here and there: favorite teacher

I didn't have a school photo to put here, but I pulled this one out of an album I had that is of me in high school which is when I am writing about.  I look so young!!

My favorite teacher's name was Mrs. Clark.  She was my high school Grammar teacher.  She created huge dioramas in her classroom.  She had long bushy blond hair and long flowing skirts.  She was a free-thinker.  She made sure we thought outside of the box.  She wrote brilliant commentary along my creative writing assignments each week and I remember at the very beginning of Grammar class she told us "first you learn all the rules, then you can break them".  I have always remembered that through this very day.  Mrs. Clark is the reason I feel it is okay to forgo capital letters in my blog and write in fragmented sentences.  For this post I will use capital letters in the correct places and try my best at proper grammar in honor of Mrs. Clark.  

My nemesis in writing in high school was commas, too many of them.  I put them everywhere.  She was always crossing out commas.  When I write now I still find too many commas.  I'll read a blog post over and realize, oh there shouldn't be commas there but I leave it.  I like to write the way it sounds coming out of my head.

Mrs. Clark looked like SARK if you have ever seen her.  I remember years, many years, after my school days I came across a book by SARK and I thought "OH my gosh, it's Mrs. Clark".  She looked remarkably similar, but no, after further research I found out not Mrs. Clark.  But SARK encompasses the same spirit that she brought to our classes.  Be creative.  Don't be afraid.

I loved literature and writing classes.  I loved climbing into books and discovering what they held and I loved trying my hand at writing, especially with someone so supportive to encourage you.

In your Senior Year (last year) of high school  there are only so many credits or courses you are required to have to graduate, so you have a lot of freedom to either a/ take goof off classes or b/take the classes you like.  Goodbye physical education!  Hello English!  I had all my required English credits,but in that senior year of school I took British Literature, World Literature and Grammar.

When I suggested that we write about our favorite teachers this week I knew exactly who I wanted to write about.  I have been lucky to have some really good ones, but this is the one that really stood out to me as leading me where I wanted to go.