Cynthia Johnson
English 99
My favorite teacher Kaveh was an excellent teacher, because he took the time to help each student when they needed it no matter how long it took; he also gave us work that challenged our minds but was not impossible to complete, he also cared about his students and liked to have real life conversations with us, and he made the class fun with assignments that helped us in the real world.
Whenever Kaveh gave an assignment he took the time to explain it, in terms that we would understand. He also made sure no one had any questions before we left class. He wanted everyone to succeed. I was having a hard time understanding the written instructions for a research project that we were doing on the Japan earthquakes. So, I asked for help and he took the time to explain it to me until I got it. Then I had trouble finding the right web sites with the most current information about the quakes and he was able to give me some sites to try out that I had not found before. I have not encountered a teacher like that throughout all the time I have been in school.
One of the first assignments that he gave us was to pick three web articles from a list that he provided for us and then write summaries about them. The list had things on it like how to get a home loan, financial security, budgeting, credit and debt. I chose to read the one on financial issues and how to see if you have unclaimed money in your name. The ways that you could have unclaimed money are if you have stocks, bonds, inheritances, and if you never picked up your last pay check from a job. So, I was able to go to the web site and check and I did have an unclaimed check from a job of mine from ten years ago. My mother also had some too from stocks that she never cashed in. That is only one example of how the assignments he assigned helped us in real life.
He also taught us to use Microsoft Office 2007 which I have found very useful since I have been in college. We had him for a teacher for six hours one day a week. In the morning we would spend that time going over the Microsoft Office Program, then in the afternoon we spend that time writing papers and researching information for the papers that we had to write which would be due at the next time we met with him for class.
Some of the research assignments that he gave us were very challenging and I struggle with that kind of thing all the time and he took the time to sit down and explain it to me. He is willing to still help even after you are not in his class any more. I have gone to him and asked for help many time since I have finished his class.
There were many time that we would out go out for our break and smoke cigarettes and he would come out with us and smoke a cigar. We would talk about our children and how life was going. He would tell us about his new daughter that he had; he was a first time father and he was so excited and happy. He loved to talk about her mile stones and what new things she could do. He was also interested in how our kids were doing what was going on in our lives. I have not met many other teachers like that in my life they all seem that they only care about the lessons that they are teaching and that school is their life. They don’t want to know about who we are as people only who we are as students.
On our last day of his class we all thought that we would get out of having to do anymore projects for his class, but he surprised us with doughnuts and then he told us that we had to do one more project on Microsoft Power Point. It was on the year we were born. We had to have at least six slides that talked about the year you were born, the price of gas, the price of a gallon of milk, what was the number one song, who won the World Series, and other things like that from the year that I was born. I thought that it would be boring and no fun but in the end he gave us suggestions of the things we might put in to our presentations and that helped a lot. In the end I had a lot of fun in his class and my presentation turned out great. I was so proud of myself because going in to that class I had never used Microsoft Power Point before and now I am pretty good at it.
I am very glad that I got to have Kaveh as a teacher in the C-SALT program here at Olympic College. I know that any one that also get to have him as a teacher is very lucky. Kaveh is a great teacher who cares about his students as long as they care about themselves, he is also willing to help you if you are willing to help yourself succeed, and he understands that sometimes life just happens. I will take with me the things that I have learned from him for a lifetime. He did just teach us book information but he gave us some of the tools to be able to succeed in future classes.
