A Real-Life She-ro: Mrs. Ryor

I shared a piece last week about great teachers, but today I wanted to be more specific. I have been fortunate to have numerous educators in my past and present who have influenced my life tremendously. But when I think of the teacher who changed everything, one name surfaces above the rest: Mrs. Ryor.

Middle school is pretty much the WORST, and I was really terrible at it--not necessarily academically, but in every other possible way. I felt perpetually out of place, had no idea who I really was, and spent way too much time and effort trying to be what I thought other people wanted me to be.

Mrs. Ryor was my sixth grade reading teacher (and later seventh and eighth grades, too). She was the first teacher I ever had look at me and say, "You are a writer." She didn't say it in those direct words, but in the comments and encouragements she gave me over the three years I was privileged to be her student, say it she did. And despite my enormous uncertainty and insecurity, she helped me to see it, as well. Through thirty years, I can trace a direct lineage from the sense of creative identity she fostered in me to the work I do today.

Unfortunately (or possibly not!), any of the writing I did for her during those three years is now lost to the sands of time. However, I do still have my copy of a note she wrote to all of her eighth graders after our performance of Shakespeare's Julius Caesar (I played Cassius):

　

Like the lost poems and essays, whatever gift we collectively gave her after the play is long gone from my memory, but the gifts she gave me (and, I have no doubt, my classmates) are ones that shaped me, and that I continue to use today.

Thank you, Mrs. Ryor. You are my she-ro.

　
(Have a real-life hero or she-ro to nominate for this blog? Let me know at misslynn [at] misslynn [dot] com!)