Ahh, for the love of just being happy!!

This morning's fun keeps adding up--really!!

I have taught at my school for a long time.  I started in 1997.  Since that time I have seen about 2500 students come through my door.  And by this time, there are only three teachers who have been here longer than me--and no administrators have been here longer either.

One of the fun benefits is that over time, I have seen a number of my students come back and become my co-workers.  Today one of them sent me an early morning email asking for a student during 3rd period (a sort of school-wide study hall/activity period/etc.).  She referred to me as "Mr. Hanson."  My response to her was that she could have the student but she would have to explain to me why she refers to me as "Mr." instead of "Eric" when we have worked together so long.  She admitted that she felt it sacrilegious to call a former teacher by first name but she would try from now on.

This is nice--I have nothing over her, we are equals.  And on that note, I have at least two other former students who are now faculty.  And my principal was my former student.  I have had more that have taught briefly and left (I find that alumni don't tend to stick around at there alma maters--they need to spread their own wings).

And there might be more that I don't know.  That is one of the trouble with girls who come back to teach--they do look different and frequently their names are different.  I am pretty certain that there is one other teacher who fits that bill exactly--she always looks at me a little differently than other teachers do.  But for the life of me I can't remember her maiden name and the social awkwardness is terrible so I just smile back as loudly as I can.

I am at the point where I am already getting nostalgic about retiring in 5 year.  It is nice to see so many faces come back and occasionally my students repeat back to me an old story told to them by my former student--their teacher.


Overall, its just been a pretty good day.



Eric

I can relate to using formal greetings with Teachers even out of being out of school for so long. Maybe it is something that is ingrained in us? Maybe it is the respect we built for the folks that helped guide us in our youth?

There is something to say about pupils coming back to become teachers. Thank you for help educate the next generations.

Timothy, you are welcome!

Probably we all have a problem calling former teachers by their first name simply because we called them by title for so long.  The same thing happens with doctors.



Eric

If I worked with one of my teacher that I had called Mr/Mrs/Miss, I would still call them that as it is hard for me to change peoples names.

I met my husband and learned to call him by his formal birth name.  Later he decided to go by a nickname.  To this day I still call him by his birth name.

My husband has a friend named Robert so after calling him Robert for ten or so years he is using Rob.  I will always call him Robert.

You cant teach an old dog new tricks.

So to most of your students you might always be Mr. Hanson.  No matter where you meet them in life.

You raise several points of interest to me.  I taught 15 years at the college level. It really gets to me how many people I influenced, for good or evil, during that time.

I never cared what title, if any, my students used for me, but they sure did.  I did have to explain that Professor was a specific position that I didn’t have. Beyond that, I told them to call me whatever they were comfortable with.   99% of the time that was Mr.

My Grandma was a kindergarten, first grade teacher in a small country school for at least 30 years. She wound up teaching several grandchildren of her earliest students. Wild. She got a kick out of it.

Joylynn, your post reminds me of something I should have put in an earlier post on this thread.

One of the joys I get in these last few years is to get the children of former students.  These are my grandstudents.

On the note of working with former students, I mentioned that one of them is my principal—who I have to say is either among the best if not the absolute best principal that I have ever had here. He is just a very easy person to work with and he sticks to his guns when it’s important and absolutely never ever attempts to undermine when politics gets involved.  He has integrity and character.  

And I have his daughter in class this year.  She reminds me a lot of him at that age—shy, driven, but a bit insecure.  She has plenty of room for growth—I have no doubt she will make good use of opportunities as they avail.  

Like I said, I should have included these points earlier but a lot of things were happening at once so I am tying them now.



Eric