We all have those teachers in our lives that at the simple mention of her name causes a shiver to go down your spine.
That teacher was normally the one who would grade the toughest, hold you accountable the most and demand from you your best every single moment of the class period.
To this day, if you were to mention Mrs. Ellis’ name, I might sit down right away, pull out a piece of notebook paper and begin writing my multiplication tables beginning with 1×1 all the way through 12×12.
If you were to mention Mrs. Novotny’s name, I might sit down and begin writing my letters in cursive and once again struggle with the ‘z.’
The other teacher, who comes to mind, did so just last night as I was helping Sarah Cameron with her math homework.
For those who know me, you surely laughed out loud when I said I was “helping with math homework.” Let us just say that I was fond of math, but math was not very fond of me.
Mrs. Judy Cameron was an Algebra teacher of mine in two of my high school years.
She was tough. She was direct. She told you exactly what she thought of you and she demanded much of you.
After you would finish your test, she would “invite” you to her podium as she graded the test right then and there, in front of you and in front of your classmates. The comments she would make when she came across a wrong answer were priceless.
Algebra, geometry, trigonometry and other higher math classes never really came easy to me. But, Mrs. Cameron was able to get it out of me. She was able to push and pull to the point where I understood it and made the grades I sought.
This week, the Vicksburg-Warren County Chamber of Commerce will name its top elementary teacher and top high school teachers of the year.
The Chamber will do so from a pool of 21 teachers who were named finalists for the annual awards and who were each featured on the front pages of The Post over the past few weeks.
It has been an honor to highlight those teachers for the jobs they do and the lives they have touched.
We all have those teachers in our lives who made an impact on our lives, and it thrills me teachers today continue to have an impact on children today.
Now, back to watching YouTube videos on fifth-grade math lessons and area model method.
Tim Reeves is the publisher of The Vicksburg Post. He can be reached at tim.reeves@vicksburgpost.com.