Teacher Appreciation Week!!!

The faces blur. The names, a lot of them anyway, are lost forever in a haze of science projects, book reports, and math problems.

But some will remain forever embedded in my mind, important fixtures in my life, for the lessons they imparted that often had little to do with the subject matter they taught.

Like Miss Kugler, my fourth grade teacher, who taught me to be compassionate to everyone and that a smile and a kind word go a long way .

Or Dave Lichter, the science teacher with a pet snake who ate a live mouse in front of the class every other Friday.

Or Barbara Reilly, my high school English teacher, who comes to mind whenever I use the phrase "my friend and me" - the grammatically correct term is "my friend and I".  Thank you Mrs. Reilly - oh, and I still love those clogs that you never gave me a demerit for junior year.  The dress-code rebel in me relished the frequent commentary on them.  And the little catholic school girl in me prayed everyday that you would keep that demerit pad in your desk so that I would never have to face my mom with the write-up and the shoes.

This is Teacher Appreciation Week, where teachers are supposed to get their due.  Now, let's face it, like any field not all teachers are due accolades. (I could go on about my acting prof in college who told us about a "great way to make money" freshman year at the gentleman's club down the street, but I think I’ll save you all from that story.) But there are game changers, life changers, who deserve whatever recognition they get.

What teacher or teachers from your life do you appreciate most, and why?