Ghosts of Teachers Past

I haven't shaved in weeks and have grown a full beard. This beard has some gray hairs scattered throughout. I'm only 35!

ANYWAY... as we all get older, memories of the past, unfortunately, start to fade - at least from conscious thought. Maybe all of those memories still are in our brains somewhere - like a vast file cabinet whose older papers just continue to get shoved backwards and are sitting there somewhere wrinkled and pressed together, but with the right stimulus, could be retrieved and revisited.

I was sitting here wondering if I remember not only who all of my high school teachers were, but even the classes I took each year in high school. I didn't think about this post ahead of time - I am going to try to type this and remember this information while I do it. I better start from 12th grade and work backwards. Some of this is probably inaccurate.

12th grade:
- SSMCIS (Math) - Dr. Decovsky
- AP Computer Science - Mr. Hanna
- AP English - Mrs. Twombly
- Science - AP Chemistry - Mr. Hali
- Study Hall
- Gym (I remember having Mr. Gardner, Mr. Cardell, and...? Don't remember which year was which. And I only remember Mr. Cardell because he did one-handed pushups once which I found impressive for an older guy.)
- Lunch
- No History or Foreign Language
(There is an open slot, I believe...?)


11th grade:
- SSMCIS (Math) - Mrs. Townsend?
- Computer Science - Mrs. Isaacs (I used to drive her insane)
- Science - Honors Physics - Dr. Arzt (I used to drive him insane also)
- Spanish - Ms. Torres (where I first met the Daffinator, who used to bring crosswords to class and demonstratively do them)
- Lunch
- Gym (see above note about teachers)
- English - Mr. Shanken? (this guy went to the same health club as me my senior year - Bally's in Fort Lee. One time I ran into him in the locker room and he was naked. Talk about awkward.)
- History - Mr. Burroughs. (He was a newer teacher.)


10th grade:
- SSMCIS (Math) - Mr. Elliot
- German - Ms. Mayers
- Spanish - Mrs. Taltavull?
- Science - Chemistry - Mr. Czeterko (future Superintendent of Teaneck schools)
- English - A woman named Mrs. Sumner who was older and apparently tripped over her cat and fell down a flight of stairs, causing her to miss a huge chunk of the year
- History - ?
- Gym
- Lunch
- Theater - Mrs. Johnson


9th grade:
- SSMCIS (Math) - Mrs. Delaplain
- German - Mrs. Mayers
- Science - Biology - Mrs. Jones, a red-haired woman?
- Gym
- Lunch
- History - ?
- English - ?
- Theater - Mrs. Walker


Some notes:

- I'd love to get a high school transcript to not only see my grades, but all my teachers to see how well I did on this list. Additionally, I'd love to see my disciplinary file, which was not replete with infractions but did have a couple of major incidents.

- The difference between honors and non-honors courses is striking. I remember being a kid and seeing a noticeable difference in accomplishments, classmates, classroom environment, etc... between my honors/AP subjects (Math, English, Science, Computer Science) and non-honors (foreign languages, social studies). Having taught everything in my 12 years of teaching from general levels (many, many times) to AP Calculus, I see the same differences now, and there doesn't seem to be much a teacher can do about it.

- Did we only have 8 time slots during the day? I thought we had 9. I believe it was 9.

- At age 25, I probably would have been able to recall this all accurately, fully, and with more detail.

- I think Teaneck's teaching staff was older than other towns - Teaneck was probably an attractive district to teach in the early 90s and teachers probably stayed there for a while. I don't remember too many teachers in their 20s, whereas a couple of the districts I've taught in have plenty of younger teachers.

- Interesting to think of these people as human beings, as well as teachers, now that I am one.

- I am interested to share more anecdotes and hear what other people remember about their high school setup. However, since I'm not sure if anybody reads this blog anymore, I won't go into more detail until somebody responds.