Comparison of Inspirational
Teachers
C.S. Lewis once wrote, “The task of the modern educator
is not to cut down jungles but to irrigate deserts.” This quote probably has
different meanings to different people, but my interpretation is that a teacher’s
job is to find any means necessary to open the minds of their students and
allow their own creativity to flourish. Linda Hamer and Robert Collier were two
teachers who motivated and inspired their students’ quest for knowledge.
Mr. Collier was an astronomy teacher at Douglas High
School and Ms. Hamer taught at Carson Valley Middle School. Both schools are
located in the small town of Minden, Nevada. Nestled in the sagebrush-laden
valley below the snowcapped Sierras, Minden is only 20 minutes by car from
beautiful Lake Tahoe. CVMS occupies the old high school building, replaced
years earlier by DHS. The school grounds of DHS have an uninterrupted view of
the Sierras and, in the winter as it begins to get dark, you can see lights
from the snow groomers as they prepare the runs at Heavenly Ski Resort for the
next morning rush of powder hounds.
In 1993, seventh-grade classrooms at CVMS were located
mostly in the B building toward the back of the school grounds, next to the
basketball courts. That year Ms. Hamer taught in room 115 of the B building,
across from the science lab. She was known to take her students outside to
energize their bodies and minds by having the kids play sports that were
modified to include English lessons. The ambiance in her classroom was very inviting,
but for 12-year-old kids, being outside was what they drooled over like hungry
dogs when they hear the dog food bag shake.
“Tag, you’re in!” a student would exclaim, which usually meant it was
your turn to give an answer to a question followed by the absolute fulfillment
of kicking a soccer ball as hard as you could toward a large weathered net. These outdoor English lessons worked in a way
that the students’ brains were able to suck in information like a sponge
whether they were kicking soccer balls or defending the flag of their team in
an unrelated but equally entertaining Ms. Hamer-sponsored activity.
Ms. Hamer was very soft-spoken, although her ability to
motivate had her students hanging on every word that she so calmly voiced. She
was a relatively small person physically; maybe 5-foot even, and weighed enough
that a 12-year-old boy could hoist her above his shoulders. Her size was
misleading, however, as the content of her message and her ability to relate
gained the respect of even the most dispassionate and cold-blooded mischief-makers. Both in and out of class, her students
learned about Ms. Hamer’s personal life as she learned about and participated
in theirs. Her husband was a deputy sheriff for the Douglas County Sheriff’s
Office, and she a part-time Juvenile Probation Officer after her long day of
teaching. Those little details about her life were well known by her students
and most would probably be hard-pressed to remember things like that about
other teachers, especially after some years had passed. With that personal
relationship established, many of Ms. Hamer’s students felt the ability to
confide in her their private issues as well as academic issues they had both in
her class and in the other classes they were taking that year. Sometimes, after
the bell had rung signaling the end of the day, she would stay after and help
students with their homework for all their classes, not just her own. Her
ability to relate to her students on that level got many through that year and
left them looking forward to the next.
Sophomore year was the first at Douglas High in 1998 as
Carson Valley Middle School kidnapped the freshmen due to overcrowding at the
high school. The lack of room at the high school for the freshmen stemmed from
Southern Californians sneaking over the Nevada border with their offspring and
building houses to hide out in...permanently. During the summer, many students
signed up for science classes like astronomy based on the assumption the
classes would be easy and they could knock out a science elective without a lot
of work. What many had not imagined at the time was how easy it could be to get
interested in astronomy when given the right teacher.
Mr. Collier was a tall, lanky white man who wore serial-killer
style glasses so thick he could probably see the ice caps on Mars without a
telescope. He had an “I live in my mom’s basement” tone in his voice and many
students in his class immediately looked forward to walking all over this guy
throughout the year. However, his nerdy stature and five-pound bifocals were
merely a clever disguise of what was a brilliant and dedicated teacher. Over
the first few months of the fall semester, Mr. Collier had started converting
his image in his students’ eyes from someone most wouldn’t get into a van with,
to someone they would stay after class alone with just to listen to him speak. Not
many educators truly love the subjects they’ve chosen to teach as much as this
teacher loved his. Astronomers had just begun to discover extra-solar planets at
the time, and Mr. Collier spent a lot of the semester that year speaking about
the possibilities of these new-found discoveries instead of teaching from the
assigned book. His enthusiasm when he spoke about astronomy was infectious.
Students found themselves obsessed with the universe and
many took part in mini-field trips on Friday nights to the new Jack C. Davis
observatory that was located on top of a hill overlooking Western Nevada
College in Carson City. It was due to his suggestion and encouragement that students
became involved in these weekend trips and it also resulted in more extra=credit
possibilities than any one person would need. During the year, the planet Mars
was at its perihelion, which is the closest distance a planet gets to the Sun.
With parental permission, Mr. Collier took students to the observatory at
midnight on a Friday to observe Mars through a 16” lens telescope. As students
lined up to see what could possibly be the most amazing sight they have ever
witnessed, he played the theme song to 2001:
A Space Odyssey and recited facts about Mars as students took turns
examining the planet through the looking glass of the telescope. What really
had the class breathless was seeing the polar ice caps on Mars and being able
to make out astonishing detail in real time. It had a much more profound effect
than watching a documentary on Mars or reading about a new discovery online.
Mr. Collier engaged his students with practical application as well as showing
them his love for the science with every word he spoke. Most of his students
relished going to class, and if they wanted to ditch school or call in sick,
they made sure it wasn’t on Mr. Collier’s astronomy day.
William A. Ward once said, "The mediocre teacher
tells. The good teacher explains. The superior teacher demonstrates. The great
teacher inspires." Education can be much more valuable and palatable with
teachers like Ms. Hamer and Mr. Collier. They both inspired people to pursue
education and they both gave a feeling of fulfillment to those learning their
respective subject matters. Ms. Hamer
seemed to be interested in teaching her students the importance of an overall
education and outside-the-box thinking when learning throughout life. She was
very interested with her student’s personal lives and strived to relate with
them personally. Mr. Collier was just as great a teacher, but he earned his
place in the list of greats because of his love for a single subject. He loved
his chosen subject so much that he passed that love on to his students. He
might not have talked to his students about anything outside of astronomy, but
every conversation he had on the subject was very meaningful to most and put
students on a path for a life-time love of the subject. Ms. Hamer was a great
teacher because of her love of people whereas Mr. Collier was a great teacher
because of his passion for the specific subject he taught.
Works Cited
Lewis, C.S. “The Abolition of Man.” Apilgriminnarnia.com. Oxford
University Press, 1943. Web. 22 May 2012
Ward, William A. “Teacher Appreciation Quotes: Famous
Sayings for Teachers and About Teaching.” huffingtonpost.com. Web. 3 May 2010
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