I came to college wanting to major in education. I wasn't sure what I wanted to teach, but it was between math and Spanish. Languages are generally easy for me, and I love speaking Spanish. So I began to think about my reasons for wanting to teach math, and then I thought about my reasons for wanting to teach Spanish. Mr. Binford was my number one reason.
Mr. Binford taught me Spanish III in tenth grade and Spanish V in twelfth. He is one of the most devoted and caring teachers I have ever had. I had many problems at the beginning of high school with studying. I didn?t know how to do it, and I wasn?t a great student. Actually, I was a pretty bad student. I got a C for my first quarter grade in Mr. Binford?s class, and I was very disappointed with him as a teacher. I wasn?t mature enough at that point to say that it was my fault for getting a bad grade. Then, my mom told me I was going to have to find a way to bring my grade up. I went to a private school that gave students and teachers free periods so the students would have time to get help from their teachers. I decided to get help from Mr. Binford. My second quarter grade was an A-. That was the biggest change in grades I had from one quarter to the next my entire high school career. I owe a lot of it to myself for studying, but had Mr. Binford not been who he is, I would not have succeeded as I did.
Mr. Binford made me want to teach Spanish. He is also a big reason for my desire to teach in the first place. He is the teacher that every wants to have, and he is the teacher that every teacher wants to be. He takes every learning style into account before he begins a lesson, and he listens to his students. He used to ask us what we thought of each activity we did so he could improve the way he taught. Mr. Binford knows how to cater his teaching to any learning style, and even if he cannot, he finds ways to help a student succeed. He makes students love learning. When I grow up, I want to be like Mr. Binford.
-- Sara Zager, American University