Chapter 13: “I Will Not Let This be an Intellectual Wasteland”: The Legacy and Limitations of an Inspiring Teacher

Teachers often revel in the last weeks of summer trying to squeeze every last minute out of long sunny days. In a few weeks I’d be starting my fourth year of teaching high school math. To avoid adding to the challenge of the first few days of school, I spent one day in early August setting up my new classroom. Driving home, I thought about the coming year, the new students I’d be working with, and the lesson plans and activities that I’d use to start the year.

As I arrived home the phone was ringing. “Hey Mike. It’s Steve.” Steve and I had been best friends in high school almost ten years ago. We listened to music, studied, and talked about our futures together. I was surprised to hear his voice since we had rarely spoken after our sophomore year of college. “I just heard that Mr. C died last week.”