Loud Girl Talking

This is what one of my students wrote about me and I have decided that it’s how I want to be known for the rest of my life:

“You are the loudest teacher I have ever had. It’s not only your voice that’s loud, although nobody would ever call you a ‘low-talker,’ but everything about you is loud. The way you dress, the way you express your ideas about the books we’re reading, and the way you call on us to make sure we make our own ideas are heard is inescapable. We learned within the first two weeks that we couldn’t hide from you. You learned our names and you asked us to step up. Nobody (except that one girl and then only once) ever put her head on the desk and that’s because you demanded that we were fully present. When you told her that she couldn’t do that in your class we all heard you, loud and clear.

“Not that everything was clear. Sometimes when you talk very fast in your New York accent we don’t always ‘get’ your point the first time around -- I wished you’d use the board but I know you never do that -- but then you’d repeat the point back if we asked, or if you saw enough of the class giving what you call the deer-in-the-headlights look. I for one was afraid to sound ignorant if I hadn’t done all of the reading on time but I was never afraid you would think I would sound stupid. Not as long as I could make an argument based on the text, I wasn’t.

“We could always hear when you were walking down the hall towards the classroom because even your stride was loud but I hope you noticed that we didn’t stop talking when you arrived because what we were talking about before class was the books we’d be talking about during class.

“I’m not sure what I’m doing when I graduate but I am sure that I learned to be less afraid, less shy, less lazy, and less irresponsible because you expected a lot from me.

“I already got my grade so you know I’m not buttering you up. Please keep making a racket in the future.”