Wow…what a cake! Hope your Day was a happy one.

Some cake!, they may be meaning something that would take a little less effort – or more like the real thing (and I don’t mean Coke).

Yes, those once-in-a-lifetime-teachers, just remember. I meet the neice of my ‘once-in-a-lifetime teacher, she was a teller at my local bank, I conveyed to her that her aunt was my o-i-a-l-t, she was quite scornful, she said her aunt was ‘just a hosewife’. To me, as a teacher, she had been inspiring.

What was her writing advice?

Thanks for the link to that Washington Post tribute. Beautiful. I was in the “SpEd” program in elementary school and it reminded me of the 5 wonderful teachers I had (Kindergarten and Third grade teachers should have found different professions). We were so sad when our sixth grade teacher decided to become an education professor but hope he inspired future teachers. Funny thought: he knew I loved science fiction so assigned me Erich Von Daniken at 11. Brilliant!

Ah, teachers. My mother. My father. My stepmother. Mrs. Smith for 3rd, 4th and 5th and the one who taught me math. Mr. Smith for 7th (who figure out I knew way too much math when I could chisel people out of their money by “helping” them when doing change with a three or more person chain. He got me to quit but put me into a higher math group.) Mr. Beals in college that told me that I was getting a degree in something else besides math. And I did. Ms. Davis that lit up when I walked into the room with another graduate class and said “Afton! SOMEBODY that will keep us talking!” Dr. Mondell who talked me through my doctorate internship.

Every single student, special needs or not, I’ve had ever been with has taught me more than I have ever taught them.

MJ isn’t at all convinced that is really a cake. It’s certainly an impressive sculpture, especially in sugars!

Hey Alison,

Bopping around in the Pink Cake Box blog posts I came across this:
http://blog.pinkcakebox.com/pastry-psychology-2006-01-29.htm

Sweet! Glad we can know you through your celebrations, too!

You may not remember that when you were young and we happened to be going through Carson City, NV, a long way from Maryland, I took us all to call on Grace Bordewich, my high school English teacher. Grace, as I was allowed to call her years later, inspired a host of students in that small high school. Beside the two younger Jeppson brothers, one of whom is in the history books, her students included Paul Laxalt, who became governor, U.S. Senator and Ronald Reagan’s closest friend, and Robert Laxalt, author and later head of the University of Nevada Press. I think there was another governor or two in that group, and many, many successful people. One was a girl a couple of years younger than I. Although Barbara’s grandfather was the adjutant general of the Nevada National Guard, her father was one of the town’s barbers, and she didn’t see herself as accomplishing a whole lot in life. Grace saw something different and began mentoring her. Barbara got her Ph.D. and taught for many years, I think in San Louis Obispo. I know several of her students who said Grace was a better English teacher than they ever had in college. My high school building eventually became a junior high, and it was named after her. I had other good teachers, too, and grammar schools were named after my Spanish teacher, Edith Fritsch, and my eighth grade teacher, Martha Gleason, who gave me my love for history. Of them all, Grace Bordewich, descended from Norwegian stock from the Lofoten Island, is one I shall always honor.
Dad

What fascinating cakes! Are they really edible?

I remember several of my teachers, but especially Miss Sykes from third grade. She really got me grounded in English grammar. Then there was Miss Connolly in High School, with whom I had a couple of different classes. But the one I specifically is the humorous History of California, in which it said, (and I think this is a correct quote) “California is the only place in the world where you can melt, freeze, and drown in the same spot on the same day”.

And you want other humor?

What do you get when you cross poison ivy with a four leaf clover?
A rash of good luck.

I want that cake also.

The article got me choked up. You see, sometimes there are those questions you are asked to respond to to retrieve your password and the one I use is, “Who was your favorite teacher?” When asked that last week by a customer service rep, I said “Of course, Mrs. J….” and then said, I wonder if she knows that as I lost track of her a long time ago but now I am going to search to see if any of my classmates know what happened to her.

I wonder where one would begin to cut such a cake… Measure twice, cut once, and please have some left over: I can find some good use for it. lol

Happy belated Mothers’ Day!

Thank you for the link to the Post article. Parents and teachers have such power to open up our lives. Teachers I remember are probably topped with Patricia Rudy in 9th grade; for my kids Paul Martin at Foss High School is legendary and is the biggest reason my daughter Roseanne teaches history; sadly, he had retired before Carole could have the opportunity. Such a group in a gifted classroom, in the article, for such a small town. Doesn’t it make you realize that truly amazing people are everywhere, if they can catch fire and pursue their potential?

Marian

Happy mother’s day to you, too! 🙂

I never know if I’m going to be laughing or crying by the end of your posts. This time it was tears at the end of that article. (But smiling through them.)

(you know, Alison, the Mrs. Smith I mention up above? It was the same type of class that was talked about in your article. Without her, I would never, ever found out that math was just another language – one that I was good at. Really good.)