Truly Wonderful Teachers

In My Humble Opinion
1

There was a thread in the pit about terrible teachers. I was thinking about that, and realized that we so often complain about things, but never really acclaim the good things. If there’s something people hate, they generally tell more people about it than something they love. So I thought that it would be nice to post little stories here about some of the wonderful teachers we’ve had. I’ll tell one now, and post more as the thread continues.

When I had Mrs. R for my eighth grade English teacher, I hated it. She was a really hard teacher. We actually had to work in that class! Then I got to high school and realized how wonderful she had really been. I learned so much with Mrs. R. Just looking at a paper that I wrote back then…I’m not saying this to brag, only to make a point…it was pretty damn good. She made my writing what it was (I say was because skills are deteriorating from lack of usage in highschool classes.) We actually (gasp) discussed the books. We had socratic discussions/debates. It was so wonderful, but I didn’t realize how great it was until later. I made a point of going back to her last year and telling her how wonderful she was. She doesn’t hear that much, because most of her students don’t like a teacher that actually makes them work. I was glad to help make her feel good with that little bit of information; she did so much for me.

2

Someday, I’m going to track down my grade 12 English teacher and tell him that if it weren’t for his knowledge, passion, and integrity, I’d be an architect making six figures instead of a piss-poor grad student living in his parents’ basement.

3

You know, I meant to e-mail Ms. Mueller tonight anyway.

11th & 12th grade English teacher. Ran the one English class that you couldn’t sleep through, and the only class in the entire high school that was actually FUN.

More or less the reason I’m in college right now.

4

My Spanish teacher, Mrs. Henckel, was my favorite. She taught the class well (I got straight As three years in a row in her classes) and she made the class fun. We had a lot of activities which were geared towards familiarizing us with the customs and the culture of Spain, Mexico, etc. For example, we’d have potluck and bring in Spanish or Mexican dishes. I even went to Mexico with Mrs. Henckel and some other Spanish students in my junior year of high school. We had a great time going to places like the Aztec ruins and several other sites around Mexico City.

5

From the Scranton, PA school district:

Mrs. Ellen Langan taught me to come out of my shell.
Mr. Patrick McDonough taught me to write what I know.
Mr. Said Douaihy taught me that teachers could be friends, too.

There are several others who influenced me along the way, but these three from my high school years stand out the most in my mind.

6

John McGuire - my 9th grade General Science teacher. Apart from his quirks (like kicking the trashcan and making a gawd-awful racket if he suspected someone was sleeping/not paying attention) he made class a hands-on experience. When we were studying the 4-stroke cycle internal combustion engine, he had us taking apart and reassembling lawnmower engines to see how they worked. Then we got to ride a gocart (powered by one of the engines) around campus. When we studied rocketry, we built and launched rockets. When we studied impact, we packaged and threw eggs to see the best way to absorb shocks.

I never told him how much I enjoyed his class, and I would be surprised if he was still alive, but he sparked my interest in science. When I take up teaching, I hope to be just like him.

7

Andrew Smith, my A-Level (i.e. when I was 17/18) Physics teacher. He mad physics fun, interesting, and above all, easy. He didn’t tolerate slackers, but if you were prepared to work hard he was a star. Scariest thing is, when I went to university, my Director of Studies knew him - they’d been at University together :eek:. Apparantly my physics teacher had himself been a slacker at University, prefering to copy his maths work rather than do it himself hypocrite :slight_smile:

Oh, and Mel Saunders, my A-Level Maths teacher. This man was a gem. Yes, he was strict, yes he made you work, but he was a good teacher. To this day, I am thankful to him for all the little tricks he ever taught me. Also, before I was interviewed for Cambridge, I was told I’d need to do a couple of Further Maths modules, judt to be considered. Well, I told Mel Saunders this, and he gave up his free time after school, and his free periods dring school to teach me the entire Further Maths course, from scratch, on a one to one basis. He taugh it me in six months (its a 2 year course normally). I got an A in it. Thanks Mel!

8

It’s weird-I feel like I’ve had lots of wonderful teachers. Some of them:

Mrs. Gordon, first grade math teacher-I was a seriously shy lil’ one, and she got me to come out of my shell a little. I had an assignment to give her a hug every day.

Mrs. Evans, ninth grade-Her class was my first experience with honors English, and I loved it. She was great at stimulating discussion, gave us interesting assignments (ie, turn a poem into a newspaper article) and encouraged my writing.

LD, journalism advisor, 10-12 grades-Everyone adored her. She held us all to a high standard, and worked hard to instill a hatred for cliches in us. Great sense of humor. Took me to my first Irish pub. (For dinner, on a trip to a competition.)

9

Mrs. Snow was my 7th grade history teacher. The first day of class, she told us to put our books away, we wouldn’t be needing them for the rest of the year. “Most of what’s in it isn’t the exact truth, anyway,” she said. From her we learned that the history we had been taught thus far was colored by the desire to instill patriotism and pride in country instead of the honest facts. She taught us from primary sources, and we had actual discussions about history, and how it affected the present. We learned about history from both sides: the Alamo not only from the perspective of the Americans, but from that of the Mexicans as well. Perhaps she had a background in Sociology, I’m not sure, but what that history class taught me about human nature was priceless. She gave me a love of history and a hunger for the truth that has never left me. She was my first, and unfortunately last Great Teacher, but the principals of inquiry and learning she taught me helped carry me through the rest of my school days.

10

I’ve had lots of teachers that were really great at their jobs. They were inspiring and challenging and whatnot, and I’m very grateful to them. But I’d like to single out two teachers who distniguished themselves by their kindness and compassion.

My second grade teacher was an absolute gem. She was the kind of hard-ass who wouldn’t let you go to the bathroom if you asked “Can I go to the bathroom?”–you had to say “May I go to the bathroom?” She was on top of every little mistake in spelling, grammar and punctuation–in second grade, mind you. Some people might say that’s too early, but IMHO the earlier you learn from your mistakes, the sooner you stop making them. The most important thing about her, though, was that while she was very strict, she was also very kind. The rules applied to everyone equally. No one was singled out. She also didn’t dwell on the mistake you made–instead she reinforced the right way.

My first grade teacher was truly awful. She told me I was messy and stupid, and insisted that I was retarded, until I tested out at 5th grade reading level–I sucked at reading class because I was bored out of my skull. I would cry every morning and beg my mother not to make me go to school. (Mom says that to this day, the biggest regret of her life was that she didn’t fight tooth and nail to get me out of that woman’s classroom at the first sign of trouble.) My outstanding second grade teacher somehow managed to heal the damage that had been done, and from then on I was the teacher’s pet and loved school.

And I have to commend my eighth grade science teacher. Junior high was the most awful period of my life. I’ve never been so miserable. (Okay, maybe I was that miserable in first grade, but luckily, I’ve blocked out most of it.) I had no friends at my school. There wasn’t even a loser clique for me to hang with. I was alone, and I was picked out relentlessly. Sadly, I responded to this by being an obnoxious stuck-up little know-it-all, which wasn’t doing anything to help me out.

At the end of each quarter, the science teacher rearranged the seating chart, and everyone got a new lab partner–no exceptions. At the beginning of the second quarter, a new student joined the class because her family had just moved to town, and she and I ended up lab partners. Well, long story short, we became close friends. We were both total geeks and ridiculed mercilessly, but having each other made life a lot more bearable, and having her support gave me enough confidence to grow up some, and be less of a jerk.

At the beginning of the third quarter, our science teacher announced the new seating arrangments, and he’d put us together at the same lab table again. There were protests from the rest of the class about the violation of the policy. Our teacher’s response was, “They’re like a set of salt and pepper shakers. I just can’t break them up.”

I’ve always wanted to thank him for recognizing the specialness of our relationship and our dependence on each other, and doing this one small thing that made such a big difference in our miserable junior high existences. And, inspired by this thread, I did email him! :slight_smile:

11

Mrs. Shofestall, 3rd grade. My first mainstreamed year, and I was beyone terrified of everyone and everything having to do with school. She worked so hard to help me quit worrying about how I was different from the other kids, tutored me after school 2x/week to make sure that I was doing ok.

Mr Gourley, Sr. High school physics. He just freaking rocked. Took the advanced class students on a hot air balloon ride once. He was the one who convinced me to go to mainstream college, and kept in touch with me quite often until I completed grad school. When I started his class in 11th grade I hadn’t even planned on college.

12

Mr. Allan Thorn is my favourite teacher and the person I respect the most in the world.

He taught me Ancient Civilizations, Modern Western History, and Philosophy. He was passionate, brilliant, curious, kind and firm. When I began taking my first class with him, all my grades in my other classes went up.
I have a thousand fond memories of his classes.
He made all of the material seem relevant, which I suppose is the secret to teaching a good high school class. It did the trick for us, anyway. Listening to his lectures made me so excited about the subject. It was just so easy and fun to learn.
On spring afternoons, when the classroom would flood with this mellow soporific sunlight, we’d all start to sink into a good-natured stupor. He’d rouse us by pretending that there were snakes everywhere that he had to stomp on. Re-reading that, maybe you had to be there. It was delightful, at any rate.
Even though he was technically teaching us about Hammurabi and the Arabs (and in his other classes, Freud, Copernicus, John Stuart Mill and Kant), he taught us how to be critical thinkers. He told us about Edward DeBono. He had construction-paper hats pinned to one wall.
Mr. Thorn did other things for the school. He arranged for an outrageous actor to come in as Sir John A MacDonald, who of course regaled us with tales of Sir John’s more ribald antics. Bawdy history.
He also organized the Rememberance Day ceremonies every year. Since my school is now 150 years old, there are two plaques commemorating former students who did not return from Europe, and four framed rosters of students who enlisted. Mr. Thorn found slides of some of these students and told their stories in an assembly; skilled pilots, infantry, mechanics. All these noble people. It was a great tribute.
He also loved quotes. When he retired, he wrote in my yearbook something that was attributed to Mark Twain; “Be careless in your dress if you must; but keep a tidy soul.” Maybe our Paul Frank tees, scruffy jeans and scuffed skechers clashed with his tweed jackets and SanFran 49ers ties. But he shared the secret of a tidy soul with us. He taught by example. I don’t think there is anything I can say that would be more complimentary than that.

13

My grade 2 teacher, Miss Tipping.

As a child, I was very shy and sensitive. There were times I would cry in class for one reason or another and she would always give me a hug and talk to me about it during recess. I even accidentally called her mom a few times.

For every childs birthday she would take us all to the gym and have a huge birthday party. I recall mine being especially large as the teacher and I shared a birthday.

She also seemed to do especially well with keeping the students well behaved. She never ever needed to yell but students were always listening intently to her.

I never enjoyed going to school as a child but with her as a teacher I really didn’t mind it so much.

My third grade teacher on the other hand…

14

Do you have this backwards? This teacher’s knowledge, passion, and integrity is now responsible for you being a “piss-poor grad student living in his parents’ basement”?

Of course, if you do have this backwards, what does it say about the composition skills the wonderful English teacher imparted to you? :smiley: …and if you don’t have it backwards, may I note that your words are presented most intelligibly, and free of grammatical and spelling errors - so how bad a teacher could he have been?

Back to the OP, I must credit my Jr. High English and Computer teacher, for sparking my interest and eventual career in computers. Before he got any of his several teaching awards.

AmbushBug

15

Ambushbug,

I think, maybe, whooosh!

I think Treviathan’s point was that this teacher inspired him to follow a course close to his heart rather than taking a path that would lead to more material gain but less personal fulfillment. So by saying that he is “a piss-poor grad student living in his parents’ basement,” he meant that he has “knowledge, passion, and integrity” for his current studies, regardless of his financial situation. And he is crediting his teacher for modeling those values–he’s not flaming him.

At least that was how I read it. Treviathan can correct me if need be.

16

My third grade teacher, Ms. Mackintosh. She was absolutely wonderful. I remember all my teachers, but she had the biggest impact on me.
I remember almost every activity in her class. She use to teach silly songs to remember just about everything. I still sing them, and plan on teaching them to my daughter.
I really should go and see if she is still teaching!

17

I am so glad that these stories involve teachers that actually teach, and that the value is on learning. So often these days I read stories about “great teachers” and the only thing they seem to be doing is putting on a show to entertain the students. They’ll talk to students who all say, “Oh, I love coming to this class. It’s so funny and she always does something to entertain us.” but no one ever mentions if anyone is actually, like, learning anything. The other thing you see are teachers donating kidneys to their students or bailing them out of jail or something. Again, the emphasis isn’t on imparting any knowledge or love of knowledge, but on immediate benefits to the student.

To me, the greatest thing a teacher can do, apart from increase his or her students’ knowledge of a subject, is to make students enjoy learning. Not just in that class, or in that subject, but in general. It is not at all easy to do, and quite frankly, in today’s educational landscape, there isn’t much reason or incentive to do it.

Sadly, I’ve never had that type of teacher. I never really had a teacher who really dazzled me and really got me hyped for learning. I had to do all that on my own, a lot later than was practical. I’ve certainly had good, knowledgable teachers, but no one who really went beyond that to me. And my experiences in trying to become a high school math teacher (and failing) made me realize that a system designed to produce drones is going to have a hard time producing anything else.

I applaud those teachers who really do make a difference and enrich the lives of their students, who make learning go on beyond the classroom and open up eyes to a world beyond the paycheck. I wish we rewarded them better and had more people trying it.

18

Ron Aldridge, my 10th grade World Civ teacher. He had such a passion for history and he was a wonderful storyteller. He really made history come alive. And he demanded the best of his students. He was convinced that we were all smart and capable, and wouldn’t let us get away with anything less. His confidence was truly inspiring. Thanks, Mr. Aldrige.

19

Got a reply to my email:

:slight_smile: I feel all warm and fuzzy. :slight_smile: (My friend is an M.D., now, by the day. We got into contact a few years ago.)

20

That’s neat Podkayne.

I’ve had a few.

Chuck Garwood - my 7th grade history teacher; he taught me how to take notes in outline form - and, he was a funny, D.I. kind of guy (track coach as well)
Jim Richardson - eighth grade english teacher; besides encouraging me to listen to what I was thinking, he taught me a good paragraph (license with which I’ll admit I take here).
Ms. Lopes (pronounced Lopez) - 12th grade english teacher; encouraged us to write, and speak.
George Sudarshan - physics prof at UT; he rearranged my headset - a term he taught me.

There are others. My Dad and I hated each other for much of our lives, but I’ve met many of his students over the years who felt seemingly genuinely grateful for his counsel. I guess we were too close for comfort.

My hat’s off to Ruffian at the moment.