Friday Five

This week’s Friday Five. All about school, yay! I was such a big school geek – teacher’s pet, all excited by the first day of school (once I got over being terrified of having to meet all those new people), etc. I swear, a 3-ring binder full of fresh, college-rule paper or a new spiral-bound notebook with all the pages fresh and waiting are still two of my favorite things.

1. Are you going to school this year?
   Well, I’ll be teaching at Success Learning Center and subbing, does that count?

2. If yes, where are you going (high school, college, etc.)? If no, when did you graduate?
   I graduated high school in ’96, college in ’00, and grad school in ’01.
   I really don’t recommend the whole “Masters degree in one year” thing.

3. What are/were your favorite school subjects?
   English, hands down. Followed closely by anthropology, history (at the college level), and philosophy. Well, philosophy was sort of a love-hate thing – I loved the subject but felt like most of my classmates were incredibly obtuse about it.

4. What are/were your least favorite school subjects?
   Math, math, almost any high school social studies class (US History, Economics, that kind of thing) science (except for chemistry), and math. Did I mention math?
   Well, that’s not entirely accurate. I like Algebra and Geometry, but after that math just became a horrible slog. I could do it, and even had masochistic moments when I liked it, but after Geometry it just stopped making decent amounts of sense to me. I like math I can feel inside my head, math that intrinsically makes sense, and after Geometry it didn’t do that anymore, it was just magic with numbers.

5. Have you ever had a favorite teacher? Why was he/she a favorite?
   Oh, heavens, yes. I was always a teacher-worshipper. Let me think. Teachers I really loved class with:
   • Elementary School: Mr. McPherson (5th grade).
   • Junior High: Mr. Perryman (Algebra), Mr. Rodenberg (History/English), Mrs. King (English)
   • High School: Mr. Krutten (Alg. II/Trig – great teacher, awful subject), Mr. Ribovich (Theater/AP English), Ms. Marozek (English), Mrs. Mellera (English), Mr. Weinstein (coached the swim team / English).
   • College: Prof. Puckett-Stroh (Classical Latin/Classical Greek), Prof. Montag (17th and 18th century lit / Literary Criticism), Prof. Walsh (my advisor / Greek lit), Prof Howells (19th Century Lit / advised me on my Honors Thesis, Prof. Brighouse (Philosophy), Prof. Littleton (Anthropology).