Mr. Means, school psychologist.
Mr. Murin, 6th grade science. Not only he was the coolest teacher I ever ran across in a classroom, he ran a D&D group after school. Greg Murin retired in 2005 after 23 years of service.
Mr. LoGreco, high school geometry. Picked up my Cajun accent from him.
I’ll always be thankful to Ms. Charvat, my 11th grade English teacher, for teaching me how to write an essay. That skill served me well in college. She was an odd bird, and tough, but she knew what she was doing.
My favorite teacher was Mr. Basner. I had him for US History II/World Affairs in 10th grade, and AP European History in 12th. He made the material interesting, did fun things in his classes (like a Jeopardy tournament), and treated us like adults. I was interested in history before taking his classes, but I’m not sure I’d have gone for my history degree if not for him. He’s one of only two teachers I’ve ever considered to be a friend. If you’re a regular reader of the comic strip Heart of the City, you’ve probably seen references to him.
My current British Lit teacher.
She’s an old nun (not ancient, but she could be my grandmother.) and makes all kinds of hilariously bordering-on-dirty jokes. She’s not a dirty person, which is part of what makes it funy. She’s rosy-cheeked and slender and her only wrinkles are around her eyes, probably from smiling so much. She moves about like a robin on the grass. So hearing her make a dirty joke (and then seeing her eyes widen as though she can’t believe she said such a thing, when I know for a fact she makes the same jokes every year.) is all the more hilarious.
She’s not just funny, though. She’s an excellent teacher. She makes English interesting for those who don’t like it (I don’t fall into that category). She makes it easy to be excited about learning.
She’s someone who has been teaching for a very long time- long enough that she knows exactly how the year will play out before it even begins, and yet she still seems to really really LOVE teaching. She still seems to get excited over shakespeare and Jane Austen and so on, as though she’s just discovered it and wanted to share it with everyone she knows.
She knows all her students, and she has a LOT of students. She doesn’t just know their names, either. She knows the name of their garage band or whether they won or lost at soccer last week.
She’s not strict as such- I had one teacher who would go on a tirade if someone dared to sneeze in her class. My english teacher doesn’t yell or humiliate people or even ever seem to get angry, and yet nobody acts up in her class. I suppose it’s becuase we’re always DOING something.
And lastly, the kids who don’t like her don’t like her becuase “she’s weird.” How can you not like a teacher like that??
Dr. Ivan Sokolnikov at UCLA. He was a big wheel in the math dept. there, co-author of Advanced Mathematics for Scientists and Engineers, Solkolnikov and Redheffer. He really worked to make the subject matter clear. His tests were designed to let him know how he was doing. When the class didn’t do well he went over the material again. His goal was in making sure that the subject matter that was covered was understood. Since he was way up in the hierarchy of the school he didn’t have to worry about “publish or perish.” He was an elderly gentleman and his days of contributing to mathematics were mostly behind him so he could concentrate on teaching.
Ms. Mason, my 10th grade algebra teacher. She tutored me in my worst subject not only in 10th grade, but 11th and 12th too. She lived a few streets down from me, so she’d give me rides home after tutoring, which was the only way I was able to go as my father worked until late.
Occasionally we’d get together at her house and she’d feed me cookies and teach me theorems galore. If it weren’t for her, I would have failed math every year.
I still get birthday cards from her, 7 years later. 
Mr. Orwig, who taught gym at my middle school/jr. high. He was also the chess coach, and took us to three national tournaments. We one the last two, and dominated the third so totally that the last day of matches was almost totally irrelevant: none of the other teams could catch us on points. He also founded the school’s sci-fi club, and introduced us to all sorts of classic science fiction films.
Mr. Thomas, from Bayview Elementary School in Southern California, now the site of outrageously expensive condominiums.
He was a large Hispanic man with the most wonderful sense of humor, incredible compassion and understanding, and a zest for life that inspired his students. As our 6th grade teacher, he coined such phrases as “Fill and Drain” for recess, and used to tell sniffling students to “come up here and get yourself a snot rag,” referring to the box of tissues on his desk. He made learning fun.
When in high school, I returned to Bayview several times to say hello. I made a trip around Christmas-time in my junior year, only to learn he had passed away of a heart attack a few months back. I cried a good long time.
Three people come to mind. Two of my high school football coaches gave me the best lessons about earning what you get, giving it all you’ve got, and acting like a person of character. I was a pretty lousy player when I started, but finished on the all-conference team my senior year. I think that’s a credit not only to how well they coached the team, but to how they made it clear that I would get a fair shot to play only if I gave 100%. They kept their word, didn’t play favorites, and all of us lived up to our ends of the bargain. That’s something I’ll never forget, especially as I’ve gotten older and seen how few coaches give mediocre players a fair chance.
The third is my college English professor. She just LOVED her subject matter, and being in a classroom. I think her classes were the first I took in college that really interested me at all. I didn’t do great, mostly becasue I was a lousy student then too. But I’m thinking about going into teaching now, and I hope that I can be as good as she was.
Mr. Mike Hume - my English teacher from Grades 8-10 back in the 80’s.
He taught us how to write a proper 5-paragraph expository essay. He let us write on many topics - the two essays that stand out in my memory are ones that I wrote about Miami Vice and Michael Jackson.
Knowing how to write a proper essay got me through so many classes - even ones in which I had nothing but a basic understanding - because teachers and professors were THRILLED to read something that was well-structured and well-written.
He was also a great teacher because he had a sense of humour plus he demanded and received respect - because he treated US with respect, not like stupid kids.
Mr. Bradbury, my sixth grade teacher.
It was his first year teaching, he was young and enthusiastic. He like science fiction and fantasy literature, and read us a chapter of The Hobbit every day. I was sure I wasn’t going to like it, and was surprised when I found myself beginning to look forward to the next day, to hear what was going to happen to the Bilbo and Co.
That was the first year of ST-TOS too. I remember when we got an assignment to write a short story, he to us to make it a *science fiction * story! I wrote something dreadful about the sun going out, while another kid wrote a plot lifted directly from a Star Trek episode.
Because of Mr. Bradbury I went on the read the Lord of the Rings trilogy, and passed to science fiction after that. Because of my SF interests I have attended several conventions, and met people and done things I wouldn’t have if it wasn’t for him.
Mr. Bradbury got engaged that year, and he invited the whole class to his wedding that summer. It was in a small town north of Topeka, and my dad and mom drove me and three other girls up there. It was the first time I wore stockings. I also wore gloves, and my mom had coached me in wedding etiquette. I felt so grown up when the usher offered me his arm with the question “Friend of the bride or groom?” Four other girls attended as well, but none of the boys, at that age they wouldn’t be caught dead doing something mushy. I spent a whole seven dollars on a wedding present, a pressed glass set of creamer, sugar and butter dishes. It was the kind of stuff they may actually have used!
Not quite four years ago Mr. Bradbury retired. I hadn’t seen him since the wedding, but I heard about the reception and attended, taking along with me our class photo. He was principal at another grade school. It was wonderful to see him again and have a chance to speak.
Mr. Bradbury opened whole new worlds for me, and I will be eternally grateful. During my years as a student, on up to graduation from college, he stands out as the best, and certainly my favorite teacher. God bless Mr. Bradbury.
Ohhh can I add one?
The best principal EVER - Mr Jim Stevenson from Armstrong Elementary. He took a genuine interest in a shy, immature little girl who had to skip a grade, which made her even more awkward with her peers. He spoke kindly to her every time he saw her, encouraged her in all of her endeavours, and read her stories (she loved to write) regularly - even asking for more.
I loved Mr Stevenson - he was like a grandpa to me.
In fourth form (age 15) we had a social studies teacher who was extraordinary. Before him, those teachers who touched on history just did that. But Mr. Van Werkum had lived history. He was in a Japanese labour camp in the former Dutch East Indies (now Indonesia) and told us his experiences. He told us about travelling in Europe after the war, a Europe divided by the Iron Curtain. The Third Reich, India and population patterns … He encouraged us to think about events, and to think about the broader picture behind events. And taught us to always work out different ways of doing tasks, if one way won’t work. “Keep it simple!” I can still hear him say.
He always seemed to me to be the most colourful of all the teachers I’ve had, and I’ve had a lot of great teachers. I loved his classes.
My 8th grade U.S. history teacher/reading teacher, Mr. Higgins.
In middle school I easily realized I could do almost no work and get straight As so I basically zoned out during every class. For the first time in school I actually had to think during his classes. He influenced and encouraged my budding ability to write and his classes were actually fun. We reenacted battles and played games related to what we were studying that actually helped us remember the material better.
He presented even the most boring material in a way so it seemed fresh and new but sometimes he would just have a discussion with us, treating us like real people instead of just young, ignorant teenagers.
He’ll probably never know how much he affected the person I am today, but I’m grateful I had him.
Also, my freshman Honours English teacher, Mr. Rossi.
He obviously loves everything he talks about, especially Shakespeare. He has little pictures and phrases on tests and worksheets that are a laugh and make the subject matter not as dull. My favourite part about doing a grammar section was all the hilarious practice sentences he would make up. He’s a really creative guy and all the power points he created for the class were actually interesting and made you want to pay attention.
The best part about him was he read and liked all of the same things I did so I could bring up any random movie or book and he’d excitedly go on about it.
He was interested in what everyone had to say and made you want to participate in class.
Well, I should probably post mine too, huh?
My dad was an amazing teacher for me. Really set th ebar and showed me how an adult should act.
In the class, I can point to a few. Most recently, there’s Dr. Robert Butler, one of my English professors. Big on group learning and very open-minded.
Before that was another professor, my old Political Philosophy teacher Mr. Simmonds. I credit him for opening my eyes up to the world of politics and political thought.
I had two excellent teachers.
The first one was my fifth grade teacher. When I first found out I was going to be in her class, I freaked out. She had a reputation for being a straight-up biotch. And yes, she was a disciplinarian and regularly lost her temper. But she was awesome in so many ways, and I have never met anyone who"gets" ten-year-olds as well as she did.
At the end of the schoolyear, at an awards assembly in front of the whole school, she presented me with my first “grown-up” book: Rachel Carson’s Edge of the Sea. She gave it to me in appreciation for being the student who taught her the most (I still wonder what it was I taught her). It is a moment I still look back on with great pride. Little did she know that seventeen years later I would graduate with my Ph.D in marine biology.
The second teacher wasn’t just a great teacher, but also a true friend. She was my seventh grade math teacher. At the time, I was physically and socially awkward, marginalized by most of my classmates, and just plain-out pathetic. But she befriended me, letting me find refuge in her classroom whenever I needed it, giving me words of encouragement, yelling at all the bullies who picked on me (oh boy, did she do that!), everything a friend does. We have kept in touch through the years via email and occassionally see each other when I’m in town.
