Teacher Week: High School Teachers

High School. The years where you're supposed to continue a higher level of thinking. You have to navigate the halls, the hate, and the fun and still come up strong.

My high school years were great. My band teacher taught me discipline, organization, and the ability to perform without an over abundance of nerves. He got us all motivated and dedicated to one cause. Nearly all of us bought in. And by all, I mean over 180 kids at one time.

I learned how to write poetry, to create a picture with words and give it feeling. I learned the art of a story arc, how characters had to be believable and have the right motivations. I learned that some people are going to like what you write and some people aren't.

I learned to type. The right way.

I learned how to look deeply into story. How Shakespeare wasn't as complicated as some made it out to be. And how Hawthorne was. I learned how to write essays that looked deep into the souls of characters and how to find a different meaning than was there.

I learned about World War I and II and how the seeds were sewn for those conflicts many years earlier. How one event builds on another and another.

And I learned Hamlet. I got to be Hamlet when we read aloud in class. And how my teacher pulled me aside one day and said, "Not many people get to play Hamlet, but you'll always be able to say you did."