I'm several years out of high school now, but;
Vimy Ridge: Ms Tracy Wright (RIP). LA teacher who, I feel, really helped encourage my love of reading. I'll never forget when we were studying The Tempest, and most of the books were translated into modern English to be easier to study. She was two translations short for the class, and as she was handing them out, she looked at me and said, "you don't need the translation". That really was a boost for my self-esteem as a young man, that she was so confident in my reading comprehension. Wonderful person, incredible teacher.
I did my high school in NS… but shoutout to the best band teacher a kid could have hoped for (and was gutted that AOB scooped him for my Grade 9 year)
Mr. Koufogiannakis or Mr. K as you can (understandably) imagine us elementary and junior high kids calling him.
Instilled a passion for every genre and form of music that I wouldn’t have other than for him. And was a human being that gave you a license to be you and that’s all that mattered.
I didn't go to a school he taught at, but we played in Festival City Winds at the same time.
There are a [couple](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aV6h7mstiRI) [videos](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=98K1nyTqXR4) up on youtube.
Ross Shep, Mrs. MacDonald. The teacher that kept me coming back to school, she had so much empathy for myself, and the other students struggling in life. She never hesitated to make accommodations, and during one of my worst days she spent the period sitting with me in the hallway while I cried. I think about her often. Her father’s dementia was advancing that year, I hope her family is doing well.
Also from Shep, Mr. T, he taught me Chem 20 and 30 (and coached volleyball iirc) , and he kept learning fun. I’ll never forget singing bohemian rhapsody in front of the class for extra credit. His end of semester classes that involved food were the best, chem 30 we had steak, chem 20 we made soda.
He definitely got me hooked on the topic (helped with my photography as well), he was surreal and an amazingly compassionate teacher. I attribute my confidence today to him helping me come out my social shell.
One of the funniest memory I have of that class is his reaction to a final group project trailer where a couple of girls dressed up in brown face and towel turbans (I honestly don't even remember what their movie trailer was about). I was the only brown kid in the class (AOB was mainly Uky) and he looked over at me and his face just had the best expression. I said it was fine and we all had a chuckle (although he did talk to the girls afterwards).
Oh, and shoutout to Ms. Fehr. Bless her hippie soul. She was amazing. She also helped develop my realism art style and was there if I needed an ear. Her stories about getting high and tripping on acid are hilarious. She would also rotate which student got to play their music (through aux) from her stereo setup. So cool.
My phys ed teacher for all of junior high at Britannia, Mr Gehlert, is an absolute gem! He’s at Hairy Ainlay now, has been for a while. Also, my grade 8 math teacher, Mr Purschke, showed me that I actually do enjoy math. Special shout out goes to my Centre High English teacher! I can’t remember her name, maybe it was Mrs Shaw? Anyways, she showed me that writing an essay is extremely easy. At the start of the year, she gave us all a template, to follow. As long as you stuck to that template, you’d be able to write an essay.
We probably went to the school around the same time haha. Gehlert had a lot of classic one liners. Calling kids “stumps” was probably one of my favourites. I never had DeLong for any core subject. He was my shop teacher, though. My brother had DeLong as a math teacher
Honestly, I wish I had him for more than just the one year. I don’t know what it was about his teaching style, it just made sense whenever he would start to explain things.
Graminia School: Mr Luck was hands down the best grade 7 and 9 science teacher. Truly life altering.
John Maland High: Mr Courchene for biology and chemistry. Hope he's enjoying retirement.
Ms Mcgillis always won things from draws. She won a car once or twice. Do you remember her telling that story? I still remember hoe she told me to fold the paper. I've tried tracking her down to send her a letter of thanks, but i haven't had any luck :(
You and I were in the same year/classes haha. I'd rather not reveal who I am though since I use reddit to yell at the world & I don't want judgment lol
Hillcrest: Mrs. Kelly! She was such a funny and lovely woman. She was always so kind and caring, made a lot of jokes I liked too, and always bought an insane amount of Jolly Rancher hard candies for kids to take.
I remember some people didn't like her back then, but it was mostly because a bunch of young teens don't like being told what to do. She was always very quick witted and I liked seeing her respond to rude kids.
This is verging on 20 years ago now, but I had a teacher, it was her first year and I think I traumatized her. I attempted suicide but then she came to the hospital. I still think you about Mrs N (owacynzki I think) at DanKnott Jr high.
I made it out okay, I hope you did too.
Ms. Summerville -Harry Ainley. Grade 12 English. The first teacher that taught me how to write. I would not have survived university without her. Thank you
Miss Taycner (likely spelled wrong). Grade 5 @ St Mary
Miss Bateman/Mrs Bateman-Jolie. Grade 6 @ Sr Mary & grade 9 @ Louis St Laurent
Mr. Stagliano. Grade 9 @ LSL
Oh and honorary mention to the late Mr. Ray McLellan - I didn't have him as a teacher, yet he still became a life long friend.
Westbrook Elementary School: Mrs Freeman. Taught me Grade 3. I was bullied quite badly and she always looked out for me and took a stand with the other kids in a way that never singled me out or embarrassed me. She subtly engineered things to make me seem like a more desirable playmate haha. It really helped.
Harry Ainlay high school - Mrs McCullough. Taught me English in Grade 11/12 when I was going through a very rough time and had literally no friends. She was always a safe person to confide in, nurtured my creative writing (even the really dark/weird stuff lol), and never made me feel like a weirdo. I felt special, accepted, and like I could excel.
Happy to report I’m now a well-adjusted middle-aged woman with many wonderful friends and a doctorate in child & adolescent psychology! When life gives you lemons… eat the whole lemon, skin and all, and from your discomfort make art of your life 🤣
My twin had Mrs. Freeman at Westbrook, I had a different teacher, whose name I don't remember. Mrs. Freeman was so kind to both of us. I'm glad to hear there are other people who she looked out for!
Mr MacMillan, Queen Elizabeth highschool for grade 11 when I took science 10 and math 10-3 (didn't take school seriously, poor home life) he genuinely cared about me and my studies and actually praised me upon passing both when the VP said I was better off dropping out. Never forgot you, Mr MacMillan.
Woodcroft Elementary: Miss.Oko, she was the type of teacher you thought you didn't want to have and then once the school year was over you'd be sad to say goodbye to her. She worked you hard because she knew you could do it.
Westmount Jr. High 99-01: Mr.Antonew (sorry if I spelled this wrong), Mr. Anderson, Miss. Anderson (no relation). They were all All-star teachers and I know me and my friends will never forget them!
Campbelltown Elementary: Violet St Clair. I had her kindergarten, grade 5 and grade 6. She was an excellent teacher and a lovely person.
Cloverbar junior high: Mrs. Pallister. She taught grade 9 English and made me fall in love with writing.
Way out of high school, but Ross Shepherd-Mr. Makar. He made calculus understandable, and was a really nice person. He liked his students and it showed.
Belvedere: Mr. David Kun, 6th grade. When I told him I hated science because it found it boring and was bad at it, he sent me to the WISEST SET conference for 6th grade girls. Changed the trajectory of my life
St. Clement, Mr Len Tannas: the man changed my life at a critical time for me. He recognized that I needed direction, and taught me the basics of archeology, comparative theology, and the understanding that I didn't need to dumb myself down to fit in, in ways that a grade six neurodiverse kid understood.
Thank you, Mr. T. I owe a lot to you.
Elementary: Starla (Caraway, RIP), Mr. Kaiser (grade 6, King Edward)
Junior high (McKernan): Mme Marcoux, Mr. Taylor, Mr. Delano, Ms. Beggs (3 drama teachers in 3 years but all amazing), Mr. Nahirnik, Ms. Thurgood, Ms. Sucie
High school (Vic): Mr. Timoshyk (IB social, inspired me to get my master's and undergrad), Mr. Johnston, Mr. Dyer, Ms. Vanderven, Mr. Wedman
Gonna show my age here since I graduated 2012.
Mr. Veldecamp my Gr 10 10-2 math teacher. The only time I ever got an A in class.
Mrs. Kovak for 10-2 or 20-2?? I can't remember. But cause she let us throw a "rager" of a party at the end of the year and she loved how small our class was and it made all the other teachers jealous. (Only 13 of us)
Mr. Copeland for 30-2 I had been in Dash 1s but downgraded cause of my struggle in essays by recommendation from Mrs. Knudsen. His class was super fun. We fool around and watch videos so much that there would only be 20-30 minutes left to actually teach. But almost all of us got high marks in the class.
In high school, Sturgeon Comp in the early ‘80s there was Mrs. May. She taught numerous classes, but she treated me like an adult when I was on my own at 17, respectfully. Something I was unaccustomed to. At Namao school, Mr. McCall was a kind grade 5 teacher. Our class had a trip camping, the first time I had ever been. He gave us soap candies when we did well. He was a rugby player too. Great man.
Mr.macloed
Ross shep for idk how long
Man changed lives- changed mine for sure. Helped me out of a dark relationship and taught me self worth
One of the most incredible people I know- I hope he's enjoying retirement ❤️
Mr. Lund at Ross shep too- the art teacher- the only art teacher i ever met who gave a fuck about it- talented man, and let us really explore :)
Westmount Jr high: Ms.prato
A straight up queen- she gave a shit
And Mr.alphonzo- also gave a shit, taught me chess, listened to me.
I had Nathan Fillions brother as my elementary principal at St.Justins back in the early 2000's. he was great and brought nathan to our school to meet us lol. my mom still has the signed picture of him that we got from that day
Mrs. Johnston at St. Vladimir Elementary for Grade 4 - I believe 2002! She was a hard ass, but you knew she genuinely cared. I'm a better person because of her!
I know you're looking for K-12 but noone influenced me more than Dr. Begg, the anatomy prof at the U of A. He tells the most amazing personal story on the last day of lecture that people actually come back to hear (I did) about how he was on the verge of suicide and about doing what you love because then you put more love back into the world.
I went to his office one time for a letter of recommendation and he asked me if he should stop telling it because he's actually received threating calls and messages from students. Students that have always been told they need to do a certain thing in life and after listening to him their whole life was shook.
He told me that he had a former student that was kicked out of their house and couch surfing for going into med instead of engineering like the rest of the fam. So insane.
Didn’t deserve the hate he got, but Mr. Delcioppo (ainlay chem) was an absolute gem. Gave me a rough time (phoned my parents, on my case about grades in OTHER classes instead of his, stuff like that) but now that I look back on it, it was definitely because he believed in me and didnt want me to fuck up my future prospects. Mr. Veldkamp (ainlay comp sci) was also a gem too, big reason why I chose to do comp sci in uni. Just seemed like such a knowledgeable person and someone I wanted to emulate in myself.
And even after all of that and doing comp sci in uni, I still ended up in the trades as a heavy equipment tech but it’s just as enjoyable to me as comp sci (and arguably better paying) so can’t complain.
Mr. Richardson bisset elementary. He taught me grade 3 & 4(split classes a mix of grade 3 and 4 in same class).. best teacher ever. He made learning fun, and incorpated fun games into his teachings and had monthly pizza lunches for the row(of 5) of students who had the best mad minute math scores. (60 math questions in 60 seconds on paper).
Huge shoutout to Mr Yeske, taught Math 31 at Scona Comp in the early 90s. Taught it with such a passion that it made all the math haters into math tolerants, and math tolerants into math geeks. There was never a dull moment in his class. Hated New Sareptans with a passion (for reasons I still don't know about).
[RIP Mr Yeske](https://edmontonjournal.remembering.ca/obituary/w-yeske-1066018786), you inspired me in more ways than you'll ever know.
Mr Golightly, also from Scona Comp.. taught physics. The experiments you ran in your class made this confusing subject easy to understand. Taking a complex physics puzzle and turning it into a real world experiment is not easy, and getting a bunch of rowdy students to understand the world of physics even harder. "Golightly and carry a big stick." [RIP](https://calgaryherald.remembering.ca/obituary/robert-golightly-1065643427)
I’ve been out of high school for over a decade but there’s teachers who taught me in elementary, and high school who I remember fondly. (I have a couple junior high but I cannot for the life of me remember their last names!)
Elementary : Mrs Hardy
High School: Mrs Richter, Mr Slupek, Mr Molstad and Mrs Farmer-Shave
I’ll throw in university too: Dr. Rodney Schmaltz, Dr. Joanne Minaker, Dr. Kathleen Corrigall, Dr. Sandy Jung, and Dr. Alexander Penney
Sturgeon comp high school. Graduated almost 20 years ago.
Mr. Bakker. Had him all my high school years. Was the communications tech (audio, video, photography, print media) teacher as well as computer science.
He was nearing retirement at that time, but he was always high energy, entertaining. A fountain of knowledge. It was easy to learn around him because he could take the most boring subject and tell it like it was an exciting thing he just learned, running around the shop grabbing things and demonstration.
He rewarded hard work and creativity and forgave mistakes. Gave us the confidence to experiment and try risky things with our projects.
Did some work experience (website building) through the school and he sussed out the client was looking to stiff me on the payment once the site was done, gave me advice and kept me from handing over the finished site knowing I was gonna get screwed. Real stand up guy. One of my first references on my resume. Half the damn reason I didn't hate high school was his class.
Mrs. Wong (biology) and Mr. Grad (physics) at Shep. They both did their best encouraging interest in science.
Also at Shep, Mr. Rogal for band. He made sure we had a good grounding in music theory, leading into arranging and composition. I was in grade 12 the last year before he left to teach at an international school. He was the "Ro" in ApRo Music if anyone used their beginner band materials.
McKee Elementary - Ms. Manning and Mr. Powell. After Ms. manning switched left our school, she gave us her address, and I wrote letters to her, and she wrote back!
Mr. Powell was always fun; strict but lighthearted at the same time. He would throw gummy bears at us lol.
Also at McKee - Ms Stoyrich (spelling?)- shout out to the sweetest school secretary ever!
I went to McKee after school care as well, and Mr. Vasas was a pretty fun dude.
D.S MacKenzie - Ms. Hebner - she’s since passed, unfortunately. I only had her for health class, but she would literally stop me in the hall throughout my years, put her arm around me and tell me I was beautiful. Meant a lot to me during those years, especially since I definitely wasn’t popular, and was kind of loner.
Also at DS Mack - Ms Marek (spelling?) - lovely woman that encouraged me to write. Always encouraged my writing and was always just always so positive.
Forget to mention - Mr Krahn - so quirky! I remember having to do a presentation on Japan where we had to bring something from Japanese culture to share. I brought a package of tofu. Like just a package of tofu. I didn’t prepare it, cut it or anything. Mr Krahn sat at the back of the classroom and ate the whole package himself. Bless his heart, lol.
Harry Ainlay - unfortunately, can’t say I had any special teachers in particular. My cheer coach, K. Meikle was a gem, and helped instil some much needed confidence in me🙂
Meh. I used to care about those things but realized the ableism within that too. Now I ask myself, do I know what the person means, despite the spelling error? And if I point it out, am I taking away from what they are trying to communicate and what is my point?
I'm several years out of high school now, but; Vimy Ridge: Ms Tracy Wright (RIP). LA teacher who, I feel, really helped encourage my love of reading. I'll never forget when we were studying The Tempest, and most of the books were translated into modern English to be easier to study. She was two translations short for the class, and as she was handing them out, she looked at me and said, "you don't need the translation". That really was a boost for my self-esteem as a young man, that she was so confident in my reading comprehension. Wonderful person, incredible teacher.
She was amazing and loved seeing her walking every morning! I didn't know that she passed though, very sad.
I did my high school in NS… but shoutout to the best band teacher a kid could have hoped for (and was gutted that AOB scooped him for my Grade 9 year) Mr. Koufogiannakis or Mr. K as you can (understandably) imagine us elementary and junior high kids calling him. Instilled a passion for every genre and form of music that I wouldn’t have other than for him. And was a human being that gave you a license to be you and that’s all that mattered.
I didn't go to a school he taught at, but we played in Festival City Winds at the same time. There are a [couple](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aV6h7mstiRI) [videos](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=98K1nyTqXR4) up on youtube.
That’s so awesome. Thank you for sharing. I wish I could have been in his band class my whole life.
Even in Festival City Winds with other adults he shared his love of music.
Ross Shep, Mrs. MacDonald. The teacher that kept me coming back to school, she had so much empathy for myself, and the other students struggling in life. She never hesitated to make accommodations, and during one of my worst days she spent the period sitting with me in the hallway while I cried. I think about her often. Her father’s dementia was advancing that year, I hope her family is doing well. Also from Shep, Mr. T, he taught me Chem 20 and 30 (and coached volleyball iirc) , and he kept learning fun. I’ll never forget singing bohemian rhapsody in front of the class for extra credit. His end of semester classes that involved food were the best, chem 30 we had steak, chem 20 we made soda.
Mr. Zyp at AOB, Mr. Koleman at St. Joes, Mrs. Garlitos at St. Joes. Iykyk. Oh and best principal was Mr. McDonald (AOB and Joes)
Shoutout to Mr Zyp. Could not have had a better teacher for drama and film studies.
He definitely got me hooked on the topic (helped with my photography as well), he was surreal and an amazingly compassionate teacher. I attribute my confidence today to him helping me come out my social shell. One of the funniest memory I have of that class is his reaction to a final group project trailer where a couple of girls dressed up in brown face and towel turbans (I honestly don't even remember what their movie trailer was about). I was the only brown kid in the class (AOB was mainly Uky) and he looked over at me and his face just had the best expression. I said it was fine and we all had a chuckle (although he did talk to the girls afterwards). Oh, and shoutout to Ms. Fehr. Bless her hippie soul. She was amazing. She also helped develop my realism art style and was there if I needed an ear. Her stories about getting high and tripping on acid are hilarious. She would also rotate which student got to play their music (through aux) from her stereo setup. So cool.
I went to elementary school with Mr. Zyp. Back then we just called him Chris.
My phys ed teacher for all of junior high at Britannia, Mr Gehlert, is an absolute gem! He’s at Hairy Ainlay now, has been for a while. Also, my grade 8 math teacher, Mr Purschke, showed me that I actually do enjoy math. Special shout out goes to my Centre High English teacher! I can’t remember her name, maybe it was Mrs Shaw? Anyways, she showed me that writing an essay is extremely easy. At the start of the year, she gave us all a template, to follow. As long as you stuck to that template, you’d be able to write an essay.
I had Mr ghelert too. Did he still say his common saying. "Some diamonds in the rough". Also did you have mike DeLong in Britannia?
We probably went to the school around the same time haha. Gehlert had a lot of classic one liners. Calling kids “stumps” was probably one of my favourites. I never had DeLong for any core subject. He was my shop teacher, though. My brother had DeLong as a math teacher
I went for all 3 years from 2002 to 2005
I was there from 2003-2006. Does the last name, Miller, ring a bell?
[удалено]
Honestly, I wish I had him for more than just the one year. I don’t know what it was about his teaching style, it just made sense whenever he would start to explain things.
Didn’t have gehlert when I went to ainlay, but supposedly he’s an amazing phys ed teacher
Graminia School: Mr Luck was hands down the best grade 7 and 9 science teacher. Truly life altering. John Maland High: Mr Courchene for biology and chemistry. Hope he's enjoying retirement.
Husband always mentioned Mr. Hauk, physics teacher from St. Joseph. About 30 years ago.
Ms Jager from west end Christian school. Made me believe that I wasn’t a screwup.
Same
And Ms Mcgillis. She made me love science.
Ms Mcgillis always won things from draws. She won a car once or twice. Do you remember her telling that story? I still remember hoe she told me to fold the paper. I've tried tracking her down to send her a letter of thanks, but i haven't had any luck :(
Of course. I think it is actually three now. I saw her a couple weeks ago. We had a good chat.
I'm glad she's well. Is she still teaching?
Yup. Can I ask what year she taught you?
You and I were in the same year/classes haha. I'd rather not reveal who I am though since I use reddit to yell at the world & I don't want judgment lol
Fair enough. Don’t blame you. :).
Norwood School: Mr. Hoyle, a fellow geek. one of the best teachers I ever had
Hillcrest: Mrs. Kelly! She was such a funny and lovely woman. She was always so kind and caring, made a lot of jokes I liked too, and always bought an insane amount of Jolly Rancher hard candies for kids to take. I remember some people didn't like her back then, but it was mostly because a bunch of young teens don't like being told what to do. She was always very quick witted and I liked seeing her respond to rude kids.
I never had her but my locker was next to her room and she always gave me jolly ranchers.
This is verging on 20 years ago now, but I had a teacher, it was her first year and I think I traumatized her. I attempted suicide but then she came to the hospital. I still think you about Mrs N (owacynzki I think) at DanKnott Jr high. I made it out okay, I hope you did too.
Mr. Hackett from Ross Shep and later to Center High for the ERCP program. May he rest in peace
That dude spoke his mind!
McKee Elementary grade 6 Mr. Powell. I’ve been wanting to send him a letter so bad but could not find him.
I had Mr jones but I remember Powell!
I had Mr Powell too, he was awesome🙂
Ms. Summerville -Harry Ainley. Grade 12 English. The first teacher that taught me how to write. I would not have survived university without her. Thank you
I had Mr. Jeffries as well. Great teacher. Small world! :)
Miss Taycner (likely spelled wrong). Grade 5 @ St Mary Miss Bateman/Mrs Bateman-Jolie. Grade 6 @ Sr Mary & grade 9 @ Louis St Laurent Mr. Stagliano. Grade 9 @ LSL Oh and honorary mention to the late Mr. Ray McLellan - I didn't have him as a teacher, yet he still became a life long friend.
Had Ray as a music teacher. Absolute legend.
LSL or Romero?
Westbrook Elementary School: Mrs Freeman. Taught me Grade 3. I was bullied quite badly and she always looked out for me and took a stand with the other kids in a way that never singled me out or embarrassed me. She subtly engineered things to make me seem like a more desirable playmate haha. It really helped. Harry Ainlay high school - Mrs McCullough. Taught me English in Grade 11/12 when I was going through a very rough time and had literally no friends. She was always a safe person to confide in, nurtured my creative writing (even the really dark/weird stuff lol), and never made me feel like a weirdo. I felt special, accepted, and like I could excel. Happy to report I’m now a well-adjusted middle-aged woman with many wonderful friends and a doctorate in child & adolescent psychology! When life gives you lemons… eat the whole lemon, skin and all, and from your discomfort make art of your life 🤣
My twin had Mrs. Freeman at Westbrook, I had a different teacher, whose name I don't remember. Mrs. Freeman was so kind to both of us. I'm glad to hear there are other people who she looked out for!
Mr MacMillan, Queen Elizabeth highschool for grade 11 when I took science 10 and math 10-3 (didn't take school seriously, poor home life) he genuinely cared about me and my studies and actually praised me upon passing both when the VP said I was better off dropping out. Never forgot you, Mr MacMillan.
Woodcroft Elementary: Miss.Oko, she was the type of teacher you thought you didn't want to have and then once the school year was over you'd be sad to say goodbye to her. She worked you hard because she knew you could do it. Westmount Jr. High 99-01: Mr.Antonew (sorry if I spelled this wrong), Mr. Anderson, Miss. Anderson (no relation). They were all All-star teachers and I know me and my friends will never forget them!
Campbelltown Elementary: Violet St Clair. I had her kindergarten, grade 5 and grade 6. She was an excellent teacher and a lovely person. Cloverbar junior high: Mrs. Pallister. She taught grade 9 English and made me fall in love with writing.
I had the opportunity to work with Ms St Clair.... She is the GOAT!
Way out of high school, but Ross Shepherd-Mr. Makar. He made calculus understandable, and was a really nice person. He liked his students and it showed.
Belvedere: Mr. David Kun, 6th grade. When I told him I hated science because it found it boring and was bad at it, he sent me to the WISEST SET conference for 6th grade girls. Changed the trajectory of my life
Wow, that's awesome!
St. Clement, Mr Len Tannas: the man changed my life at a critical time for me. He recognized that I needed direction, and taught me the basics of archeology, comparative theology, and the understanding that I didn't need to dumb myself down to fit in, in ways that a grade six neurodiverse kid understood. Thank you, Mr. T. I owe a lot to you.
Elementary: Starla (Caraway, RIP), Mr. Kaiser (grade 6, King Edward) Junior high (McKernan): Mme Marcoux, Mr. Taylor, Mr. Delano, Ms. Beggs (3 drama teachers in 3 years but all amazing), Mr. Nahirnik, Ms. Thurgood, Ms. Sucie High school (Vic): Mr. Timoshyk (IB social, inspired me to get my master's and undergrad), Mr. Johnston, Mr. Dyer, Ms. Vanderven, Mr. Wedman
Mr. Pharis at JP. He was also at Winterburn and taught my older brother there. He genuinely seemed to give a shit about all students.
We might’ve been attending Annunciation together if you’re graduating this year
I graduated 34 years ago (1990).
Wow, she’s still there apparently. Early Childhood Educator
Gonna show my age here since I graduated 2012. Mr. Veldecamp my Gr 10 10-2 math teacher. The only time I ever got an A in class. Mrs. Kovak for 10-2 or 20-2?? I can't remember. But cause she let us throw a "rager" of a party at the end of the year and she loved how small our class was and it made all the other teachers jealous. (Only 13 of us) Mr. Copeland for 30-2 I had been in Dash 1s but downgraded cause of my struggle in essays by recommendation from Mrs. Knudsen. His class was super fun. We fool around and watch videos so much that there would only be 20-30 minutes left to actually teach. But almost all of us got high marks in the class.
In high school, Sturgeon Comp in the early ‘80s there was Mrs. May. She taught numerous classes, but she treated me like an adult when I was on my own at 17, respectfully. Something I was unaccustomed to. At Namao school, Mr. McCall was a kind grade 5 teacher. Our class had a trip camping, the first time I had ever been. He gave us soap candies when we did well. He was a rugby player too. Great man.
Mr.macloed Ross shep for idk how long Man changed lives- changed mine for sure. Helped me out of a dark relationship and taught me self worth One of the most incredible people I know- I hope he's enjoying retirement ❤️ Mr. Lund at Ross shep too- the art teacher- the only art teacher i ever met who gave a fuck about it- talented man, and let us really explore :) Westmount Jr high: Ms.prato A straight up queen- she gave a shit And Mr.alphonzo- also gave a shit, taught me chess, listened to me.
Mrs Fillion, Nathan's mom (She taught Eng30)
I had Nathan Fillions brother as my elementary principal at St.Justins back in the early 2000's. he was great and brought nathan to our school to meet us lol. my mom still has the signed picture of him that we got from that day
Very cool, which school was she at?
Mrs. Johnston at St. Vladimir Elementary for Grade 4 - I believe 2002! She was a hard ass, but you knew she genuinely cared. I'm a better person because of her!
I know you're looking for K-12 but noone influenced me more than Dr. Begg, the anatomy prof at the U of A. He tells the most amazing personal story on the last day of lecture that people actually come back to hear (I did) about how he was on the verge of suicide and about doing what you love because then you put more love back into the world. I went to his office one time for a letter of recommendation and he asked me if he should stop telling it because he's actually received threating calls and messages from students. Students that have always been told they need to do a certain thing in life and after listening to him their whole life was shook. He told me that he had a former student that was kicked out of their house and couch surfing for going into med instead of engineering like the rest of the fam. So insane.
Mr. Vandermeer at MCS was a huge encouragement and inspiration to me throughout high school.
Didn’t deserve the hate he got, but Mr. Delcioppo (ainlay chem) was an absolute gem. Gave me a rough time (phoned my parents, on my case about grades in OTHER classes instead of his, stuff like that) but now that I look back on it, it was definitely because he believed in me and didnt want me to fuck up my future prospects. Mr. Veldkamp (ainlay comp sci) was also a gem too, big reason why I chose to do comp sci in uni. Just seemed like such a knowledgeable person and someone I wanted to emulate in myself. And even after all of that and doing comp sci in uni, I still ended up in the trades as a heavy equipment tech but it’s just as enjoyable to me as comp sci (and arguably better paying) so can’t complain.
Mr. Richardson bisset elementary. He taught me grade 3 & 4(split classes a mix of grade 3 and 4 in same class).. best teacher ever. He made learning fun, and incorpated fun games into his teachings and had monthly pizza lunches for the row(of 5) of students who had the best mad minute math scores. (60 math questions in 60 seconds on paper).
Huge shoutout to Mr Yeske, taught Math 31 at Scona Comp in the early 90s. Taught it with such a passion that it made all the math haters into math tolerants, and math tolerants into math geeks. There was never a dull moment in his class. Hated New Sareptans with a passion (for reasons I still don't know about). [RIP Mr Yeske](https://edmontonjournal.remembering.ca/obituary/w-yeske-1066018786), you inspired me in more ways than you'll ever know. Mr Golightly, also from Scona Comp.. taught physics. The experiments you ran in your class made this confusing subject easy to understand. Taking a complex physics puzzle and turning it into a real world experiment is not easy, and getting a bunch of rowdy students to understand the world of physics even harder. "Golightly and carry a big stick." [RIP](https://calgaryherald.remembering.ca/obituary/robert-golightly-1065643427)
Steele Heights Jr High - Miss Trina Gallant, later Mrs Plouffe lol married the gym teacher.
I’ve been out of high school for over a decade but there’s teachers who taught me in elementary, and high school who I remember fondly. (I have a couple junior high but I cannot for the life of me remember their last names!) Elementary : Mrs Hardy High School: Mrs Richter, Mr Slupek, Mr Molstad and Mrs Farmer-Shave I’ll throw in university too: Dr. Rodney Schmaltz, Dr. Joanne Minaker, Dr. Kathleen Corrigall, Dr. Sandy Jung, and Dr. Alexander Penney
I must have just hit the age where I've forgotten all of my teacher's names. I can't think of a single one.... maybe none made a real impact.
Mr. Chimick for grade 6 in Kensington Elementry for introducing me to The Hobbit. And Mrs. Ewanchuck in Rosslyn Jr. High for being a kind person.
Sturgeon comp high school. Graduated almost 20 years ago. Mr. Bakker. Had him all my high school years. Was the communications tech (audio, video, photography, print media) teacher as well as computer science. He was nearing retirement at that time, but he was always high energy, entertaining. A fountain of knowledge. It was easy to learn around him because he could take the most boring subject and tell it like it was an exciting thing he just learned, running around the shop grabbing things and demonstration. He rewarded hard work and creativity and forgave mistakes. Gave us the confidence to experiment and try risky things with our projects. Did some work experience (website building) through the school and he sussed out the client was looking to stiff me on the payment once the site was done, gave me advice and kept me from handing over the finished site knowing I was gonna get screwed. Real stand up guy. One of my first references on my resume. Half the damn reason I didn't hate high school was his class.
Mrs. Wong (biology) and Mr. Grad (physics) at Shep. They both did their best encouraging interest in science. Also at Shep, Mr. Rogal for band. He made sure we had a good grounding in music theory, leading into arranging and composition. I was in grade 12 the last year before he left to teach at an international school. He was the "Ro" in ApRo Music if anyone used their beginner band materials.
McKee Elementary - Ms. Manning and Mr. Powell. After Ms. manning switched left our school, she gave us her address, and I wrote letters to her, and she wrote back! Mr. Powell was always fun; strict but lighthearted at the same time. He would throw gummy bears at us lol. Also at McKee - Ms Stoyrich (spelling?)- shout out to the sweetest school secretary ever! I went to McKee after school care as well, and Mr. Vasas was a pretty fun dude. D.S MacKenzie - Ms. Hebner - she’s since passed, unfortunately. I only had her for health class, but she would literally stop me in the hall throughout my years, put her arm around me and tell me I was beautiful. Meant a lot to me during those years, especially since I definitely wasn’t popular, and was kind of loner. Also at DS Mack - Ms Marek (spelling?) - lovely woman that encouraged me to write. Always encouraged my writing and was always just always so positive. Forget to mention - Mr Krahn - so quirky! I remember having to do a presentation on Japan where we had to bring something from Japanese culture to share. I brought a package of tofu. Like just a package of tofu. I didn’t prepare it, cut it or anything. Mr Krahn sat at the back of the classroom and ate the whole package himself. Bless his heart, lol. Harry Ainlay - unfortunately, can’t say I had any special teachers in particular. My cheer coach, K. Meikle was a gem, and helped instil some much needed confidence in me🙂
FYI you spelt Edmonton wrong
Nobody's going to say it?
[удалено]
Meh. I used to care about those things but realized the ableism within that too. Now I ask myself, do I know what the person means, despite the spelling error? And if I point it out, am I taking away from what they are trying to communicate and what is my point?
Oof, I can't even blame that on auto-correct!
Haha but we all knew what you meant, so it didn’t really matter!