Great Teachers: In One Word

Reflective. Supportive. Transformative. Empathetic. These are some of the words identified as descriptors of a favourite teacher during the Ontario College of Teachers’ Just One Word (#just1word) social media campaign. The initiative helped promote World Teachers’ Day on October 5 in keeping with the College’s role of establishing and enforcing professional and ethical standards, as well as its obligation to communicate with the public.

Trying to find my place in the world as a preadolescent, I turned to my journal assignment as an outlet. Although some of my classmates may have seen the weekly activity as a chore, I readily and easily filled the lined pages with frustrations, uncertainties and hopes.

My #just1word was “compassionate.” That’s because Mr. Nobes, my teacher for two of my elementary school years, was exactly that.

I can’t recall too many specifics but there would have been at least one entry expressing my angst over being one of the tallest in a class of girls and boys. And there would have likely been an entry revealing envy of the new girl who wore the cool jeans that were heading out of style by the time I was allowed to own a pair.

Just as I looked forward to the class period assigned to journal writing, I was equally eager to read the response Mr. Nobes would record below my musings. My teacher seemed to be of an advanced age back then. But, in fact, after a recent search on the year he was certified via the College’s public register, Find a Teacher, I’ve confirmed that he was quite new to the teaching profession and younger than I realized.

It couldn’t have been easy for a rookie teacher to acknowledge the emotions and confessions of a student in both a caring and professional manner. Generic comments would have been much easier.

But Mr. Nobes never wrote generic comments below my journal entries. Instead, he wrote words of encouragement that helped me appreciate my talents. He reminded me, for example, that my creative writing pieces were often read aloud to the class, and that I was a top scorer on the basketball team.

It’s no wonder that one in seven respondents to the Just One Word campaign cited a variation of the word “inspiring” — an adjective that aptly describes so many Ontario Certified Teachers.

I’ve printed the word cloud from the News area on the College website (oct-oeeo.ca/g5wpm7) and display it proudly. I encourage you to do the same and make it visible in your workspace, because while World Teachers’ Day may be officially recognized on October 5 of each year, Ontario teachers provide inspiration to students, parents, colleagues, the teaching profession and society all year long.