Orsolya Koszeghy
EDU 2140 Curriculum
Semester 1 Quad A
August 31 2008
A Teacher Who Had an Impact on My Life
Interestingly, the teacher who had the most impact on my life was not one of my school teachers, but was my grandmother. My grandmother was a retired special education teacher of deaf and mute children, but for me she was always my Nagyi (Granny). She taught me the kinds of things that school teachers never could teach in the classroom.
Because my parents had to work and my grandmother was retired, I spent a lot of time with her. She was a mother, a grandparent and a teacher at the same time. She always prepared an interesting activity for the day. We visited museums, theatres, went to the zoo, took walks in the historical district of Budapest, visited the library, watched movies or just stayed at home and did something fun together. She always created the proper schedule with the weather and my age in mind. Because we baked sweet pastries together, I have a passion for baking to this day.
I loved the way she could find the tone and the language with me, keeping in mind my capacity. She had a good sense of humor and always tried to cheer me up when she saw lack of interest or tiredness. The biggest lesson I learned from her was how to be a happy and independent child. She let my free spirit wander, making me curious and adventurous. She never lectured me or gave me boring speeches; she always found ways to engage my interest through stories and examples from her life.
We read stories every single day. It was very important for her. She wanted my imagination to grow and explore different ideas and topics in my head. When I could not read by myself, she was the one who introduced me to picture books, and when I went to first grade she sat down with me and held my hand during my discovery of reading independently. My Nagyi was the first person who put a pencil in my hand. First we drew and colored together,...