A Tribute to My Favorite Teachers

Mr. Joseph

Mr. Joseph was my 8th grade English teacher.  He was very into discussing real world situation instead of just the subject of English.  I remember our class discussions would often turn into discussions about high school, college, or preparing for the rest of your life.  Mr. Joseph often helped his students see the bigger picture.  He was also relatable too.  He never tried to be strict or really professional or anything like that.  I remember his classroom had Smashing Pumpkins and Grateful Dead posters all over, both are bands that I listen to on occasion.  I heard the year after I graduated middle school that Mr. Joseph left.  I don't know where he's been since then.

Mr. Butterly

Mr.  Butterly was my English teacher Junior year of high school.  Mr. Butterly was similar to Mr. Joseph in that his class often sidetracked to discussions about real life opposed to the broken English curriculum my district had decided to force into the high schools.  Most notably, I remember Mr. Butterly ranting about the ACT and how it doesn't do any of the things that it's designed to do.  It doesn't really reflect how good of a student you are or how smart you are.  It just tests you on some topics that are mostly irrelevant to your success in college.

Anyways, Mr. Butterly would put things like the ACT into perspective. He caused me to look at the world differently like Mr. Joseph had.  Mr. Butterly got into a lot of trouble with the administrative staff because of his teaching method.  The second half of that year, our principal Mrs. Zupec came into the class three times to observe his teaching.  This was after some other administrative people were observing our class.

It's hard to say whether Mr. Butterly got fired or if he quit.  During the last couple of months of school Mr. Butterly had talked about going to law school at NIU and quitting teaching.  I couldn't verify that he went to law school at NIU though.  His website has also vanished without a trace.  It's like he disappeard out of thin air...

Mr. Mundt

Mr. Mundt, like Mr. Butterly and Mr. Joseph, also talked about worldly topics.  However, he didn't talk about these things as much as Butterly or Joseph.  The way that Mr. Mundt ran the class though was very involving.  I had Mr. Mundt as a Creative Writing teacher.  He would have us do these excercises at the beginning of every class which I had probably learned more from than a whole year's worth of material in most English classes.  Mr. Mundt was also a very relatable teacher for me too.  He was a big fan of old school punk music which was what I had been listening to a lot at the time.  Whenever I wore a Clash t-shirt to school, Mr. Mundt would comment and we would start talking about The Clash, The Sex Pistols, The Ramones, The Dead Kennedys, The Cramps, and probably some others that I haven't thought of.

I heard from my best friend that he's retiring at the end of this school year.  He's a pretty reputable source so I don't have any reason to not believe him.

Mr. Smith

Mr. Smith was most notably the choir director at my middle school.  However, I didn't do choir but he did teach the 8th grade music class.  Music class was an elective and it was not always the most exciting class.  However, it was more fun than most other classes especially since we got to mess around on instruments for like half the class.

Most importantly, I was teaching myself how to play bass guitar and I learned some stuff in the music class that aided in my learning of the bass guitar.  So I definitely have to give Mr. Smith some credit for indirectly helping me learn the bass guitar.  He also showed some interesting slide shows about how some instruments work like pipe organs or whatever else.  These also spurred my musical interest beyond the actual music itself and got me interested in learning a bit more about the technical aspects of instruments.

Mr. Smith retired after that school year was over.  Coincidentally, I talk to a piano tuner at a superbowl party that I go to every year who is good friends with Mr. Smith.  Actually, this piano tuner also tunes the pianos at my old middle school.  But, this past superbowl, the piano tuner said he had just spent time with Mr. Smith the week before and that Mr. Smith is doing great.  I'm really glad to hear that since he was such an influential teacher to me.

Mr.  Meggesin

Just about everyone who has Mr. Meggesin is influenced and inspired by his teaching.  His teaching style isn't the most exciting but he is a very interesting character that knows how to have fun using science.  Being in his AP class, I learned a lot about the fundamentals of Kinematics, Electromagnetics, and a bit about Quantum Mechanics and Nuclear Physics.  Not only did I learn these topics, I learned them well.  He has a knack for really making things make sense.  He also would get off track from the curriculum and talk about stuff relatable to the real world such as life after high school or something science related going on in the news.  Mr. Meggesin is a goofy guy but he knows how to get the job done.  There is no doubt about it that no one could ask for a better physics teacher than Mr. Meggesin.