Growing up in a small village, teachers were (and still are) difficult to find and keep, mainly because of how small the village is, and what little resources it has to offer, amongst other things. A fair bit of the time, the teachers we have/had were older teachers that are close to retirement or already at retirement age, or newer teachers that are both new to the community or school. However, amongst these teachers there is always some that are what I would think of them as being “the best, funniest, and put students first” kind of teachers, however, a large portion of the time, these teachers would relocate to other schools/communities.

In my Grade 7 year of elementary school, my current teacher was taking a leave of absence and we were getting a new teacher, and we were his first class ever to teach. He was what I considered to be one of those teachers who is “the best, funniest, and put students first” kind of teacher. His curriculum included a lot of kinesthetic learning, and educational field trips. However, one field trip was very memorable, and not just for him, but for the whole class and me as well.

We were on the school bus driving back to the elementary school from an out of town school that we had visited for a field trip, and we had to make a bathroom break. So we stopped on the side of the road at some outhouses and we all lined up. Towards the end when only a few more people had to use the bathroom, a guy thought it would be funny to have his picture taken of his head peeping out the little outhouse window… While someone stood outside the outhouse to take the picture, he went inside and decided to stand on the toilet seat (there was no toilet seat cover on these toilets)… Well, he slipped and lost his shoe down into the sewage below. However, our teacher didn’t seem phased about the situation at hand and he told us not to worry about it, and he jogged up a hill into the bushes and trees, and within record time he came back with a stick that was about 6-8 feet long. He proceeded to go into the outhouse and a few minutes later he came back with the sewage covered shoe on the end of the stick. The bus driver found a garbage bag in the bus and sealed the shoe up in the bag. When we got back to the school, the guy threw the bag and his shoe in the dumpster and walked around with only one shoe on for the remainder of the day. Even though the guy was unable to keep his shoe, we still had some good memories and laughs, and I was able to take something from this situation.

Header Image from: https://www.idahocampgroundreview.com/campgroundsupport.php?page=packerjohn&sp-page=pac_fac