"If you want to make God laugh, tell him your plans."
Whenever I am asked if I always knew I wanted to be a teacher, I can't help but to laugh. Sometimes we have plans, and we don't realize that God has even bigger plans for us that we didn't even think about. There are four particular people in my life who essentially are the reasons I became a teacher. I am forever grateful to God for planting them in my life and "changing" my plans.
Four reasons I became a teacher: 1) Professor Lee Johnson, 2)William Wordsworth- the 19th Century Romantic Poet, 3)Robin Bundy, and 4)a girl who, for her own privacy, I will call D. for now. At the time I met her she was only 11 years old. I hope life is treating you well, D. You changed my life...
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Professor Lee Johnson
"Those who can't DO, TEACH", "Teachers always look so tired", "Teachers don't make enough money",... These and many other negative comments about teaching were often swarming around me as I grew up. On top of that, I was very shy, and found it nerve racking to speak in front of an audience. Teaching, therefore, was definitely not on the top of my list of career choices. In fact, I probably steered clear of it without even realizing it.
What was I planning to be then? I don't know. But I do know what my family and perhaps the voices of the culture and society around me were pushing: something in the medical field. So I "listened", and in my first few years of university, I was studying sciences. I worked hard in my classes, and I had moments where a concept in physics or an experiment in chemistry peaked my interest. But nothing really grabbed me as far as a specialization I was particularly excited to pursue. You'd think that that, combined with the fact that I would always feel nauseous before and during organic chemistry lab, would have been a sign that maybe sciences was not the field that was meant for me. But I still persisted, trying to convince myself that it was where I wanted to be. The reality, as I see it now, is that it was where I think others wanted me to be. And I went with their idea because I hadn't yet formulated my own.
Luckily, within my science degree, I had room to take some elective courses that I really enjoyed: I chose some art and English classes. Funny how I never quite made it on time to my physics classes in the morning; yet, I did everything possible to make sure I never missed my English Literature classes.
One English class in particular- Romantic Poetry- was my favorite. It was three hours long, every Monday evening, I believe. Professor Lee Johnson was the instructor. I will never forget him. He used to remind me of Santa Claus... jolly and friendly with a light colored beard. Once in awhile, I'd catch him smoking a pipe before he entered the Buchanan Building at UBC, where our class took place. I remember he was always smiling, a friendly genuine smile, not overdone. It seemed as if he was just happy being himself. No pretentiousness.
I was still shy and quiet in his class. I hardly said a word. But I can tell you without a doubt that I listened to, and tried to jot down, EVERY word that Professor Johnson shared with us. (Actually, I still have those notes, and don't intend to throw them out any time soon, if ever). I was so captivated by the way he connected old Romantic Poets' lives to ours, how he showed us that their words could still, hundreds of years after they wrote them, give us insight, knowledge, and lessons into our world today, and how our experiences and theirs weren't always so different.
I felt like those writers understood me, and I understood them, and it wasn't until much later that I realized that it wasn't just about the poets or the words we were studying. I could have read those words on my own and not fully grasped what was being said or the complexity of the messages. The key was that Professor Johnson understood it, and he understood us. He understood how to teach TO students, to people. And he knew how to present the complex information in a clear and memorable manner. I still remember a lot of the information we covered because he taught it in a way that we had no choice but to relate to and soak up.
And the more that professor Johnson had us engrossed in what he was sharing, the more I started learning about myself, and "voicing" my opinion, maybe not out loud at first, but on paper. And through writing about these various poets and their works, I began discovering not just what mattered to me, but that I had opinions that mattered.
Professor Johnson's comments such as "Very well put", or "this is an interesting insight" on my essays made me see that I had something to say, something to choose, separate from the choices that, up until then, I was letting others make for me.
The more months I spent in Professor Johnson's classes, the more I picked up about him. One thing that surprised me a great deal was finding out that Professor Johnson was actually a physics major when he was in university. It made sense though, because he wasn't just teaching us about metaphors and meter in the works of the romantic writers. He also taught us about the mathematical design woven into Wordsworth's works, and Keats' background in medicine and pharmacy.
Ironically, it was actually professor Johnson who gave me an appreciation for the sciences more than any of the science classes I had taken up to that point. Rather than dimissing his background in physics, Professor Johnson made science make sense to me, by showing us its connection to literature, but also to our everyday, real world. Because of him, I could see the interconnectedness of the two disciplines-science and art- and the key wasn't about choosing one or the other. They were both necessary. It wasn't until much later that I realized that what this professor opened up for me was not just a class on literature, but a love of learning in general- learning about myself and the world around me, and a lifelong spark in the back of my mind reminding me of the importance of balance in our lives.
But because this interest began through English Literature, and because the way the university system was set up, I had to choose one faculty to continue my studies in- either science or arts. At least this time, it was my choice. What did I choose? Within a couple of years of taking Professor Johnson's classes, I transferred out of the faculty of science and became an English Literature and Art History major. But I think I've always kept that new found interest in science close to me all the while. I was so thrilled to have that background and use it later in my teaching career as a homeroom teacher of not just arts, but also sciences. The dots started to connect and I was eventually able to bring the "two worlds" together in my own classroom.
I have a feeling that whatever Professor Johnson was teaching, be it English, physics or even... something so far from me such as... mechanics, I would have easily wanted to pursue that field. He knew how to share his knowledge and passion with others to the point where his students could not help but to run with whatever it was he shared.
I feel so lucky to have been a part of that kind of learning, and it wasn't until later that I realized the value in being able to witness such a great model of teaching.
