By: Tiffany Wincek, Account Manager.

We here at OverDrive hope that your school year is off to an amazing start. You positively impact your learners’ lives every day—so much so that, decades from now, your students will still remember you for the funny things that happened in your classroom, how you recognized their hard work, or how you connected with them. We asked Team OverDrive to tell us more about their favorite teachers and favorite classroom memories.

“Mrs. Chamney was my 1st-grade teacher. What set her apart and will continue to set her apart in my mind and heart was how genuinely she cared for her students and showed it through what seemed to be limitless kindness and patience. She did not have children of her own and always said that we were like her own kids, and she treated us with as much love and care as you’d hope to see from any parent. Her reward was that we would literally line up at the end of every school day, waiting for our turn to give her a hug. She never asked for hugs, and certainly never expected us to give them; we simply all felt so genuinely cared for and it was the only way we knew to show her how much she meant to us!”

-Noel, Account Manager

“The teacher that immediately comes to mind is my Creative Writing teacher senior year of high school, Mr. Young. Until then all my English teachers had been about symbolism and deeper meaning, but he was the first one who told us ‘Sometimes a rock is just a rock.’ I’ve heard many variations of this since then, but his words have always stuck with me. Some aspects of life and literature don’t always have a deeper meaning and it’s not necessary to look harder to find it’s true meaning. Sometimes it’s as simple as what we can see right in front of us. And sometimes, after seven and a half million years of research, we find out ‘the Answer to the Great Question of Life, the Universe and Everything is Forty-two.’ (Metaphorical gold star if you catch that reference without using Google.)”

-Andrea, Product Support Specialist

“My favorite teacher was Mr. Law, my 6th grade teacher (elementary school). Mr. Law encouraged me to write & consistently praised my creativity and passion for reading. A few years back, my husband asked me about my favorite teacher & we talked about Mr. Law. His response to me was, ‘Do you think he knows that?’ I decided that day to write a letter to Mr. Law, explaining the impact he had on me & thanking him for his encouragement. To this day, we’re pen pals!”

-Michelle, Sales Enablement Partner

“In 9th grade AP U.S. History, the class roll played as members of congress, debating an issue. A fellow student questioned my honor in our debate and so I challenged her to a duel. We both looked at our teacher, unsure of what to do. He told us the only thing to do was duel and gathered us for 1-on-1 rock, paper, scissors showdown. I won the duel and she was deemed ‘dead’ for the rest of the debate.”

-Regis, Account Manager

“Mr. Parsons was very creative and made 10th graders care about classic lit, which is no small feat. One day he rapped Macbeth. One day he came to school in the strangest outfit with a Fu Manchu moustache, only for us to realize that the entire lesson had been about not judging on appearances. But the best was when we read Frankenstein. He had us do tons of personality assessments, then we all had make 3D projects that represented our ‘inner monster’ as well as how that ‘monster’ could be turned around to help the world. I’ve never seen a room full of 16-year-olds be as open and vulnerable as we were when we presented our projects.

Also, Mr. Singh was always funny. He told great stories, imitating his dad’s Indian accent and his mom’s Mississippi accent, but my most specific memory were his exams. Every day Mr. Singh wore a tie, except the day of the final. The last question on the final was ‘for extra credit, draw one of Mr. Singh’s ties.’ It was such a creative way to see how observant we were and how much we actually paid attention! (For the record, I got extra credit by drawing a blue and yellow palm tree tie.)”

-Hannah, Account Manager

“Our 7th grade Pre-Algebra teacher, Mr. Theodore, had a zest for life. We called him Mr. T even though he looked nothing like the A-Team actor. However, he was quite fond of telling us that he ‘pities the fool.’ If you knew one thing about Mr. T, you knew that he LOVED candy. We would earn points both collectively as a class and as individuals and at the end of each month we would go ‘shopping’ for candy. He had every type of candy imaginable spread over his desk and front table. Frequently he would wonder aloud, ‘I don’t know why anyone would do drugs when they could eat candy!’ Mr. Theodore’s positive demeanor was infectious, and it was a pleasure to learn from him. I hope he is enjoying his retirement!

-Meredith, Account Manager