I don’t like numbers. I never have. They just don’t make sense to me when applied to algebra or geometry.
I am the “other brain” person. I like art, music, poetry, stories and crafts…but the law said I had to take math in school, so I did.
My first day of 10th grade, I walked into Vicky Winkles’ geometry class and did a double take.
She was a hippy.
Now, for those of you who are younger than my 63 years, hippies were quite common in the 70s. You could always pick one out of a crowd.
They wore frayed jeans, dashiki shirts from India, bohemian wild-print flowing skirts, sandals (or bare feet), long hair with a braid usually on each side of the face, headbands, bead and shell necklaces, and other strange paraphernalia.
With her odd skirts and leather fringed arm bands, it was rather obvious that my geometry teacher was a hippy.
During the first tortuous semester where I failed every single test, Miss Winkles told me to stay after class.
I knew that I was at the end of my rope. No hope. Failing. My dad would be called and that would end my social life forever.
But that didn’t happen.
Weird Miss Winkles sat in a desk next to me and asked me questions. “Did I have trouble memorizing? How often did I study? Where did I study? How did I study?”
A little disconcerted, I answered her questions. Yes, I studied; No, I couldn’t remember anything at test time; Yes, I crammed all night and right before the test; and Yes, I studied in my room with my music (then a radio and an 8 track player....remember those?).
Miss Winkles, who was so unique, then took time to tell me that I was doing everything wrong; there was a better way.
One on one, she showed me mnemonics, or tricks for learning and memorizing. She showed me how to chunk information, how to create acrostics using my notes. She taught me to study with no music and to read the information right before going to bed at night so my brain would continuously memorize the material all night long.
Then she said exactly the right thing for someone like me.
“I dare you to try this for the next test. If you do what I have told you, faithfully, you will never fail a test again. I dare you to try it,” she said.
Okay, I’ll admit it. Back then, if you dared me….I would do just about anything. I enjoyed the attention and shocking people. (I still remember the grocery cart race with friends through the Roses Department Store…I was pushing my best friend in the cart). So, of course, I took her up on her dare.
That week was midterms. I carefully utilized every trick and strategy she taught me. I was determined to prove her wrong. I couldn’t wait to sneer at her and stick my nose up saying, “It didn’t work.”
In each of my classes on test day, and as the teacher handed me my test, I asked if I could write on the back. They said yes, so immediately, I turned it over and wrote out all of my memory tricks and acrostics. Then I turned the test over and started writing.
I couldn’t believe it! I knew practically everything! And what I couldn’t remember was on an acrostic to help me remember on the back of the test.
That following Monday, I ran first thing to see Miss Winkles. With a smile, she told me I had passed with an 85. My English teacher was amazed and proud that I passed with a 93. I was flabbergasted. Winkles had been right. It worked.
I used Miss Winkles’ strategy throughout high school, graduating magna cum laud from college. I still use it for grocery shopping sometimes. More importantly, when I taught English in the school system for 20 years, I passed that knowledge on to my students. It was always my first lesson of the school year.
I will forever be grateful to that teacher who took time with me. She knew I wasn’t stupid; she just had to convince me that I wasn’t. She gave me something valuable that didn’t cost a thing…her time and knowledge.
Good teachers are a dime a dozen…they are everywhere. But really fantastic teachers? They are the unusual ones that stand out in your mind and teach you lessons you will never forget. Sometimes those lessons aren’t even about the course material. Sometimes those lessons are about life.
Whatever happened to Miss Winkles? After that year she quit teaching and decided to travel to county fairs and hawk games.
What a waste…but I told you she was weird.
