My Favorite Teacher

The further I edge into adulthood and begin to see my influence on those younger than me, I start to speculate on the adults that stood out among the many I encountered in my everyday life. As a mother, an aunt, as someone who loves to interact with the young people in my life, I hope to always impart a meaningful influence on the little ones I am privileged to interact with.

I had dozens, if not hundreds of teachers throughout my education, but in all honesty, only three stand tall in my memory. These were adults that went above their calling as educators to really connect to the students they saw on a near daily basis. Kind, understanding, and communicative in a world where many adults were only there to enforce rules and complete a task.

Among those three was the ceramics teacher from my high school, Mr. Yoshida. Not only was he a high school ceramics teacher, but he was also a successful artist, selling his ceramic creations here and abroad. As far as teachers go, he was empathetic and astute. He noticed every single one of his students, not just the usual bright stars that always stood out. If you ere having a bad day, he would be the type of person to pull you aside and ask if you needed to talk. Ceramics are a thing of beauty, but they are also a thing of focus, effort, and hard work. Mr. Yoshida was sure to bring all of these concepts to light for each of his students.

Many students loved Mr. Yoshida for the fact that for our final test each year, we were allowed to watch the Karate Kid during class. Afterwards we would have to write a short essay on the principals of being a student and learning a craft. I took Mr. Yoshida's class for 3 years, which means I watched the Karate Kid six times, and to be honest, I now love the movie nostalgically, with fond memories of my favorite teacher.

A memory that stands out among the many I am lucky to have of Mr. Yoshida (or Yoshi, as his students lovingly called him), is the day our school was forced to go in to lock down. The SWAT team was called, and it was a stressful ordeal, that luckily turned out to be a false alarm. Also luckily, I was in Mr. Yoshida's class at the time of the lock down. His calm demeanor gave all of his students a feeling of saftey that I know other students in other classes did not have. And while most of us were able to calm down enough, one girl in our class was beyond hysterics and wet her pants with fear. Mr. Yoshida being the kind and nonjudgemental person that he is immediately brought the girl to his adjacent office and loaned her his pants, spending the rest of the day in his gym shorts.

There were a hundred reasons why Mr. Yoshida was awesome, but the most important thing is that he was inspiring. He used his position as a teacher to relate to students and push their boundaries while gifting them with the tools of productivity, progress, and patience.

Being the amazing, inspiring man that he is, it is not shocking to me that one of Mr. Yoshida's former students made this documentary about him that I thought I would share:

The Fastest Man on the Mountain from William Gallegos on Vimeo.