Favourite Teachers...

All day on TV they were talking about PSA's for teachers and education and even President Obama weighed in and talked about his favourite teacher. It had me thinking about who was my favourite teacher growing up?
There were several that sprang to mind, Mrs. Leff, who in second grade gave me the acting/theatre bug by casting me as the lead in the little 2nd grade musical production number. Mrs Snapp who was in charge of the Talented and Gifted program and who started me thinking about things in new ways. Ms Conway from middle/high school was was a student teacher and then full time, who re-ignited my desire to learn. Mr Snapp who coached the Mock Trial team and helped to give me the tools to formulate an opinion, question it and the roots behind it and then not back down until I got the answers I needed. Ms Kelley who helped me navigate college applications more than my guidance counselor and believed with as much passion as I did that I would be accepted at Marist.
I think my favourite teacher though, aside from my sister who is a teacher now, had to be Ms Dombrowski. She was my third grade teacher. It was her first year teaching when she came to our little school. She had a name that was as difficult to spell as mine. I can remember standing up in front of the room at the blackboard and spelling out paraphernalia - I don't know why we were at the blackboard or why we were learning that word...but that sticks out in my mind. She's also the teacher that recognized there was more to me than the book learning. She saw that there was something else there - a spark. She was the teacher that put me in the Talented and Gifted program - which in turn helped to open my eyes and think outside the box...that's where it all began. It's where I started to question things and form my own opinions and learn to have a backbone to support those ideas...

So...thanks to all my teachers - you all taught me valuable lessons, ones that I can apparently still remember today!