High school! I dread hearing those words or even talking about them. For me, high school was the worst four years of my life: it seemed like everything I thought was solid, fell apart. thought there was no hope, until junior year came around. I was taking a philosophy class, and I had Mr. M. Everyone raved about what a spectacular teacher he was, but I was skeptical. He seemed like just another teacher, until the second or third week. By this time we felt comfortable with him, and he was getting to know us. From that time on, going to class was an adventure and we never knew what we were going to embark on that day. In class we joked around, laughed, talked, and learned all at the same time, it seemed like more of a free period than class. But Mr. M. was not just a teacher; he was also a friend. If we came into class depressed, or not looking like ourselves, he would talk to us, or hold us back after class to find out what was eating away at us.

Mr. M. questioned all our ways of thinking, which made us, his students, get involved in class. He was teaching us like he was our friend. He never put himself on a pedestal, or made us feel inferior, he treated us like colleagues, and we treated him like a peer, but still recognized him as a teacher.

I remember, during the time we were reading Beowulf, he acted out a scene that no one understood. By taking this extra mile, he helped us to understand the scene and make us laugh at the same time.

On another occasion, he could tell we were all run down by our midterms earlier in the day. He told us that he has been waiting for a day like this for a long-time, because he has something to show us. He wanted us to see how oblivious and self-absorbed we are at school. He said, that he understood how hard high school is and that we have this feeling that we are suppose to be perfect all the time, but in this mindset, we ignore some of the most extraordinary and unexplainable things around us. Without knowing what we were in for, we all stood up and followed Mr. M. outside. He led us into the middle of the outfield of our softball field and told us to look at the trees that were straight ahead. Nothing was wrong with them, they looked fine, but then he told us to turn around. Upon looking at the trees on the direct opposite side of the outfield, they were all slanted to the right. I was amazed, I had looked at these trees everyday for the previous three years, and never noticed the completely obvious slant. This experience made me do a complete 180. I realized how ignorant I was being to who I was. I was trying to be a person that others would like and accept, but not who I wanted to be.

Mr. M. made me look at my life, and who I was in a completely different light. He never judged us and expected the same from us. He really showed he cared about us, not only as students, but also as people, which makes him, not only a great teacher, but also a class act.