I am a kindergarten teacher.  I have worked in the education field for 29 years, on top of raising three incredibly amazing children.  There are several people who have influenced me on my professiona; journey that I would like to thank:
1.  My mother.  My mother is a retired speech/language pathologist.  She was always behind my brother and me 100%.  Interestingly, I had a high school geometry teacher who said, after I failed the first test, "I didn't expect you to do well.  You're a girl."  Mom didn't take that very well.  She asked him to come out to the farm I grew up on and tutor me, while she was home, so that she could learn the content and help me on the other days.  Day #2 of tutoring, he said to my mom, "I thought you were smarter than this."  Obviously, he was hired for his coaching and not his teaching abilities.
When I was in college, the Service Unit (school districts contracted people from here because they could not afford/didn't need full-time support) my mom worked for was not hiring anyone who didn't have a master's degree.  Mom decided that she should go back to school and get her master's.  That was all well and good until my dad said, "...and live with you."  Wait!  What?  We agreed that summer school would be our trial run.  We ended up living together that summer, the whole following school year, and the following summer.  She was an inspiration, taping her lectures and coming home to listen to them again to see what she missed.  Who does that?!?  My mom!!
2.  My second grade teacher, Mrs. Maxine Moore, and the school's guidance counselor, Mrs. Beverly Schuman.  These two amazing ladies were there for me when my father was killed in Vietnam.  I was afraid to go to school.  Eight year-old logic.  If my father died while I was in school, my mother might, too.  One of these two women would meet me at the door and let me help them get ready for the day.  Even when I was going to college, Mrs. Moore would invite me over for dinner and call to check up on me.  She was a sounding board for any questions I might have about what I was learning.  Through there two wonderful women, I learned that teachers should be compassionate.
3.  Mr. Larry Fletcher.  Mr. Fletcher taught high school English.  I was raised in a small, rural community.  English was opposite Band, so only Band members were in this section of English.  Mr. Fletcher taught us that it was possible to have fun learning.  We would play "Password" with our spelling words.  Naturally, it was boys against girls.  What Mr. Fletcher, and the boys, did not know was that I had taught all of my girlfriends how to use sign language.  We would just spell the words out, under our desks, and win...every time!  I don't think the boys ever figured it out!
Because Mr. Fletcher and his wife (who taught 5th grade) were friends of the family, he would make sure I was one point from an A every quarter.  Then he'd say,  "I think some home-made cookies would get you an A."  So, I'd bake them some cookies.  My senior year, last quarter, it was the same thing.  Being full of myself and thinking I was hot stuff, I refused.  To this day, on my high school transcript, there is an A with four minus signs next to it. Mr. Fletcher taught me that learning can be fun!  (Gasp!!)
4. Mrs. Fran Conneally.  Mrs. Connealy taught high school government.  If it weren't for her expecting more from us that we even believed possible, I would have never survived college.  Mrs. Conneally was the only high school teacher that expected a full-blown term paper, complete with annotations and a bibliography.  From Mrs. Conneally, I learned to set high expectations for my students.
5.  An instructor during my masters program who shall remain nameless for now.  I was part of a cohort of fifteen teachers from my previous school district that made the journey together.  In most all of our classes, there was discussion, teamwork, and presentations....except for this one.  The instructor lectured THE. WHOLE. TIME!  No discussion, no collaboration.  Just listening to him lecture for two and a half hours, for six weeks!  Ugh!!  However, there is a bright spot!  He said that as teachers, we should involve parents early and in a positive manner.  That made sense to me!  That next school year, I began calling parents as soon as I got my class list, introducing myself as their child's teacher, and inviting them to Back-to-School Night.  Additionally, I made an intentional effort to touch base with every single family at least every other week.  I feel that this practice has made a HUGE impact in parental involvement and support.  From this instructor I learned the importance of making families feel welcome.

These are just a handful of people who have impacted me and helped to shape the person I am today.  I owe them, and so many others, a huge debt of gratitude.