Episode 58 is the monthly bonus episode. This is a special look at the teacher who impacted my life the most. Ms. Claire Rodrigues was my Second Grade teacher and it was in her class where the seed of my dream to be a writer was planted. My Aunt Kelly recently retired from teaching after more than three decades so it felt like an appropriate time to create such an episode.
Hopefully everyone out there had a teacher that helped influence their lives in a positive way. All kids have some sort of dream they want to pursue and having a teacher, or other important person in their lives, to help them along the way is invaluable.
This bonus episode is a Thank You to the teacher who influenced my life the most, and hopefully gets you thinking about those who did that for you.
Be sure to watch for my livestreams called Without A Map Friday's at 8pm on Instagram which serve as a sort of postgame show for the podcast. Find them on IGTV after they've finished.
Helpful Links from this Episode(available through Buzzsprout)
Listen to Episode 57 here.
Episode 58 is the monthly bonus episode. This is a special look at the teacher who impacted my life the most. Ms. Claire Rodrigues was my Second Grade teacher and it was in her class where the seed of my dream to be a writer was planted. My Aunt Kelly recently retired from teaching after more than three decades so it felt like an appropriate time to create such an episode.
Hopefully everyone out there had a teacher that helped influence their lives in a positive way. All kids have some sort of dream they want to pursue and having a teacher, or other important person in their lives, to help them along the way is invaluable.
This bonus episode is a Thank You to the teacher who influenced my life the most, and hopefully gets you thinking about those who did that for you.
Be sure to watch for my livestreams called Without A Map Friday's at 8pm on Instagram which serve as a sort of postgame show for the podcast. Find them on IGTV after they've finished.
Helpful Links from this Episode(available through Buzzsprout)
Listen to Episode 57 here.
Hello, world, and welcome to the in my footsteps podcast. I am Christopher Setterlund. Coming to you from the vacation destination known as Cape Cod, Massachusetts. And this is episode 58. This is the monthly special bonus episode that I do a little bit shorter, but we take one topic and expand upon it. And this month, this episode is going to be something very special. Everybody's dream has an origin story, meaning what you want to do with your life and what you want to be, there's always that seed that Genesis, that moment where it all kind of takes shape. Maybe some of you remember that maybe some of you don't. But what I'm going to do with this week's episode is speak a little bit about the moment that I decided that I wanted to become a writer, but it's wrapped in something bigger. Because usually, your dream doesn't just pop up. There's something that influences it. And for some people, it's a hero, it's someone they know it's a family member. For others, it is a teacher. And that's what we're going to do right here this week on episode 58. As I talk about the teacher that inspired me to become a writer, and also a little bit about what makes a good teacher important to a developing mind. So let's jump right into it right now on episode 58. The bonus episode of The in my footsteps podcast. School is such an important part of a child's growing up. Basically, through high school, it's like having a job, you're there as many hours as you would in a typical job. And it starts out easy. Some kids go to preschool or even pre-preschool like daycare basically, typically, most start with kindergarten. And when you're in kindergarten, it's simple. School is easy. It's numbers, letters, and shapes, it's the basics to build the bit, the basic building blocks for learning. Then as you get older and you go through the years, things get harder. Simple math, simple addition becomes calculus, regular old science becomes chemistry. And even though there are always lesson plans, teachers always have a direction in mind for what they're going to teach you. But you will find that some things speak to you, some things you enjoy, and some don't. And it's really easy to start weeding out what you like and what you don't in school. And those are the places the in-betweens in between the curriculum where there's a little wiggle room, that's where you start to find what speaks to you. And in addition to interests and subjects that speak to you, you will find the same with teachers. For me, obviously, I went through all years of traditional school into college. And I'm sure if I sat down and really thought about it, I could name most of my teachers. But a lot of them are kind of faceless and nameless, that just were forgotten in a heartbeat, basically, when I left the class, and that's not anything on them, they may have just taught a subject that I was not interested in and it became more like a job. You know, a lot of us have worked at jobs that we don't like, but we do it just to make money and get by. Sometimes it's the same with teaching you take a class because you have to. I mean, honestly, how many of you out there listening could name more than half of your teachers you had just off the top of your head, I'm talking to bang, bang, bang, bang? No, it's hard. Or at least maybe it's just for me. But the thing is, there are those special few teachers that break through and become an integral part of you and your development as a human and your interests and your path in life. Unless you dropped out of school in like kindergarten or first grade, everyone has one teacher, at least one that spoke to them beyond the typical writing on a chalkboard and textbook and tests. And I thought it was appropriate to do this episode at this time because my aunt Kelly recently just retired as a teacher after more than three decades. And she was one of those teachers that influenced a lot of her students positively. I can remember being in third, fourth grade maybe. So this is the late 80s and going into her classroom to help set it up before the school year began. And I would have loved to have had her as an actual teacher but I'm luckier that I had her and have her as a family member. So her retirement and the influence that she had and more than three decades on her students inspired me to do this episode. it. So even though it's a shorter episode, we're going to go way, way back in the day like I normally do. Go back to 1986 and second grade, South Yarmouth Elementary School, which is no longer an elementary school. It's a campus of Bridgewater State University. And let's meet up with eight-year-old me who had no direction and no desires or dreams, or at least any that were realistic. But I mean, who does at eight years old? My teacher in second grade was Ms. Rodrigues, Claire Rodrigues, anyone who grew up in the Yarmouth area in the mid late 80s, early 90s. If you had Ms. Rodrigues, I'm pretty sure you remember her. And if she's not your favorite teacher, she's going to be up there. Because that's just how she was the way that I know that she was a special teacher and a difference maker in my life, is the fact that I can't tell you much about third grade, fourth grade that came after which are more recent, but I can tell you details about second grade, because it seemed to kind of break through the childhood mind of mine and make an impact. It was here in second grade that I became introduced to writing and reading. I don't know how much I could read before then I think I was all right. I was I was wicked smart as a young kid. But the thing was reading kind of opened my mind up and made me think hey, you know, I'd like to do my own stories and writings similar to what I was reading. The big name that stuck out to me as far as reading went in second grade was Shel Silverstein. He was a poet, cartoonist, songwriter, and playwright, among other things. He wrote countless influential children's books and poetry books in the 6070s 80s 90s. There was some like The Giving Tree and giraffe and a half. And the missing piece. The one though that stuck out to me maybe because it was recent, was a light in the attic. It came out in 1981. So it's old now. But when we're going back to when I was in second grade, it was only five years old. It had dozens and dozens of poems that were relatable to kids just unique ways of rhyming and random topics that just would either make you laugh or wonder what the hell he was thinking. But through the randomness of Shel Silverstein, and it's great stuff, I say random, but it's in a good way. Ms. Rodriguez would make it all interesting and make sense. And this second grade is when you had one teacher that taught you everything it wasn't as you get to middle school in high school, where you have periods and classes where the bell rings and you go to the next class, you were there all day. So it could have been real easy for a subpar teacher to lose the class. And that did not happen. I can't remember if we all were assigned to write something, or if it was just something that popped in my head that I wanted to do. But I remember it was in Ms. Rodrigues's class that I wrote the first ever short story of my life. So let me date myself again, because at that time, a brand new movie that was out was called The Goonies. It's an action comedy about a bunch of teenagers that go basically searching for a buried treasure underneath the town. If you haven't seen it, then I don't know where you've been the last 35 years. The fantasy and adventure part of the Goonies and the interesting writing of Shel Silverstein that was starting to infiltrate my mind got the creative juices going for the first time. So the first ever story I wrote was a sequel to The Goonies, the Goonies to starring me and my friends going on a similar adventure. So it was probably a lot of plagiarism. But God I was eight years old leave me alone. I can't remember the exact details of the story. So I can't name who was in it or what happened to them. I just remember that was the first foray into writing in my life. And Ms. Rodrigues made me want to try want to learn want to pursue things like that, because I didn't know writing was going to be basically what I'm doing today. But when you have a teacher that makes learning fun and interesting and is very supportive of what you do, especially when you're 8, 9, 10 years old, that sticks with you, it makes you feel confident that maybe you can be something in your life and I'm sure Are all of you out there as I keep going on, you're getting in your head, some teacher that did that for you. And if you don't have one, I feel bad for you. Second grade was full of so many fun and positive memories. A lot of it thanks to Ms. Rodriguez. A lot of it thanks to the kids that were in my class with me. I can remember having basically a rap battle with one of the girls in my class, as we recited a Shel Silverstein poem and try to get through it as fast as we could accurately. It was like a race. The poem is called spaghetti. And it's from Silverstein's book Where the Sidewalk Ends, just in case you want to go for yourself and read it and see how fast you can do it. I also can remember having this game we played a math game called around the world, which was essentially like Jeopardy where you would get a math question. It will be two kids at a desk. And Miss Rodriguez would say, Okay, five plus five. And whoever got the answer, right first would move on and around the world meant you went around to all the desks, basically, you just beat all the other kids at math. And not to pat myself on the back too much. But I typically dominated that game. And I mean, dominated like it would be almost to the point where I'm sure Ms. Rodriguez wanted me to either sit out games, or kind of throw a question or two so other kids could win. But she couldn't do that, because I'm sure that wouldn't look good. It was 35 years ago. And I can still remember a time when I was beaten in around the world. And it was my friend, Brian. And he got the question right ahead of me. And everyone in the classroom clapped. You would have thought that the US hockey team had just beaten the Soviets in the Miracle on Ice again, they all clapped. And it was one of those. I was embarrassed that I got beat. But looking back it was it's such a funny moment. But like I said, Ms. Rodrigues, I'm sure she knew that the other kids, you know, it looked bad with me constantly winning and around the world. I mean, it's just a math game. But she was so supportive in developing my skills and everyone's skills. It's not just me, but I can only look at it from my perspective. But I know that 99% of the kids that were in that class have such great memories of her. Another fun story that I'm loving to share my same friend Brian who beat me and around the world. So back then second grade 35 years ago, so 1986 We had a penmanship teacher. So anyone who's young, imagine that someone came in to teach you how to write cursive, which I don't even know if anyone can do if they're young and in school now. His name was Mr. Moran. I can't remember if he came once a week or every other week. But he came in and there will be a segment like on a TV show where he would just teach us letters and how to write. And I can remember this like it was yesterday. One time Mr. Moran came. And either he and Ms. Rodriguez went to lunch or they had lunch at her desk or something. It was just like a friendly thing where they had lunch and they chatted about I'm sure school and life and such. But my friend Brian was so jealous because he had such a big crush on Ms. Rodriguez. And he was not shy about how jealous he was It was obvious. So what was Ms. Rodrigues's reaction to this? She took Brian out for lunch. That speaks right there to who she wasn't is as a person and a teacher. Where even though it was she took time out of her day, to make Brian feel better about himself and his own feelings because she I'm sure knew as a teacher that if he was upset that she had lunch with Mr. Miranda could easily affect his learning his ability to learn in her class and could affect him for years to come. That's some really big picture thinking there and just a good-hearted person making someone feel better. I left that class 35 years ago and time went on decades past I became a writer. And it was my fourth book historic restaurants of Cape Cod that came out in 2017 where it all came full circle and I was finally able to give Ms. Rodriguez the credit she deserved kind of as they say give her her flowers the book launch for that for historic restaurants was my biggest one thus far. So it was a perfect time I reached out to her and sent her a letter. I think I found her address. Then I sent her a letter and just said, Would you like to come to this event? I thanked her for helping me become a writer and just influencing my life in a positive way. And the thing is, she was so happy and so like, overwhelmed, happy, because I'm sure. I don't think teachers go into their job looking to be bad at it, honestly. But I think the ones that are good, they, some of them might not know how many kids they influence in a positive way. So I think having one of them reach out and say, This is what I'm doing now. And I got the, the seed for becoming a writer. It was in your class, I want you to come so I can thank you in front of everyone. I'm sure that was something that was appreciated by her. The funny thing is, I think she actually was unsure if she wanted me to announce her to the crowd. I don't know if I said I wouldn't. I know that. At that event. A lot of former restaurant owners that were featured in the book came to the event. And those Cape Codders. If you remember Dorsie's in the 70s and 80s, in Yarmouth, George Carey, who was Dorsey, that's his nickname. I remember he showed up late. And when I saw him walk in, he had this handlebar mustache that he was known for, I made sure on the mic to announce him, kind of. So people clapped. But it was also like, Hey, you showed up late. So now I'm going to embarrass you a little. That whole book launch event was a very special occasion. For me, I have it up on YouTube, I'll have to share the link to it just so you can kind of see and hear and feel what it was like if you're interested. But I was able to stop in the middle of my presentation and essentially do a shortened version of what I'm doing right now. And be able to announce Miss Rodriguez and have her stand up and have people give her a round of applause because she deserved that. For decades of service to the community and to the kids and making their lives better. She at least deserved a round of applause at my book event. I know for a fact that she was the favorite teacher of at least one of my sisters. I don't know about all my other siblings. But I know she was a favorite of my sister Ashley. And we got a picture the two of us with Ms. Rodrigues, I'll share that too online. That event was really special too because the historic restaurants book is dedicated to my grandpa. And if you've heard way back in episode 20, that was my first bonus episode where I spoke all about my grandpa and how he basically influenced my life more than anyone. So being able to dedicate the book to him, have him there, have him speak. And then also have Ms. Rodrigues who influenced me to become a writer, and to have her get up and be able to have people see her and applaud her, it was just perfect way to give back to people that influenced me. And as we bring this all back around, I'm sure you out there have teachers that influenced you in that way. Like I said, if you don't I feel bad for you. Because your school system may not have been that good. But I bet if you sit back and think you have somebody that influenced you positively, they may not have directly influenced what you're doing in life now. But they may have made you see the world differently, see it in a better way. And that's I think all you can ask or the best you can ask of a teacher is for a kid that has that teacher to leave their classroom better than they were before. And granted, there are some kids that just aren't good in school or that are delinquent and they don't want to learn. But for the most part, most kids go into school, looking to find what they are, who they are, what they're going to be. And the truly good truly talented teachers, like Ms. Rodrigues, like my aunt Kelly, they can pull that out of kids and maybe even pull it out of the kids that don't want to learn. And like I said, there are some years of school that are just a blur to me. I couldn't tell you who I had as teachers. But there were more than just Ms. Rodrigues. She is the top of the hill as far as teachers that influenced my life. But there were more. Mr. Coogan, Jim Coogan, he got me into history in high school. He is a writer as well. But he got me to enjoy history. So anyone who likes me I history books, my history blogs, the in my footsteps podcast blog. I told Mr. Coogan, you got me to love history. So all that writing has come as an influence from him. And there was Dan McCullough, who's a professor at Cape Cod Community College, I can still remember, he was friends with my grandparents. So I didn't have him as an instructor. But because of his connection to my grandparents, he actually met with me out of the goodness of his heart and a favor to my grandparents. And I talked to him about writing. And I'll never forget, this was, Oh, God, well over 20 years ago. And he said, in writing to be prepared for failure, be prepared for rejection, and be prepared to constantly be trying to prove yourself. And he essentially said, if you're not ready to do all that, and keep going, after failure and rejection, he said, if you're not ready to do that, then you're not ready to be a writer. And it always stuck with me. And interestingly, at my work, we had a work dinner for Christmas. And Dan McCullough was there, and I was able to go up to him and thank him much like I did miss Rodrigues. There was like three of us in the party at work that all went up and got around him and thanked him and he was just overwhelmed and in tears, and that's the thing that shows to him that he impacted lives just like being able to showcase Miss Rodrigues at my book launch event or with this podcast that what she did influence my life in a positive way. And hopefully, you out there listening, if you're thinking of teachers that influenced you in that way, in a positive way, seek them out and let them know. Because I'm sure even the best teacher that knows they're the best teacher would like to get some reassurance and validation that their job meant something. So I just want to wrap up this week's podcast by thanking you. Thank you, Claire Rodrigues, Ms. Rodrigues for being such a positive influence on my life. Even though it was 35 years ago that I had you in school, your influence has stuck with me all the way through. I don't know if you'll ever hear this podcast episode, but if you do, then you'll know that you made a difference in my life and a lot of other people's lives. But that's going to wrap up this special bonus episode of the podcast, episode 58. Next week, we will be back with a full episode. I'm very excited about this one as well. I'm going to share the story of Mercy Brown, Rhode Island's own vampire. We're going to take a look back at the wild golden age of Cape Cod nightlife and look at the famous/infamous/always in the headlines, pufferbellies from Hyannis. We're going to go way, way back in the day, and go back 25 years ago to the release of U2’s pop album that almost destroyed the band. And this was around the time that I saw them in concert. So I'll share my memories and what I think of the album then and now. There'll be a brand new top five with the top five music supergroups of all time, which is a good list already. All that more coming up next week on episode 59 of the in my footsteps podcast. And remember, in this life, don't walk in anyone else's footsteps. Create your own path and enjoy every moment you can in this life on this earth because you never know what happens tomorrow. And if you've got a teacher that influenced you in a positive way, let them know if you've got family and friends that influenced you in a positive way. Let them know share the love. Thank you so much for tuning in. And I will talk to you all again soon.