Who was yours?

Ever since we moved to this state, I've been much more heavily thrown into the world of "continuing education" as a teacher. Now, sometimes it's not so much "continuing my education" as it is someone repeating all the bullet points from Ed. 295: Classroom Management and using a verbatim PowerPoint to repeat the repetitive bullets for me as they go along.
But every now and then, it's actually interesting, worthwhile, and I feel as though I have actually learned some information which will help me in my quest to educate the youth of today.
Today was the good kind -- the actual "continuing" of my education. I went to a workshop hosted by Barry Lane, a soft-spoken gentlemen with a mural of varying background experiences from around the world. He talked about helping students write in their own voice -- something that is supremely lacking in our test and data-driven world of American Education. I'll spare you all the jargon details -- suffice it to say I will be trying out many a new lesson plan after Winter Break. But two ideas were always lurking in my mind as he talked today:
The first one? How is it that all the stuff he said today is NEW to most of the teachers here? Quite a few of the lesson plan ideas he offered up or just the small techniques used were familiar to me because my Ed. professors had talked about them...and some of them were familiar because I was taught that way by MY English Teachers. The differences between Education here and Education in MN are vastly different...and, just like Hagrid says about wizards to dear Mr. Potter, "not all of them are good." Yes, Hagrid, it is the first thing you need to understand.
The second idea is much more thought-provoking and happy to think about. Everyone (at least that I know) has at least one teacher who really makes a difference for you -- someone who really makes you explode with the power of yourself. For me, this came in the form of many different English teachers throughout the years (but beginning in 8th grade with Mrs. Brzenzski, a lively and passionate teacher) and in the form of one German teacher in high school. The amazing thing about these teachers is that they really make you believe that you can achieve your goals (or at least the realistic ones). For example, I was an imaginative girl, and one of my younger goals was to set foot on all of the continents. This will not happen. But here's a better goal to focus on: I always wanted to be published. Didn't matter how large or how small the piece, or even how many times -- I just wanted that for myself. And I have had many supportive teachers who have mirrored my goal for myself, and had faith that someday I could do it. And I still believe it. That's the power of a teacher right there.
Not everyone can be here in merry Osh-Gosh-Vegash with us this holiday season, so here's an antidote of dear little Lyra. By the way, this proves that cats are the most imaginative creatures on earth. We have our guest towels out this weekend, including the bath mat at the floor of the shower. I noticed a few days ago that the bath towel was suddenly a bit snagged, and some of the threads were coming out. Odd, since we just bought this towel two months ago. Then, in her secret hiding time, I noticed Lyra skulking into the bathroom, laying down on the towel, pausing for a moment's reflection, and then attacking the towel by picking it up with her front claws, pulling it over her body and scratching at it with her back claws. When she noticed me looking, she gave me her crazy-eyed "ARGH!" look, and immediately bolted from the bathroom. Embarrassed to have been caught playing "pretend?" Or perhaps running from the lethargic ogre woman who towered over her? You be the judge.