The Trust Protocol by Mac Richard

Author:Mac Richard
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Christian Living;REL012100;REL012070;REL074000
ISBN: 9781493412228
Publisher: Baker Publishing Group
Published: 2017-08-30T04:00:00+00:00

7

The Best Teacher You Ever Had

Seeking and Accepting Accountability

Who’s the best teacher you ever had? Take a moment and get a clear mental image of that person. Maybe instead of a teacher, it was a coach, a manager at work, or a mentor of some other kind. It might have been someone in middle school, or it may be a mentor you’re currently working with. More than likely, they engaged you in a specific class, sport, or industry, but their impact transcended their particular platform and radiated out into other areas of your life that you still draw from today. I want you to lock that person in mentally and put yourself back in that learning environment that was so productive and so crucial to your personal development.

For me, that’s an easy question to answer. It was my mom. Throughout her life so far, she has worn a number of different professional hats. She’s been a stay-at-home mom, high school guidance counselor, executive assistant, graduate student (twice, both times after she was forty-five years old!), and the volunteer president of a nonprofit museum. But, of all the jobs she’s held and the work she’s done, at her core, my mom is a teacher.

At seventy-four years old, she still lights up when she describes that moment when a student who has struggled to grasp a subject suddenly gets it. She was teaching high school English when I was born, and she returned to the classroom when I was in the seventh grade. Specifically, she returned to my classroom that year as my teacher for English and creative writing. It’s a surreal experience to have to figure out how to address your mom when you raise your hand for help in her classroom (Mom . . . Mrs. Richard . . . Teacher . . . Uhhh, ma’am . . . !!??).

I remember classmates making jokes about her giving me extra help at home on my papers or answers before a quiz and realize they had absolutely no idea whom they were talking about. She was scrupulously fair, but there was zero extra help coming my way.

My mom was a tough grader, especially when it came to papers and reports that had to be turned in. Two or three times, I asked her to look over an assignment before it was due and to give me some help as my mom and not my teacher. It was only two or three times, because that was the year I learned not to ask for feedback unless you really want it. With the benefit of thirty-five-plus years of hindsight, I can see that she was absolutely right in her critiques and suggestions, but I wasn’t particularly receptive to them then. I wasn’t receptive because (a) she’s my mom, and (b) I’m stubborn. I’m not proud of that, just keeping it real.

Who’s the best teacher/coach/mentor you ever had? Got someone in mind? Obviously, I can’t know who is lodged in the frontal lobe of your

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