Ignorant Historian

Today is Teacher Appreciation Day, and I can’t help but wonder if it’s intentionally scheduled for the beginning of May to get teachers through the home stretch.  I grew up with a teacher, so I know that it’s a lot of hard work (and usually thankless).  Today I’m joining Christa at The Dark Side of the Chalkboard in showing my appreciation for the hard-working teachers out there.

The teacher that I want to highlight today is the primary person responsible for my desire to be a math teacher one day.  Her name is Mrs. Reeves, and she was one of my high school math teachers (I’m thinking it was Algebra III..but that hardly matters).

Math was always a subject I enjoyed, but since it’s something that comes easily to me, I wouldn’t usually try very hard.  There’s a reason why the only F I’ve gotten on a test was in a math class…I tend to take pride in my grasp of the subject, and as we know, pride comes before a fall.

But Mrs. Reeves wouldn’t let me get away with it.  I remember one time getting an extra credit question on an exam marked wrong, even though I had the correct answer.  I wasn’t too happy with that.  I certainly didn’t need the boost to my grade, but that wasn’t the point…I wanted to be right.

When I approached her about the issue, she told me she marked it wrong as I hadn’t used the method we had learned in that chapter to solve the problem.  She told me to solve it this way, and she’d give me back that point. (And yes, I did and she gave me that point.)

By challenging me, she was helping me to not only practice the skills I was learning in her class, but also to improve my problem-solving skills, something that would outlast my academic career.

Mrs. Reeves worked hard to reach all kinds of students.  We had to do in-class labs (I’ve never enjoyed group work or hands-on things, but I know many kids do).  She shared with us creative ways to remember mathematical rules (like a man (Y) can have more than one woman (X), but a woman can have only one man…this is the definition of functions, but a poor rule of society).  She showed us practical applications of the math we’re learning by graphically showing us the distribution of grades.

I’m thankful for Mrs. Reeves and all the other excellent teachers I’ve had over the years.  I hope to be among their ranks some day.

“She had the knowledge that she was small, but lacked the courage to be otherwise.” – A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith

“The time today’s singles have available for spiritual service is the same time the leisure and etnertainment industry demands from them.” – Get Married by Candice Watters, p. 34

“You and I do not have to be lost in the middle of our own stories.” – How People Change by Timothy Lane and Paul Tripp

“Why aren’t you married?”
….”But because I often lack a good, pithy answer to one of life’s mysteries, it feels like a tabloid reporter’s inquiry to unocver waht’s really wrong with me.” – Did I Kiss Marriage Goodbye? by Carolyn McCulley, p. 19

“A recent survey said more people under age 30 believe in flying saucers than believe they will receive a dime of Social Insecurity.” – Total Money Makeover by Dave Ramsey, p. 156

“…we naturally conclude that human beings are inexpressibly complex creatures in whom great good and great evil often cohabit, sometimes in separate and well-insulated rooms and sometimes in an intimacy so deep and twisted and twined that we never get to see the one moral quality without the other.” – Not the Way It’s Supposed to Be: a Breviary of Sin by Cornelius Plantinga, Jr., p. 81

“Well, if not gold, there must be something else that interest you.”
“Learning.”
“Learning what? You already know so much.”
“I have everything to learn!” – Daughter of Fortune by Isabel Allende, p. 232

“The wealthy person who is ruled by his stuff is no more free than the debt-ridden consumer we have picked on thorughout the book.” – Total Money Makeover by Dave Ramsey, p. 220

“I suppose some women really do prefer career to family. But I wasn’t one of them.” – Get Married by Candice Watters, p. 14

“There should not be the sacrifice of oneself for another, because we were all created equally.” – Green by D. Malone, p. ix

“The dangers of premarital sex had been burned into my soul. And indeed, before the contraceptive pill, it was a risky enterprise for girls. But all that had clearly changed.” – The Spiral Staircase by Karen Armstrong, p. 10

“Guilt, I was told, usually sprang from misplaced pride, it might simply be chagrin that you were not as wonderful as you hoped.” – The Spiral Staircase by Karen Armstrong, p. 51

This is by no means a new topic here on the Ignorant Historian. [Time out. Should there be quotes around a blog title? Italics? Seems like it should be treated like a book or a play, and the post titles be treated like smaller works like articles.  If anyone knows of anything about this, I'd love to hear it.  Actually, this goes nicely with the theme of this post!]

I obviously love to learn, which is why I read so much.  Even still, there are times when I enjoy learning more than others.  And this is one of them.

Of the five books I’m reading now (I read across 5 categories: current (since 1950) fiction, classic fiction, biography, spiritual growth, and other nonfiction), all 5 are hard to put down.  I’m enjoying them, and learning, and pondering about many different things, posts to come.  The thought of continuing my formal studies is appealing, until I realize that higher degrees get more specific, not more broad.  There’s not one thing that I want to learn everything about, but there are plenty of things I want to learn a little about.  I want to be well-rounded, not an expert (except maybe in learning).

If I had to choose ONE area to study, I’m not sure what I’d choose.  Nineteenth-century literature, perhaps?  What about you?

Photo by victoriapeckham

Thirteen Old Lessons I’m STILL LEARNING 1. The longer I allow a sin in my life, the more comfortable I will be with it (illustration: the spider in my bathroom). 2. It’s all to easy to take pride in what I can do, but I should rather boast in Christ (this is also what God was teaching me through Power Camp and at the end of last spring’s semester). 3. Emotions are normal and don’t have to dictate how I behave. 4. I need God daily (illustration: straightening my hair). 5. God blesses me again and again, providing for all my needs (as demonstrated through the fire). 6. God gives me enough time to do everything He wants me to do, it just might not be everything I want to do (learned over and over and over again!). 7. It’s okay to cry…for the right reasons. 8. Being a woman is a great thing. 9. Our Hope lies in Christ alone…not in a candidate or an outcome of a political race. 10. Technology is great…but should not be used without evaluation (this article is what led me to write this paper). 11. We can trust in our Savior who knows what we are going through…because He’s been there (illustration: children who have been blindfolded lead the blind better). 12. My political views should be shaped by my worldview. 13. It’s not about me!

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