Mr. Bisaillon, Mr. LaGue, Mrs. Wareing, et al
Posted Monday, December 21, 2009 05:54 AM

Hello:

Just sharing more memories.

Ray Bisaillon for art, Henry LaGue for biology, Mrs. Wareing (Miss Silva at Normandin) for English, Miss Peters for Drama Club and Mr. Kelly for Geometry are all unforgettable. So were Mr. Felix, Miss Andrade and Mrs. Kontanis. Most of those teachers had a combination of skill, firmness and kindness, when appropriate that inspired me, even though I taught the primary grades in my teaching career.   I have to mention Miss McCarthy whose memory still makes me shudder with fear.   Remember in those days, students had to choose a specific academic track:  college, business or general? 

Mr. Bisaillon encouraged me to enter a collage I put together in an art show.    Mr. LaGue had a dry sense of humor, but his expectations for NBHS students were the highest of any teacher I ever knew.  I remember a student telling Mr. Kelly that a proof was right because "it looks like it" and Mr. Kelly yelling out, "nothing looks like it in Geometry, you have to prove it."    It's funny how some details stick in your mind. 
 I took a very long exam the year Broward County Schools  participated in a merit teacher program and as I was marking the answer for a grammar question I  thought, "Thank you Mrs. Wareing."  But I also remember she was a big fan of indicating the meter in poetry.  Now, high school students are just expected to appreciate poetry without marking out the iambic pentameter and all that.  With my accent I couldn't get the meter right when we had to mark the poems printed on mimeographed sheets,  it wasn't her fault, but I learned to compensate and passed the class.   I know times have changed and other teachers have come and gone and hopefully they were as good as the ones we had.