Mr. Roberts

This summer Lins and I were sitting around a very romantic diner at our favorite restaurant, Taco Bell on Central Ave, when I started talking about my inability to relate to older males in positions of authority. I told her about an e-mail i had gotten from someone that was complementary, but... well... sterile. I'm still not sure if it is me, my paranoia, or if this guy and I really have a very disjointed professional relationship. It reminded me that since I never had a strong male role model I just didn't understand guys in authority, I often performed my best when my boss was a women. Thankfully this is often the case in my profession.

In the middle of this discussion and halfway into a bite of my 7 layer burrito I blurted out, "Holy Sh?t, I got my teaching style from Mr. Roberts." Lins looked at me like I was crazy, I did yell it randomly. I swear I have turret's.

Computer camp always reminds me that I should have been a teacher, and that teaching is really my only natural talent. This year, during camp, I tortured myself trying to figure out where I got my instructional and classroom management style from. It's often the opposite of my personality. I'm actually pretty stern, organized and overly obsessed with exact time. I sometimes act crazy, just to keep the kids on their toes, but I run a classroom in an orderly fashion. Yet at the end of every camp all the kids tell me I make class fun.I've had 2 or 3 male educators who really ever made a impact on my life. I There was Mr. Conklin in Middle School. I respected him for his intelligence, he seemed way to smart to be teaching 8th graders. His teaching style and mine are very different. Then there was Willy Paterson, my middle school principal who for some unknown reason always gave me the benefit of the doubt. I think it had to do with my uncle who was the beloved shop teacher. Mr. Patterson was an actual leader, unusual for a school administrator, and would use this catch phrase "keep on keeepin' on," which I often quote to myself when times are tough.

There was my HS principal who lost his position due to some very poor decisions and was forced to go back to teaching. This was a blessing for a social studies department that lacked real teaching talent (it was infested with sports coaches). I hated him when he was a Principal, loved his government class. We had a very funny relationship because his class was one of the very few I would show up for. He knew this, since I spent a lot of time in his office for truancy, and I feel like he couldn't understand it. I guess he didn't know how good of a teacher he was. It also didn't hurt that I sat next to Mike Quick, one of my best friends who had to go to class because he played on the football team. Mike and I were a comedy duo who loved arguing about politics. Every day Riverhead High School civics, well for that period, became something like MacGlin Group. It was awesome.

These are all examples of great educators. I wouldn't say any of them influenced me to join a profession where I would work with kids. My educational icon, male anyway, was Mr. Roberts. He was a little out there at times but I feel like he engaged his class. I actually paid attention and learned, and can honestly say that I used some of his vocals methods when I was screaming into a mic in my past bands. He was funny, entertaining, and charismatic. He kept your attention, showed he cared in a way no other adult could. He was honest and sincere, yet commanded respect. He kept the worst students on task, and gave me, an self proclaimed anarchist since 5th grade, a respect for order.

So thanks Mr. Roberts, it's been 13 years since I was in your class room and I am still learning things from you.