The best
teacher I ever had was Mr. Tidyman in fifth grade. He was about seven feet tall (or seemed it) and had a
comb over which he made fun of all the time and which would blow around in the wind, revealing his
bald spot when he played
war ball with us. He had an excellent
sense of humor, told us jokes and funny stories all the time and
encouraged us to be
free spirits. He made school tremendously
fun. He taught us a ton of
math; more math than I learned in all three years of
middle school combined. While kids in the other fifth grade classes were struggling with their
multiplication tables, he made basic
algebra and
geometry interesting and common sensical for us. This is how he taught us what
reciprocal fractions are:
First of all, he asked if any of us already knew what the word "reciprocal" meant. None of us did, so he gave us a
demonstration. He told this kid, Tony Gonzalez, to stand on a chair in front of the class. Tony was
wary, but complied. When he had Tony satisfactorily situated upon the chair, Mr. T. motioned to him and said, "This is Tony." Then he said, "Ready?" Tony looked sideways at him and said something like, "
Uh-" as Mr Tidyman picked him up and turned him
upside down.
"This is the reciprocal of Tony," said Mr. Tidyman as he held the boy upside down about 3 feet above the ground. We all thought it was
funny as hell. Tony turned
beet red, but he thought it was funny too.
Fractions were always a breeze.
Mr. T. also loved literature. He read to us from
Poe,
Twain,
Carroll, etc. He taught us what stuff like
alliteration,
metaphor and
iambic pantameter were and gave us
kick ass spelling words.
Our very first spelling words on the very first day of school were
prognosticate and
procrastinate.
Some of the stuff he had us read:
Flowers for Algernon,
Casey at the Bat,
The Cremation of Sam McGee,
Jabberwocky (He had us memorize this. I still know it by heart),
The Secret of NIMH,
The Raven,
The Walrus and the Carpenter,
The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County. He had us make up our own stories and read them aloud every week. After each student read their story, there was
constructive criticism from the class. With an
emphasis on the constructive part. Badmouthing fellow students was so not
tolerated. He was very
adamant about treating others with respect.
Mr. Tidyman had a whole book of
weird poems and stories that he used to read to us from. I wish I could remember what it was called.
He had an
8-track,
tape deck and a
record player in the classroom and would let us listen to music during tests.
During
recess and
P.E. he'd come out and play with us.
We once went on a week long field trip up in the
redwood country (
California) to a camp called
Silverspur. It was out in the woods and there was a gorgeous
river/
creek nearby. One day, he took us all out to the river and told us to find a comfortable
spot on the rocks. They were huge rocks,
smooth and
warm. We all laid down,
sprawled here and there. He told us all to
relax, close our eyes and just
listen. We listened. We laid there for around an
hour I think, just hearing the world around us and feeling completely at
peace. This was about forty
rowdy ten year olds,
mind you, all lying quietly,
absorbing the world. I still remember the sound of the
water very clearly. And the feel of the rock against my back. And the complete sense of
love and
tranquility that he showed us how to tap into.