Digital Scrapbook: My Great Aunt–Daisey

My great aunt, Daisey, henceforth Aunt Daisey or as we called her "Aunt Da" (pronounced Day), was a high school english teacher at Bemidji High School (she taught there for 36 years). She was in large part a hero of mine growing up. She competed in the New York Times crossword puzzle challenges and could complete those buggers faster than anyone I knew. I remember distinctly sitting on her lap and getting my first clue correct. I was hooked from then on.

Aunt Daisey had  both bachelor's and master's degrees in English Education (University of North Dakota). She would recite Shakespeare to my sister and I, entire plays, from memory doing different voices for each of the characters. My favorite was the opening of Macbeth with the witches. She also loved poetry giving living room performances of Tennyson as the mood struck.

Aunt Da never married and never had kids. She was a diehard Republican, not missing a caucus in several decades and a chair of the Beltrami County Republican Party. She was a member of the American Assoication of University Women and was elected president of the Minnesota Educators Association. Everybody in Bemidji seemed to know her.

This column appeared in the Bemidji newspaper after Aunt Da's memorial service. 

    Last weekend I attended a memorial service for an old friend and mentor, Daisey Norgart. Daisey had been my supervising teacher when I student taught at Bemidji High School back in fall of 1974. She was a small lady with a raspy voice, sparkling eyes, an unmistakable laugh and a reputation of legendary proportion.
    Small in stature, but larger than life, Daisey loomed as the epitome of English teachers. She was demanding, hard working, and often set in her ways, but few if any of the students who had Daisey as a teacher left her classroom without learning something. She taught me many things that I know to be as true today as they were back in 1974. Here are a few of the lessons taught to a naive young student teacher:
    Set high expectations for students. Daisey let her students know what was expected. Her students knew there would be no free time and that a lack of preparation for class would not be tolerated, that no matter how good you thought you were, she could find ways to make you work harder and better.
    Once you've set high expectations, stick to them. Daisey demanded a lot of her students. Illegible papers with unclipped edges certainly didn't make even the first cut. Papers that lacked organization or original thoughts didn't go far either. Undone assignments were unheard of if a student hoped to pass Daisey's class. And classroom behavior had to be conducive to good learning for everyone in the room.
    Model what you want students to learn, and give them time to practice. In recent education classes I've taken, terms like "Lesson Design," "Motivation Theory," and "Practice Theory" fit Daisey's style to a "T." Daisey demonstrated grammatical rules to her students and they practiced them until what used to sound all right to them, but wasn't, finally was corrected in accordance to the Queen's English. If you didn't know when to use "who" and when to use "whom" before you came to class, you certainly would know it when you left.
    Let your love of the subject and your feelings of its importance come across. Daisey allowed me to teach her advanced composition classes, I believe, because she knew that my love of writing would transfer to the students, but she kept the English Literature class to herself. A teacher can teach best that which she finds engrossing, precious, necessary, and utterly important. Without a passion for teaching,it is impossible to expect a passion for learning.
    Although I adopted my own style of teaching and my own passions, I learned a great deal from Daisey, some of which didn't even click with me until I sat there on Saturday and listened to other cohorts speak of her style, her professionalism, her dedication to teaching.
    She taught English at Bemidji High School for 36 years and touched the lives of thousands of students, most of whom still have a clearer picture of this dynamic, demanding little lady than of most of their former teachers. Some might describe her as eccentric, but no one doubted her understanding of what she taught and her ability to make students learn. She didn't set out to win popularity contests, yet she was a frequently requested teacher for students who wanted to be well-prepared for college. 
    Farewell Daisey, and thank you. I picture you staking out your own chair in the hereafter and making those spirits about you mind their p's and q's.

Sue Bruns taught English at Bemidji High School from 1977-98. For the past three years she has served as the graduation standards technician for Bemidji High School. This column is provided by the Bemidji Education Association.