My best teachers
My best, most memorable, most helpful, most simpatico, favorite teachers are these:
Miss Grindell and Mr. Emerson Lall in elementary school. Miss Grindell was a tough-as-nails Grade 3 teacher. She had a fearsome reputation, but she was beloved. I had her at the very end of her teaching career. She looked like an old-fashioned school marm: unmarried, snow white hair, heavy and round. Sort of like a tough granny.
Mr. Lall, my first male teacher, was my Grade 5 teacher. He was tough but fair. We felt treated like adults.
Miss. Yvonne Vermet in Grade 6. Another beloved teacher with a fearsome reputation.
Mr. Donald Chapman in middle school and early high school. Mr. Chapman was my History teacher for four years. Mr. Chapman is hands-down the best teacher I ever had. Passionate about his subject, but often playful like a youngster. He’s the one who introduced me to essay writing, and he made history come alive. Really alive! He introduced me to contextualized current events and the relationship of news with history.
Mr. Paton, Grade 11 History. The single most challenging course I ever took. Mr. Paton taught me how to research, how to write, and how to study hard. I never knew anything about him as a person, though.
Donald Chapman is hands-down the best teacher I ever had.
Mr. Peter Ashton. Grade 13 English Literature. Super smart, soft-spoken, and a kindred spirit. He introduced me to Thomas Hardy and the 1968 Franco Zeffirelli production of “Romeo and Juliet.” He’s a teacher I thought of as a friend, a man I would have like to emulate. He was very simpatico.
In university, Dr. Arlene Ginsberg, freshman and sophomore Medieval History at Wilfrid Laurier University. She supported me when I crashed.
Dr. Catherine Brown and Dr. William McCready at Queen’s University for junior and senior Medieval History.
In graduate school (Divinity College), Dr. Ray Hobbs for Old Testament History, and Dr. Melvin Hilmer for New Testament History. Ray took me to Israel, and Mel taught me about the Gnostics.
History and Social Studies feature in my estimation of my best and favorite teachers - the ones who excelled at explaining historical information and social context.