In Honor of Teacher Appreciation Week
It’s Teacher Appreciation Week. In honor of teachers, I’d like to tell you about a few who had an impact on my life. First, my mother, father, and my grandmother. Naturally your parents are your first teachers, but my grandmother Mildred was also an enormous influence on me. Mammaw was a high school English teacher, and she was a stickler for clear enunciation, good projection, and perfect grammar. My family got me off on the right foot. In fact they did such a good job that I started first grade directly without attending kindergarten. In addition to my family, I’d like to mention these fine folks from Jackson (MS) Public Schools and the Rankin County School District: Green Elementary 1st grade: Mrs. Bass, Mrs. Thompson, Mrs. Kitchens 2nd grade: Mrs. Farrier 3rd grade: Mrs. Belt, Mrs. Pete (Gifted) Powell Elementary 4th grade: Mrs. Caldwell, Mrs. Brakefield, Mrs. Thompson (Gifted) Brandon Middle School 5th grade: Mrs. Bogart, Mrs. McKinney, Mrs. Hales, Mrs. Crawford (Gifted) 6th grade: Mrs. King, Mrs. B. White, Mrs. C. Williams, Mrs. Crawford (Gifted) Brandon Middle School – Junior High 7th grade: 1 Gifted: Mrs. Gill 2 Social Studies: Mr. Turner 3 Band: Mrs. Hagan 4 Science: Mrs. Ferriss 5 English: Mrs. Touchstone 6 Math: Mrs. Morgan 8th grade: 1 Math: Mrs. Fortenberry (now Thornton) 2 English: Mrs. Galloway 3 Band: Mrs. Hagan 4 Social Studies: Mr. Earl 5 Science: Mrs. Goodman 6 Gifted: Mrs. Gill Brandon High School 9th Grade 1 Band: Mr. Hagan 2 Latin I: Mrs. Boyd 3 Algebra I: Mrs. Perry 4 MS History/Civics: Coach Sheppard 5 English: Mrs. Boyd 6 Biology: Coach Lowther Summer: Driver’s Ed: Coach Thornton 10th Grade 1 Band: Mr. Hall/Ms. Crosby 2 Algebra II: Mrs. Nickles 3 Latin II: Mrs. Boyd 4 World History: Mrs. Hollis 5 English: Ms. Perritt 6 Chemistry: Mr. Jones 11th Grade 1 Band: Ms. Crosby 2 English: Mrs. Ratcliff 3 American History: Coach Cameron 4 Keyboarding: Mrs. Stanton / Computer Lit: Mrs. Tucker 5 Advanced Chemistry: Mr. Worley 6 Geometry: Mrs. Patrick 12th Grade 1 Band: Ms. Crosby 2 AP English: Mrs. McGuire 3 Advanced Math: Mrs. Britt 4 Physics: Mrs. Patrick 5 US Government: Mrs. Cutrer 6 Early Dismissal Yes, it’s true. I remember every teacher and every class schedule I had from first grade through my senior year of high school. And for Nancy Patrick, Bobby Worley, June Hollis, Joyce McGuire, Toni Boyd, Gerry Britt and Tracy Crosby, please know this: I certainly wouldn’t have made it this far without your lasting influence and example. I hope you take this post as an indication of my immense gratitude to you all! (Are you interested in improving your own memory? Check out my Memory Mojo course!) Joe M. Turner