Take a moment to breathe and now think back, and I do mean ruffle thru scattered, distant memories, go back in time and remember the influencers past. I’m positive one or more teachers have influenced your life. It’s only normal to think back, and reminisce about the great moments, moments in class or with friends. I can clearly remember a handful of great teachers; I mean the ones with passion, warmth, kindness and knowledge. The teachers who have influenced the way I see life and sadly I do remember the bitter few who wish they chose another profession but stuck with it for the sole financial security and the benefits our Canadian school system has to offer.
   
Just recently, after reminiscing with a friend, it struck me. No matter what discipline, what subject or time of day, teachers manage students, praise them for their efforts, coach them through hard times and guide them towards greater goals. Sounds like a great boss/mentor to have doesn’t it?

A perfect example was 1987, my math teacher Mr. Campeau could not bare to understand why I was failing Math. People who know me well, know I’m a genius with numbers and love to over complicate things. Mr. Campeau must have managed hundreds of kids that year, but he took the time to individualise all his students. One day, when the bell rang, he asked me to stay seated. He asked me if it would be possible to take part of a new computer program the school had to offer. It turns out that I wrote the school’s first networked math class, revolutionary for the time. Who would have thought that a thirteen year old teenager would be capable of learning the BASIC language and writing his first piece of software before the year’s end? It didn’t stop there; I continued to learn new programming languages and launched E-BBS in 1988 entirely written in PASCAL. E-BBS (Eric BBS) was a Bulletin Board System software which would handle telephone lines allowing people to login, send email, read messages, download files and play games. Sounds like the Internet does it not? Well somewhat of a parallel, only on a much smaller scale. I ran and managed a BBS with over 500 members in the Montreal area eventually networking messages across Canada and the US until the fall of 1999 five years after the Internet became mainstream.

In 1989, I was fortunate to have Mrs. Doucet. She made me discover how important Canadian Geography was. She also unleashed my perversion/fetish for Maps. I often gaze at one like if I was travelling the world. What better way to day dream?  Yes, I have a map pinned behind my monitor, I’m a proud Road Geek and still love to get lost without a GPS.

It was also in 1989, where Mrs. Sevigny crushed my dreams. She asked the class if anyone had a secure job. Not one person raised their hard, but with pride I did and explained to the classroom how I would work for my father and one day take over his business. She answered loudly and clearly that no business is fail proof and that one day I could find myself without a job. Her voice haunted me and still does until this very day. I didn’t want to believe her, I loathed the words she uttered and for years I was convinced she was completely wrong. Looking back, I can say: “Mrs. Sevigny, you were right”, but you failed at being a great manager. Your poor people skills wasted moments of my life where I should have been dreaming as opposed to proving you wrong.

Great Teachers are great managers, great speakers and they hold the power to influence and challenge our world time after time. Don’t be afraid to turn dreams into reality, your every word will remain forever engraved in their memories.

Eric

(Source: belecnet.com)