Today is the birthday of my good friend, mentor, and most influential teacher, Anna Sumida (that's her on the right of me, with our good friend, Vivian Vasquez, on the left). Anna hired me in July 2000 to work at Kamehameha (seems a lifetime ago). She and I have since moved on to other jobs within KS, but have remained good friends. Anna taught me so much about teaching, about thinking, about deconstructing and reconstructing, stretching and getting comfortable. Throughout all my years I never had that ONE teacher who I looked up to, who I felt truly influenced my life in profound ways, who transformed me. Anna is the transformational queen. She is TRANSFORMATION on a daily basis. She is now my ONE teacher, the one I will always write about and talk about when the question is posed to me and that I am now posing to all of you, "Who is the ONE teacher who changed your life?"
2 comments:
What a nice picture :)!
I was lucky to have 2 GREAT, influential teachers:
Mr. Davis for 8th grade Honors English - he was smart, charismatic, tough, demanding. He knew what you were capable of and would stand for nothing less of you. 10 years later when going to visit the school, I sat in his empty classroom in the seat I sat in when I was in his class, with my back to the door. I didn't hear him come in, but just heard a booming voice, "Benedict! What are you doing here?" Not only did he remember me, but from the BACK.
2nd teacher was a professor I had in college, Dr. Dale Kunkel. He was a mentor and the first person that had faith in me and made me feel like I could succeed in anything I chose to do in life/career. He had a lot of trust in me, when I had little confidence. I would say that he very much helped to shape the person I am today!
you know the saying, "everything i needed for life, i learned in kindergarten?" well, it holds true for me...Mrs. Sibonga (St. Joseph's School, Waipahu). so needles to say i was totally shocked when i found out that she had retired from teaching & now works for KP over on maui. she too still remembers me, but alot smaller, and alot cuter (lol).
ao
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