Who Inspired You To Teach?

Once upon a time there was a little girl named Raisa who took a trip out of the small town she called home to the big city of Edmonton, Alberta. There she visited an enormous mall with hundreds of stores, an indoor water park, skating rink, mini golf course, amusement park, and her personal favourite, a marine life display where a beautiful dolphin swam, dove deep into the depths of the tank and jumped high out of the water. Never had she seen anything like it. From that moment on she was determined that someday she would be the trainer in the tank with the dolphin swimming about and teaching it cool tricks.....

However that dream was short lived and here I am today, four years into my combined Bachelor of Arts/ Bachelor of Education Degree. It was not a tough decision for me. Growing up it became very evident that as cool as it would be to swim with dolphins, I greatly enjoyed working with children of all ages as well. I had many great opportunities to work with kids as a life guard, a skating instructor, a basketball coach, and as a volunteer with big brothers big sisters. On top of all that I was stuck in the middle, fourth in the line of eight children, so there were always kids left, right and centre. Through my experiences it became obvious that someday, I would teach.

Aside from personal experience there were a few key characters in my decision to teach. For starters there was my Dad. He is not an educator by trade, he is actually in the field of social work. Seeing my Dad help the hundreds of children that he did inspired me to someday find a way to help hundreds of children as well. Then there was my Mom of course. Growing up I hated hearing "oh Raisa you are so much like your mother," but as I got older I realised that it wasn't so bad. My Mom is an extremely kind and compassionate person, always willing to help, making the most out of any opportunity and not limited by what people tell her. If she thinks she can, she probably will. The woman is the most determined person I know. These qualities were instilled in me as well and will greatly help me to teach someday.

In terms of my school experience and particular teachers that inspired me there is really only one that stands out. Mr. Frankl my Grade 10, 11, 12 shop instructor. Don't get me wrong I had a pretty great school experience, had some very fun teachers, made a lot of friends, was always at the top of my class. But when it came to inspiring me to teach most of the time I thought...

if I ever become a teacher I will do things differently than my teachers have; I will try to make things more interesting so school is not such a drag; I will try to challenge my students and cater to their learning; I will make sure kids go to school for the learning and not just to play sports; make them want to come to school everyday not think well why go it's totally unnecessary since I know everything there is to know already or I can teach myself this stuff at home.

But Mr. Frankl WAS different. He was fun, and energetic, with a great sense of humour. He was kind and compassionate, knowledgeable and totally flexible. He was there to help me learn whatever it was that I wanted to learn. He did not hold any stereotypes against me because I was one of three girls in the Industrial Arts class and in fact encouraged me to try as many things as I wanted, offering assistance when needed but only enough to help me learn. Never would he just do it for me.

That 45 minutes two or three times a week were some of my greatest memories in high school and I learnt things that were completely practical and that I will be able to use everyday for the rest of my life. I learnt how to jack up my car and change a tire, check the fluids and change the oil during an automotive unit. I learnt how to build speaker boxes and cut out a variety of shapes and puzzles, carve designs, even build and shingle a shed in a carpentry unit. I also took a unit on electrical work building a miniature wall and wiring electricity to lights from switches and from switches to outlets, both at the same time or perhaps a switch to control each. He even took us out to a job site and allowed us to apply some of our skills, building cabinets and installing them in a kitchen and bathroom.

His teaching went beyond anything required in the curriculum, went beyond the classroom, went beyond my school experience. I may not remember which wire goes where and how to work every saw, sander, router, tool in the box. But I did learn some very valuable life lessons that I will cherish close to my heart for the rest of my days. I can only hope to be half the teacher, the mentor, the friend, that Mr. Frankl was for me.

Thank you Frankl for your inspiration. You've truly made a difference in my life :)