“Aunty Mom” is what her students affectionately call her. My wife Merf and I called her Kelly throughout our high school days. Kelly is one of my wife’s best friends. That creative spelling of my wife’s nickname comes from Kelly. My correspondence with Kelly in the months after I saw her in Knoxville last summer […]
Dan Dunsmore
Dan Dunsmore’s aspiration in 1979 was to become a sports journalist, but someone suggested that he earn a degree in education just in case the writing idea didn’t work out. Dan’s student teaching experience that spring at Carter High School outside Knoxville, TN, changed the trajectory of his career. He went on to teach English and study skills for forty- three years at seven schools in five states before retiring in 2025. He wore many other hats, too, as educators do. Dan has now embarked on a gratitude tour to thank the many heads of school, colleagues, former students, high school classmates and even his big brother for the
positive impact they had on his career and education in general.
Posted inAsk a Teacher
Gratitude Tour: Carl and Nancy Frye
Carl Frye was one of the first colleagues I came to know well at Blue Ridge when I arrived in 1998. I wouldn’t coach until the winter, but, as the athletic director, he welcomed me to the School during the opening faculty meetings that August. He was already a legend at Blue Ridge, but that […]
Posted inInterviews
Gratitude Tour: Bob O’Connor
Bob O’Connor and I met during our 7th grade year at South High (a small neighborhood school that included 7th through 12th grades) and became best friends fairly quickly. I immediately liked Bob because of his positive outlook on life, his sly sense of humor, and mostly his family values. Only later did I discover […]
Posted inInstruction & Curriculum
Gratitude Tour: Libby Lang
Six years into my still-fledgling career, I began teaching at Durham Academy, a Pre-K to 12 independent school in North Carolina. It would be difficult to find anyone who represents all that is wonderful and worthy about Durham Academy more than Libby Lang. Independent schools, especially, come to be known for certain families. I’d stack […]
Posted inInstruction & Curriculum
Gratitude Tour: Simon Curry
During the 2023/2024 school year at Blue Ridge School (my final year of fulltime teaching), I lived in a trailer. ‘A trailer’ wasn’t completely accurate. It was actually a cluster of trailers large enough to house four human beings along with three restrooms, a kitchen, common area and a large front porch. However, our individual […]
Posted inInstruction & Curriculum
Gratitude Tour: Sheila Ray Cooper
Sheila Ray Cooper and I met in the first grade at Giffin Elementary School in South Knoxville, TN. She was Sheila Ray in those days and was one of a handful of friends with whom I attended school from 1962 to 1975. I admired her friendliness most of all. Even though she toppled me every single time in spelling bees and […]
Posted inInstruction & Curriculum
Gratitude Tour: The Most Reverend Joel M. Konzen
In 1982, after teaching for a year in the DeKalb County School system, I learned of an English position at the Marist School in North Atlanta, GA. I discovered in my research before applying for the position that the goal of the Marist Brothers and Fathers is “to make Jesus known and loved through the […]
Posted inInterviews
Gratitude Tour: Shirley Underwood
In the spring of 1979, I completed my final semester at the University of Tennessee. To earn my degree in Secondary English Education, I had to student teach. I don’t recall having any choice in where that would happen so I must have been assigned to Carter High School in the Knox County school system. […]