A Special Relationship: Our Teachers and How We Learned

This anthology of tributes to teachers is a heartwarming affirmation of the special relationship between teacher and student, as well as a testament to what Futrell, past president of the National Education Association, terms ``the miracle we call democracy.'' The dynamics of teaching and learning are illustrated in the recollections--most excerpted from autobiographies--of more than 60 distinguished Americans from various historical periods. We hear Aaron Copland describe his introduction to Nadia Boulanger, the formidable teacher of piano, as ``the decisive musical experience of my life.'' Dan Rather honors a journalism teacher who, in 1950 at Sam Houston State Teachers College, was skilled in ``sometimes poking you with a sharp stick called truth.'' Floyd Patterson and Louis Armstrong, underprivileged in their youth, recall the warmth of their most memorable teachers. Board, a director of the Connecticut Education Association and a former teacher, concludes this collection of profiles of educators who made a difference in their students' lives with his own poignant memoir. Photos. (Mar.)