In the fall of 1985, I had no idea that I would ever be a teacher. Most likely, I wanted to be a professional golfer or comic book illustrator. As a junior in high school, I am sure the idea of being a teacher had not even crossed my mind. For much of my middle and high school years, school was not where I envisioned my life happening.  It took a very insightful college professor to suggest taking the introductory education class my junior year of my undergraduate studies to open my eyes a little. Thankfully I took that class and fell in love with the idea of helping kids learn. From that first experience until now, I have had wonderful mentors who have lifted me considerably.

However, when I really reflect, my first ‘mentor teacher’ was Mark Tingley. Now, 23 years into my teaching career I am still chasing the high bar he set. Classroom Communities is focused on how educators can build powerful relationships with their students. Even though I had lots of great teachers throughout my career as a student, Mark Tingley was a natural at building connections and inspiring learning in his classroom.

I was a pretty good student in high school. I wasn’t at valedictorian level, but I was smart enough to play school well and to get mostly As and Bs (AP Calculus not included). When I rolled into Mark Tingley’s physics class my junior year, I probably knew nothing about physics other than what I learned from Schoolhouse Rock’s A Victim of Gravity and Electricity, Electricity. Within days, I quickly learned that physics was my favorite period of the day.

Mark Tingley made a point to get to know who we were in order to connect us to physics, he wanted us to succeed, and he made physics phun. I had liked and probably learned in previous science classes (the burn and scar on my arm from molten hot glass in chemistry was a highlight of high school), but I had never loved going to a science class. To be honest I am not sure I loved going to any class until physics.

Mark Tingley was skillful in  finding connections between what we loved and the concepts o of the class. For me, he connected the principles of golf and swimming to physics concepts like linear motion and conservation of energy when he checked my progress in a lab setting. I would hear him try other ways for others to understand concepts a well. He set expectations for how we should learn from others in the class in meaningful ways. Mark Tingley was passionate about helping us understand a subject that most of us would never use post high school.

Mark Tingley pushed us to succeed. He loved physics and he wanted us to love it as well. He always had an open door if we wanted help. Even though I didn’t need to extra support often, I never once felt like I was doing the ‘wrong thing’ by stopping by his room to ask for it. There were teachers in the school that were not as welcoming when a student struggled, but he wasn’t one of them.

Mark Tingley also led us with an amazing sense of humor and joy. Which promoted the concept of fun in the classroom. He wrote tests and quizzes by hand before making dittos (if you are too young to know what a ditto copy is, you missed out on the simply pleasure of smelling a freshly made copy). These tests would be titled in ways that would make us laugh right before we had to show we learned. I will never, ever, forget the mid-October test, “The Smell in the air is Pumpkin, so it’s time for some Physics Phlunkin’!” Well, I have completely forgotten what the test was about, but the title burned into my memory. Friday quizzes were a lottery system. A student would spin a centrifuge labeled Regular Quiz, No Quiz, Everyone Gets and A, and Double Points. You were a hero or a goat depending on your luck, but we loved it. The labs we did in physics were wonderful hands-on activities that made the concepts stick. I even created some of my early career elementary science explorations based on labs from physics.

For an entire year, I was consistently engaged and wanting to learn more. I had a teacher who knew me as a student, but also as a person. I had a teacher who, for at least a little while, had me thinking that maybe I should study physics in college. I had a teacher who now is in the back of my mind when I think about how laughter and learning can go hand in hand. Whether it was a corny joke in a lab session, a ridiculous problem based scenario on a test or just a belly laugh when we shared how our day was going, Mark Tingley’s personality still resonates with how I want to establish a learning community in my classroom.

Mark Tingley has retired from the field of education, but his influence is felt by the students I have been fortunate enough to welcome each year. Principal Danny Steele from Alabama wrote, ““Kids aren’t inspired by lessons… but by teachers — teachers who bring joy to the room, passion for their subject, and love for the students.” Mark Tingley was a teacher who inspired me. There were many more in my life, but he is the one who I fondly remember when I think about how I should interact in positive and meaningful ways with my students to engage them in the act of learning. Which is why in many ways I feel like I am racing to keep up with the memories from that class.

Who were the teachers who profoundly inspired your thinking about our profession? Hopefully, you had one or two like Mark Tingley. If you did, thank them.