Mrs. Stoll

See this face? Notice the shock of white hair? The look of determination and lack of nonsense? This is the meanest English teacher you ever heard of and everyone at Red Bluff Union High School (California) feared her ... but she was the best teacher I ever had. When I think back about the ONE teacher who made a difference in my life....it was she. When I picture her, she is standing at her lectern, a thin wiry body always in a silk dress, with her hand in the air making a point: and always, I mean ALWAYS that wild white hair of hers sticking up as if making the point stronger. She was a Berkeley graduate. She took no guff from anyone. There was never anything about her that we could giggle about ... like the other teachers. Her class was QUIET and filled with learning every minute. She lectured a lot. No one dared to not bring in the assignment, or not study for a test. We learned vocabulary from the Word Wealth book, and I still remember those words. Every comma or semicolon had to be perfect. On the major English themes we had to (so often) write, we all knew the RULE....if there were more than THREE misspelled words, she would give you an "F" no matter how perfect the essay was otherwise. Those essays are some of the few things from high school I still have. I learned to proofread well. She was the Advanced English teacher for the juniors. I keep hearing those 'Mrs. Stoll Tapes' running in my head. I often wonder if I have affected my students the way she did. It is what I have tried to do ... since she is the gold standard I've tried to reach during my 30 years of teaching..... Hats off to you, Mrs. Marie Stoll! You did it well..... Does anyone else remember the teacher that touched them? Share, Share...