Write About a Teacher

Oak Park-River Forest High School

Our school years spanned our earliest, and most formative years. Psychologists tell us that our personality was formed in our first five. Probably true, but I think those next 13-17 years of attending school had some bearing, as well. Thirteen if you went to Kindergarten and then through Grade 12. Seventeen if you added four years of undergraduate college. 

The photo today is a partial view of my high school in a Chicago suburb. My class was around 800, while my younger brothers all had closer to 1,000 in their respective classes. Some would think life would be pretty impersonal in such a big school, but it wasn't. All my grade school classmates were there, and I quickly met others and made friends. The Physical Education Department, including two indoor pools, was across the street. The doors to the school were locked all day, so we traveled to PE via an underground tunnel. Lots of stories about that tunnel!

During our school years, we were under the tutelage and care of a good many teachers. We liked some, tolerated others, and couldn't stand a few. They all had a part in creating the person we are today. 

My Kindergarten teacher was a striking, elegant woman named Lucille Horst. She had prematurely grey hair, dressed like a model, and wore bright red liptstick. She rarely rasied her voice, and she made me enjoy school. My three brothers also began their school years with Miss Horst. What a blessing!

My fifth-sixth grade teacher was Mr. Biddinger, the first male teacher in our K-8 school. What excitement  over that news when we arrived on our first day. He had been in the Navy during WWII, finished his education degree within in two years after the war, and we were his first class. He taught us all the information in our textbooks, but he also taught us many other things about life, about the way we treat other people, and much more. We all adored him!

Those two teachers both stand out in my memory with clarity, and I still love and respect them and what they did for me as a student. There were many others throughout my school years. I'm sure each one of you had teachers who still stand out in your memory for good, or for bad. 

For a writing exercise today, write a personal essay about any one of those teachers that did something good or bad for you, what life lesson you learned from them, and more. Remember that essays show a universal truth or something you learned from an experience. You'll need to include more than a mere descrption.