Anna Pinkas

When I think of joy and kindness in teaching, I think of my 7th grade Latin teacher. The subject was not a popular one amongst my peers (I secretly loved it – although I pretended otherwise with my friends), so she had a tough public to contend with. She was a small woman, but carried herself with great confidence and cool. She wore jeans, funky bandanas and sat cross-legged ON the desk while telling us about Greco-Roman deities. She brought great energy to each class. Even the students struggling with Latin conjugation had a smile on their face when listening to her. I will never have her natural cool and innate positivity… but I try to channel her when I find myself struggling to engage students on a topic.