Who was your most influential teacher? Why?
He was not a teacher at all, he’s my Dad. Growing up with only sisters, no brothers on our farm meant we lived by the “girls can do anything boys can do, better” rule.
So even though my Dad had no sons, he trained us to do everything a son might have done. From learning to drive trucks at age nine, tractors at age 11 to helping handle the cattle and saddle a horse.
Was he the most patient of teachers? Probably not. But he had this way of instilling confidence in me that made me believe I could do whatever it was he needed me to do.
I had ridden in the five ton grain truck endless times but had never driven it, until one day he was combining and needed to dump the load of grain from the hopper on the combine into the waiting truck. He just verbally gave me the instructions and I jumped in that big truck and I did it!
If we ever voiced that we were too afraid to do something he would laugh it off and tell us how silly we were for being scared. And we would believe him and then do it.
I think that’s what makes a great teacher!
bloom.planted.north 
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