I had a teacher in the fifth grade in Alaska. His name was Mr. Jennis and it was his first year of teaching. And I actually even mentioned him in an interview years and years ago. It was just something about, you know, how much I had loved being in his class and got a letter back from him, and he didn’t remember me. I was very embarrassed and I said, “Listen
” I wrote him back and it was his very first year teaching. It was Juneau, Alaska. He’s now a principal of a school I think in Anchorage or Fairbanks I believe he said. But he had a great passion for teaching. He was very young. He was probably 23 or 24 years old. You know, we thought he was so grown up, but he was just a kid.
And he read A Wrinkle in Time to us that year. I remember he would read it chapter-by-chapter and we could do quiet work while he read. I chose to knit a scarf that I still have. And I loved the book. It was such a beautiful story and so emotional and so much about a possibility that a child has within themselves to save the world really. And it was such a
It was a great year in school because fifth grade is — you’re sort of starting to become a real student.
He encouraged us to think for ourselves. He asked us what we wanted to, you know, what problems we wanted to solve in the world. What did we want to know about? How we would go about doing it. He allowed us to argue. I can remember arguing with him that the Burlington-Bristol Bridge was directly across from Philadelphia because that was how I remembered it because my grandparents lived in New Jersey and I thought that bridge went straight to Philadelphia and I was adamant about it. And he kept arguing that no, in fact, it didn’t go there.
But I still remember the argument and I mean he took me very seriously. Maybe because he was very close to my age. But anyway, he was really a remarkable teacher and he was probably my first male teacher as well so I’m sure that was pretty influential. But I had so
I mean, there were so many. I can remember Mrs. Neitenstein in the second grade and Mrs. Bevins in the third grade and Mr. Bruney in the sixth grade, the first person who asked us to write a term paper. You know, I’m sure the teachers
I hope the teachers know how influential they are and how much we remember them years later, you know.
And I see it now with my children’s teachers how meaningful they are to them and how much they have to do with their personal and intellectual growth. But it really is kind of amazing what a difference it makes.