, it was a fun learning experience for all of us. The actual doing of what Congress does really made it clear, and made it more real for all of us. Mrs. Ryan and her cohorts could have spent the quarter lecturing and testing us about what the House and Senate did, sticking with the district basic curriculum, but it wouldn’t have been as fun, wouldn’t have been as meaningful, and wouldn’t have stuck with us so long. I have run for several offices now, Chair of the Co-op Preschool where my children went, Vice President of the PTO, Manager when I was working, participated in the two Snohomish School District Bond elections, and other smaller political and social offices. I don’t think I ever would have had the courage to do any of that, or the belief that what I did could make a difference, without having participated in our “Mock Congress”.


Mr. Crumb was the head of the science department. His great love was Earth Science. He did all the cool science stuff that makes you go wow, and instilled his students, or at least me, with a love of science. Before that science was ok, but nothing I really got excited about. I don’t remember doing science in elementary school at all. For Spring break that year he took a group of students to the Grand Canyon. I was one of the lucky 30 to go. I spent many months attending car washes, selling candy and other stuff to everyone I could find to make enough money to go. I had never gone camping before, and the idea of hiking and camping in the Grand Canyon –without parents- was exciting. We had trip homework. We had to walk three miles every day, we had to practice hiking with a pack, we had to make sure our pack didn’t weigh too much. We had to buy good hiking boots; I still remember spending $103 for my boots. My mother was flabbergasted at how much they were. I earned the money on my own to buy them, and then wore them every day for months to break them in. I lovingly coated them over and over with waterproofing spray. I had these boots for years – they went hiking across England with me, hiking in Mexico, all over Colorado, New Mexico, Washington and Montana. I finally got rid of them a few years ago, when my feet grew out of them after my third kid. They still looked pretty good. But I digress again. We took a bus from Colorado to Arizona. We then spent 6 days hiking all the way to the bottom of the Grand Canyon with heavy packs on our backs. We talked about how the canyon was formed, we looked at the layers which indicated the passing of time as the sand and soil were laid down and turned into sedimentary rocks. We found a few fossils, had a run in with a rattle snake, and cooked marshmallows over the campfire while we tended our blisters. My major in college was Geology, and I am a total science geek through and through. I don’t think I would have had the same appreciation for rocks, science or the great outdoors if I had just learned earth science straight out of the textbook with nothing more.

So while Ayers says the good teachers don’t have to build upon the curriculum they are given, I think that good teachers do go above and beyond what the basics are. Or at least find a unique hands on way to help their students learn and remember what they are teaching. Perhaps my teachers didn’t vary from the curriculum them were given, perhaps it was all in the presentation, or perhaps I was just at a good age to soak in the way these teachers were teaching that year, but for me, they made a difference.