GAIL WHITE A lesson in awesomeness: These teachers are tops

Mrs. Myers' third-grade class ... even now, as I remember the room, my heart jumps with excitement. It was a magical place to be. Little work areas in every corner, a reading table in the back and bright posters on every wall.
More exciting and magical than the room was Mrs. Myers herself. Her creativity was as endless as her energy. Both were infectious to every pupil in the classroom.
Mrs. Myers was put on this earth to be a teacher.
I can still hear her voice as she read stories to us, animating each character. I remember the way her eyes would grow wide with excitement when one of my classmates would answer a difficult question correctly or present her with a "masterpiece" of art.
Oh, how we loved to see those eyes light up. All of us adored her.
Once, toward the end of the school year when we all had one eye looking out the window at the sunshine, Mrs. Myers found a hole poked in the cellophane of one of our terrariums (a class project). Very excitedly, she suggested we take fingerprints and try to determine who the culprit was.
In September, we would have jumped at the cool idea. In May, we let it pass. Her learning energy far outlasted ours.
Mrs. Myers, truly, was a Totally Awesome Teacher.
Inspirational: Since taking this position with The Vindicator, I have had the pleasure of visiting many schools, either to cover a story or read to pupils. In the process, I have met many Totally Awesome Teachers.
I think of Barbara Kosiba, principal of Jackson Elementary School in Youngstown. I suspect she secretly went into administration so she could hug 230 children a day instead of just 30.
Mark D'Eramo, science teacher at Boardman High School, is not just a teacher but a friend to many of his students involved in the Fellowship of Christian Athletes.
Katherine Hornyak, first-grade teacher at Youngstown's Cleveland Elementary, says her pupils keep her young. (25 first-graders have the opposite effect on most adults.)
Roan Craig, the superintendent for the Mahoning County Career and Technical Center, has a passion that turns to fire when she talks about her students.
These are Totally Awesome Teachers.
Getting fired up: Kera Wilson, a second-grade teacher at Joshua Dixon in Columbiana, announced to her class one day, "Look, children, we just got the census map!" The children were thrilled. Only a Totally Awesome Teacher can create that kind of excitement over a nontoy, nonelectronic learning device.
It is awesome, the power that a teacher has to set young, inquiring minds on fire.
Paul Miller, a Totally Awesome Teacher and theater director at Greenville High School in Pennsylvania, has gotten hundreds of pupils fired up about Shakespeare.
Ellen Lettrich at Canfield High School has made history come alive with her theatrical history class.
Qualities: Totally Awesome Teachers are not afraid to be different. They are not intimidated by pupils who think they are weird. Their weirdness is what pupils remember and take with them.
Totally Awesome Teachers don't look at the clock or their paycheck. They look at the child.
Totally Awesome Teachers don't see what a child is not. They see what a child can be. Then, they guide the child on how to achieve that potential.
It is incredible, the difference one teacher can make in the lives of children. From exposing them to wonders previously unknown, to believing in them when they fail, a teacher has the power to touch and change lives.
We celebrate Mother's Day and Father's Day. There is a Bosses Day and a Secretaries Day. We have Grandparents Day and even Absolutely Incredible Kid Day.
It is time to pick a day and recognize all the wonderful men and women who have dedicated their lives to educating our children -- shaping our future.
It is time for a Totally Awesome Teacher Day.