This Is Teacher Appreciation Week! Show Your Love!
You won’t believe these 10 celebrities were once teachers. There’s a couple of messages in their stories. First, flexibility in life is key. Also, whether a person devotes their life to teaching or chooses to take a different direction, all first chose to help others at some point in their life. Teaching is, indeed, a noble profession. Let a teacher know how much they mean to you. If you’re not a “talker,” write a note. It doesn’t have to be long.
#10 - Sheryl Crow
While attending college, Crow was an elementary school teacher in Fenton, Missouri. During her evenings, Crow sang with local bands.
#9 - Hugh Jackman
Have you ever heard of a “gap” year? Some students take off the year after high school and before college to get a taste of the real world by working to make it a better place. Jackman spent his gap year working as a teaching assistant at a school in England.
#8 - String
Gordon Matthew Thomas Sumner, CBE, better known by his stage name “Sting”, tried out several careers during the day while he worked the club scene at night. The jobs ranged from bus conductor to school teacher.
#7 - J. K. Rowling
Rowling started out working in Portugal for Amnesty International in 1991. Here, she taught English as a second language at night. Rowling kept busy during her days writing. Can you guess what she was writing?
#6 - Stephen King
King graduated from the University of Maine. Times were tough, and he couldn’t find a job, so he began to sell short stories that he wrote. Eventually, he was hired by a school called Hampden Academy. Lucky for us, he changed his mind and stuck to writing.
#5 - Gene Simmons
The tongue-flicking bassist of “Kiss” taught sixth grade in New York’s Spanish Harlem before he became the world’s most famous bass-playing demon. Simmons later revealed in interviews that his superiors canned him for replacing the works of Shakespeare with Spiderman comics, which he thought the students were more likely to actually read.
#4 - Teller
Raymond Joseph Teller graduated from a prestigious College (Amherst College). He went on to teach high school English and Latin in Lawrenceville, New York. But his interest in magic and illusion came to a head when he met Penn Jillette in 1974. (By the way, Teller also paints, writes, directs and acts.)
#3 - Sylvester Stallone
Michael Sylvester Gardenzio Stallone, who’s screen name is Sylvester Stallone traveled an interesting road to become an actor. He first attended beauty school for a bit then decided to move to Switzerland. There, he took up acting as he worked as a gym teacher to make money.
#2 - Madeleine Albright
Twenty years before becoming the nation’s first female Secretary of State, she taught at Georgetown University, where she was voted “Best Teacher” four (4) times.
#1 - Roberta Flack
She was the first black student teacher at an all-white school in Chevy Chase, Maryland, before becoming a beloved recording artist, best known for “Killing Us Softly” with her songs.
