16 October 2007

Blessed are the Well Timed Teachers


A translinear edition of Dante’s Inferno given to me by my Latin teacher at the end of my senior year in high school now has pride of place on a shelf in my office at work. It reminds me of both the value of hard earned abilities and of teachers who appeared in one’s life story at just the right moment for maximum benefit.

Another such teacher is now my boss. That’s a rare twist on this theme, but I certainly benefit from finding a way to keep the lessons coming long after college.

At the little quilt group at the university where I now work, I recently did a demonstration that was more of a glorified show-n-tell. I gathered up the finished products and the various constituent parts of two classes I took a few years ago in Australia from
Chrissy Sheed and Susan Matthews. I wasn’t teaching other teacher’s techniques (I don’t do that without expressed permission) so much as letting our group have a close look and feel and a chat about ways to extend the possibilities. It’s nice to honor the gift one has received from one’s teachers.

Eventually, I’ll be teaching as part of my job, though only once every couple years. I’m looking forward to making peace with some new pedagogical directions that are now all the rage and will have the enormous luxury of reflection between teaching stints. I’m also a dozen years older, so I’ll bringing different tools to the task this time. Here’s hoping I’ll be well timed for somebody.