Chapter 12: A Teacher’s Influence: A Conversation

The editors’ invitation to write about the most memorable and influential teacher of my adolescent years came at a perfect time. I had just returned from AERA, stimulated by the apparent need for new ideas and methods for understanding motivation in education, and here was a request that seemed to imply such a direction—going straight to the core of the educational experience, the root of the (interactive) matter, the foundation of the facilitative relationship. Moreover, in light of Erikson’s statement above, the request kindled a hope that I might find myself, after all, to be gifted and inspired. Happily setting to the task, it occurred to me that if a search for such a formative experience was required, then the application of analytical and reflective skills—skills, I’m afraid to say, that I had little possession of during my adolescent years—would be the wrong strategy to start with. Arriving at such a foundational experience of influence would require reaching for my emotional associations with my teachers—it would call for the use of…”imagery!” I should relax, close my eyes, and allow the image of my “Influential Teacher” to appear. And so, excited by this innovative idea, I sat comfortably in my chair and summoned the figure to emerge…to no avail! “But, can this be?” If no such associative memory came to mind, then did it mean that there was no such Influential Teacher that had kindled my hidden talent? Regrettably, this might confirm my long-held suspicion that I am, after all, not gifted nor inspired. Well, being somewhat self-regulated at this point in my life, and determined to locate an influential teacher no matter the efforts she or he might exert to avoid my quest, I reflected on my failure and decided to replace the strategy I had taken with one of proactive methodical search. I attempted to recall who my teachers were, chronologically, naming those who I remembered from the early grades on. Knowing intellectually that teachers in the early grades can indeed cast long-lasting influence on students’ lives, I was dismayed to realize that eliciting the names of my elementary school teachers did not do much to stir hope for discovering meaningful influences. Yet, suddenly, to my surprise, my thoughts lingered on one peculiar figure: my history teacher from 7th grade. For reasons soon to be clear, I chuckled, dismissed the possibility that this teacher was in any meaningful way influential to who I am today, and continued to go through the list of teachers I remembered. But, in a somewhat annoying way, my thoughts kept returning to the image of this odd-looking man in his checkered jacket, untidy shirt, disheveled hair and perplexed gaze—the rather comical figure of Shraga Firshtman. I stopped to consider, and after brief contemplation, decided that ignoring this associative sign might indicate incoherence with my original contention about where “influence” is fundamentally located. And so, while feeling rather hopeless about the matter, I decided to explore: Was Shraga Firshtman influential to me?