"The Influence of a Good Teacher Can Never Be Erased" by Kamryn

"The Influence of a Good Teacher Can Never Be Erased" by Kamryn - June 2021 Scholarship Essay

影响力、强大的、巨大的说服力,knockdown, potent, drastic… Yes, that sums up the influence Mrs. Lambdin had on my life! The most influential teacher I have ever had is an extraordinary math teacher named Tina Lambdin. When I say drastic, persuasive, powerful and so on I mean it! I went from dreading even the mention of math to basically dreaming of it and feeling like I was a rockstar! I went from never imagining I could pass the class to now tutoring others in math. She changed the way I viewed math from my first interaction with her. I remember being in fifth grade and being beyond nervous, I am not even sure the word exists for what I felt, about going into middle school. A big part of why I was freaking out was because I felt inferior when it came to math, I never felt like I was good enough in this subject. I also kept hearing all of the older kids talk about the middle school math teacher. People said she gave the hardest and longest, time-consuming math work in the history of math work! I was thinking I can’t handle what kids think is easy!! How will I make it in a class that is hard for even the mediocre students like myself!!! At this time in my life, I wasn't the most keen on doing math, and to be completely honest I didn't like it one bit.

Before I knew it, it was my first day of middle school, sixth grade, and of course, my first class of the day was math. I walked in with my brand new Vera Bradley backpack and my favorite pink dress because I thought (and still do) if I feel my best I will surely do better than expected!!! All of sudden I noticed how structured everything was and I began to feel calmer because she spoke in a gentle voice and told us we were all proficient and distinguished. I knew what was expected of me by the end of the first class. For some reason, I believed her and from that moment my math mind went uphill. I believed that I could be a great math student because she did. She had high expectations for me as well as the whole class. I never wanted to let her down and as the year went on I began falling in love with math and working in every way possible not only to get a good grade in her class but to really learn math. This class was not the easiest, there were lots of times I would fail her tests, and many times I would almost get a C on my report card. She taught in a way that produced great math students. She constantly gave us feedback on our problems and explained why we were wrong and why we were right. It was ok if you didn’t get it the first time because she never gave up. I might get a break from a certain topic but she made sure that she revisited that topic and made sure we mastered it. She showed me that when I fail at something I can treat it one of two ways; I can let that failure define me, dwell on it and let it hold me back or I can treat it as a learning experience and better myself!

I loved everything about how she taught math. She made me realize the importance of math and the importance of it in my life. She was constantly connecting our lessons to real-life situations; not made up things that we didn't believe but true, real-life connections. She taught me how everything in math builds and connects together. It never felt like we moved on to a new topic truthfully because she was always revisiting prior lessons to make sure we saw the connections. At one point over the year, she said “One day, without warning, you will just see that it all clicks and comes together, and when you do all math will be easy for you.” So here I find myself as an incoming Junior in high school and everything clicks. Math is so easy to understand. I am not saying that there are never difficult problems but there is not a problem that seems too difficult to solve. She was able to build my confidence by treating us all the same, believing in all of our capabilities, and giving us the knowledge we needed to be successful. Mrs. Lambdin is a true gem… A precious stone that is very rare to find.