Easy one for me. Mrs Bowman (now Mrs Barnard apparently) at Toynbee School in Hampshire. It wasn't the subject she taught (English), although there's no doubting she was good at that. It was this no-nonsense approach she had towards everyone. Gave me the kick up the backside I needed to stop being such a self-absorbed brat and start working towards something.
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Who is the best teacher you have ever had?
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There is a professor at Purdue who invested a lot of time in an undergrad who was working in his lab. I think I learned more from Ragu then I did in my classes, or at least I understood my classes better because of what I learned in his lab. I learned a lot of lessons working there. Most of the discussions about my mistakes ended with a gentle, "It's alright. Just don't do it again."
And I can't forget Mr. Schuler, my H.S. Biology teacher. A lot of students hated him, but I really got to know him when I worked on an independent research project in High School. He was a very kind man. The thing I remember most was how he would point you in the right direction, but let you come up with your own conclusions, right or wrong. I had so many questions when I went to College that the lightbulb was going off constantly my first couple of years as I was "getting it". I remember finally "getting" the idea of statistics, going back to my H.S. research data to rework the numbers and seeing how wrong I was back then...
And I can't forget Mr. Schuler, my H.S. Biology teacher. A lot of students hated him, but I really got to know him when I worked on an independent research project in High School. He was a very kind man. The thing I remember most was how he would point you in the right direction, but let you come up with your own conclusions, right or wrong. I had so many questions when I went to College that the lightbulb was going off constantly my first couple of years as I was "getting it". I remember finally "getting" the idea of statistics, going back to my H.S. research data to rework the numbers and seeing how wrong I was back then...
high school english teacher sophomore year...i remember two things he told the class, learn to read and write well as it will help you through life, and whatever you become, don't become a teacher since they are overworked and underpaid 
20 years later i saw he was still teaching the same class in the same school
20 years later i saw he was still teaching the same class in the same school
Bio AP/A&P Teacher and my Advanced Chem teacher in Highschool
oh and also my Latin/Mythology teacher
oh and also my Latin/Mythology teacher
Dr Everett. He smoked a pipe in the quad (playground, yard), drank whisky till the small hours, and was overweight. In the end he had a heart attack in one of his lessons and retired He still comes to school to moderate exams and to see us and such! He rocks!
He taught me more physics in 3 years (1 hour/week) than 6 teachers have done since in the next 3 years (5 hours/week)!
Uber
He still comes to school to moderate exams and to see us and such! He rocks!He taught me more physics in 3 years (1 hour/week) than 6 teachers have done since in the next 3 years (5 hours/week)!
Uber
This post made me stop and think. I considered my three favorite teachers (pre-college), and what made them different. I don't know what you are going to teach, but when I think about it, the three are very different, but similar.taytho said:WHY are these teachers the best. Name dropping doesnt do much for me since i dont know where these people are let alone their grade level. I am starting my teaching career in the fall and am interested to know what makes these folks so great. I would love to get my name on this thread some day.
Julie Gause was my 5th grade teacher. She was also my teacher for 6th grade math and science. I think she did several things. First, she encouraged me to persue my passions. At the time, I could only dream of being an astronaut. I committed myself to going to the Air Force Academy and read everything I could get my hands on if it had the name Asimov or Sagan on the front. I actually dragged my dad to special presentations at the Air and Space Museum. Anyway, she encouraged me to enter an essay contest that was open to kids under 14. She helped me edit my paper and guided me through the entire process. When we got to the space section both years she let me teach the class. I put in so much preparation....But, I think most importantly, she was my friends. Until I was in 4th grade, we moved every two years (military), and so 5th grade was my first year at a new school. I wasn't good at being nice to people - I would have no problem calling someone fat, stupid or girly. She was patient with me and helped me become more friendly. I remember I used to slouch and that she used to try and get me to correct my posture. Even now, when I slouch I hear her say "Neil, do you slouch because you're not my friend. That hurts me." I knwo she meant it with all sincere kindness.
Angelique Bossee - She was my Bio teacher in 10th grade and my Genetics and Cellular Physiology teacher in 11th. In 12th, I spent time helping her in classes as a teacher's aide. She was probably one of the more softspoken teachers at our school, but she was smart as a whip. Most of the other teachers there were really smart as well, but she wasn't cocky about it. She took the time to be nice to the students and to treat us like people rather than like inmates. When we had questions, asking her was like asking a classmate - there was no fear of a rebuke. While her classes were educational and informative, they were interactive. We didn't just sit and listen to her drone on about the material. If I remember right, we ran gels either our first or second Genetics class. She would show us what we were doing right and what we needed to do better (you can't really run a gel wrong). She wasn't the kind of person who took crap from students, but she didn't expect perfection. When I was in Genetics, her aide broke a jar b/c he was carrying too many of them and dropped one (she warned him)....she laughed. When I did pretty much the same thing (in the same spot), she laughed. I read her reccomendation for a research project that I did my senior year, and it was honest. "I wasn't the best, and I wasn't the most dilligent, but when I wanted something, I would work on it nonstop."
Deborah Fleischaker - I can't remember how to spell her name or if I even have it right. I only had her for one year, for two very different classes. We had an Oral Speaking class and a Creative Writing (I think). I don't remember her well, but I remember that I enjoyed the classes. She let me be myself, regardless of what I thought. I remember when we worked on short stories, I had been touched by Roald Dahl's works. When we wrote our own, I put more effort into that twisted bit of three pages than I have into any thesis I had done since. After seven or eight rewrites, it was twisted and perfect (excpet for the silly science involved). Lots of death and violence, with the VP and the Sec. State hooking up and cheating on their spouses, etc. She thought it strange, but creative. What made her stand out even more was a witch that I had my last semester senior year who got upset because in another short story I had politically very incorrect murder that was waived off by the main characters. So, while Mrs. Fleischaker was good, having worse teachers around made her a shining star...
EDIT: I just noticed how much I wrote. I can't believe I had that much to say about teachers I haven't had in more than 10 years (almost 20 for Mrs. Gause).
I'm glad that this thread's around, because it led me to Google for Mr. Corbett and see what he's up to now. I'm pretty sure that's him, although he did have more hair and was, you know, twenty years younger when he taught my 10th grade Advanced English class. Ours was the last class he taught, so I guess we are the ones that finally pushed him over the edge and caused him to go back to law school.
Gee, I wonder if I should send him an e-mail.
Gee, I wonder if I should send him an e-mail.
Mr. Bonaquista
Worked my azz off in that class and got a "D". I learned more earning that D than I ever learned while aceing some other classes. And he was great at taking the time to speak with you and treat you like you were special. Somehow he did that for everyone. Amazing teacher.
Worked my azz off in that class and got a "D". I learned more earning that D than I ever learned while aceing some other classes. And he was great at taking the time to speak with you and treat you like you were special. Somehow he did that for everyone. Amazing teacher.
Coach Harrison, in HS. I was a large kid. In JRHS i would become violently ill before gym class. Having a 42" waist in JRHS, it was hard to meet the expectations of the coaches. At 200+ pounds how could one expect some one like myself to climb the ropes, do gymnastics, and the such? I was comic relief during gym class.
Until Coach Harrison in my first year in HS. I learned early on to volunteer early on. Just to get the pain away as quickly as possible. I'll never will forget in gym class when it came to the parallel bars. Of course I made a fool of myself, not for the lack of trying. Of course the catcalls and hoots came up. Coach Harrison then order us all in to the locker room.
I never met a man, other than my father, that was so mad. He proceeded to tell them that at least I had the guts to get up and try. And in his opinion, trying meant more than anyone getting up there doing it perfectly. And that anyone caught not supporting the efforts of each member of the class would get a failing grade. It was the first time that I ever got an "A" in gym.
And that self-confidence that he gave me, paved the way to accept my own abilities. I started to lose weight. But even without the weight loss, I felt better about myself. And in the end some of my classmates started to accept me for who I was.
The sad ending to this is that I never got a chance to thank Coach Harrison for his inspiration. Never came to me to thank him for three great years. It was just a couple years after graduation that Coach Harrison lost his life at "Malfunction Junction" in Prince George's County, Maryland in a traffic accident. I cried for days after the news.
His inspiration is one of the reasons that I try to find the good in people, and in situations. And maybe why "rules" imposed by well meaning individuals "rankles" me. For unless public safety is involved, there is a better way to make us all realize our potential.
Until Coach Harrison in my first year in HS. I learned early on to volunteer early on. Just to get the pain away as quickly as possible. I'll never will forget in gym class when it came to the parallel bars. Of course I made a fool of myself, not for the lack of trying. Of course the catcalls and hoots came up. Coach Harrison then order us all in to the locker room.
I never met a man, other than my father, that was so mad. He proceeded to tell them that at least I had the guts to get up and try. And in his opinion, trying meant more than anyone getting up there doing it perfectly. And that anyone caught not supporting the efforts of each member of the class would get a failing grade. It was the first time that I ever got an "A" in gym.
And that self-confidence that he gave me, paved the way to accept my own abilities. I started to lose weight. But even without the weight loss, I felt better about myself. And in the end some of my classmates started to accept me for who I was.
The sad ending to this is that I never got a chance to thank Coach Harrison for his inspiration. Never came to me to thank him for three great years. It was just a couple years after graduation that Coach Harrison lost his life at "Malfunction Junction" in Prince George's County, Maryland in a traffic accident. I cried for days after the news.
His inspiration is one of the reasons that I try to find the good in people, and in situations. And maybe why "rules" imposed by well meaning individuals "rankles" me. For unless public safety is involved, there is a better way to make us all realize our potential.
devilot said:They are passionate about their subject. Passionate about the work they do (educating their students). Passionate about the overall well-being of the students. They know when to be a friend and when to be the authority figure.
Their passion ignites a fire in the student's heart.
At least for me anyway.
I agree--this is exactly it.
The best teachers are the one who just bubble joy from themselves about the topic they are teaching. You can feel how much they love the subject which just creates a desire to learn it and understand why they love it so much. They make you feel like helping you to learn how to comprehend the subject they teach is the most important thing in the world to them. As younger individuals, when students are made to feel important and valued by those older than them it leads to a feeling of contentedness that burns into them a memory of that, imo.
There are two teachers that I have had over the last two years that have had a huge impact on me. The first has been Ms. Cunningham, she was my yearbook advisor last year. Ms. Cunningham and I seem to have hit it off well when I first met her my sophomore year. I helped her often that year with her computer trouble and so I spent a great deal of my time in her classroom. When I applied for the yearbook staff she accepted me and that started me on a new path of learning.
Basically, not only did I learn about publishing and design, but also business. Our yearbook staff earns all its own money through yearbook sales and ad sales, this money all goes right back into our yearbook and supplies. However, apart from teaching us about publishing and business, she was like out second mother. Even now I keep in touch with her, as she retired after last year. I will never forget her, and I suspect as I go through college she will serve as a guiding light for me.
The second teacher has been with me this year, she happens to be good friends with Ms. Cunningham. She is Mrs. Mauney-Rook's. This teacher from the start of the year has been very hard on me, but that doesn't discredit the fact that she really cares about how I do in school and in life. The fact that she was tough has proved that she does indeed care.
First off, she is the UIL (University Interscholastic League) coordinator for my school, also she is the debate/speech coach. I was both on the speech and debate teams at my school this year. While Mrs. Mauney-Rook's often "banned" me from speaking during class, as I sometimes lack limits, she was very pleased with my performance on the district level (district champ in speaking) and at the regional level (even though I didn't advance). She is going to set it up so I can judge the contests next year (since I won't be in school anymore) and since they pay you to do that I am happy.
Also I love English, so maybe I am biased with her, however she is the best English teacher I have ever had. She is fun and jokes around, and also teaches a lot. This year we have gone over the Greeks, The Romans, The Anglo-Saxons, modern lit, and British lit. Some of the things I wish we had more time to go over.
So they are the two that I really will never forget.
Basically, not only did I learn about publishing and design, but also business. Our yearbook staff earns all its own money through yearbook sales and ad sales, this money all goes right back into our yearbook and supplies. However, apart from teaching us about publishing and business, she was like out second mother. Even now I keep in touch with her, as she retired after last year. I will never forget her, and I suspect as I go through college she will serve as a guiding light for me.
The second teacher has been with me this year, she happens to be good friends with Ms. Cunningham. She is Mrs. Mauney-Rook's. This teacher from the start of the year has been very hard on me, but that doesn't discredit the fact that she really cares about how I do in school and in life. The fact that she was tough has proved that she does indeed care.
First off, she is the UIL (University Interscholastic League) coordinator for my school, also she is the debate/speech coach. I was both on the speech and debate teams at my school this year. While Mrs. Mauney-Rook's often "banned" me from speaking during class, as I sometimes lack limits, she was very pleased with my performance on the district level (district champ in speaking) and at the regional level (even though I didn't advance). She is going to set it up so I can judge the contests next year (since I won't be in school anymore) and since they pay you to do that I am happy.
Also I love English, so maybe I am biased with her, however she is the best English teacher I have ever had. She is fun and jokes around, and also teaches a lot. This year we have gone over the Greeks, The Romans, The Anglo-Saxons, modern lit, and British lit. Some of the things I wish we had more time to go over.
So they are the two that I really will never forget.
then who were the worst teachers?
i had one driver's ed teacher who was always roaring drunk but since he was also a coach and had tenure, the school hired a younger and sober teacher to do the on the road section of driver's ed which happened in the last third of the class
the worst advice the drunk teacher gave us was how to drive with a beer and look like you didn't have one...all us 15 and 16 year olds laughed, but i am sure over many years, some student took up the drinking and driving technique he showed us and got into a bit of trouble
while a lot of students and high school atheletes had run ins with the drunk teacher, he had always been civil towards me
i had one driver's ed teacher who was always roaring drunk but since he was also a coach and had tenure, the school hired a younger and sober teacher to do the on the road section of driver's ed which happened in the last third of the class
the worst advice the drunk teacher gave us was how to drive with a beer and look like you didn't have one...all us 15 and 16 year olds laughed, but i am sure over many years, some student took up the drinking and driving technique he showed us and got into a bit of trouble
while a lot of students and high school atheletes had run ins with the drunk teacher, he had always been civil towards me
My history/ politic teacher in HS was one of the best teacher ever!!! She challenge you until the end and she was so smart TT_TT you ask her anything and she'd know the answer [she speaks 7 languages too] and is very witty [we love it when someone walk in our class and become some sort of victim for her teasing... And she can teach so well, a subject that usualy take other teacher the whole period to teach, she can teach it in 5-15 minutes... and we'd understand perfectly... She's also very rich... her diamonds are so big you can skate on it [ok, not that big] and she travelled all over the world so there were so many amusing tales to tell like that time she got hired as the economic consultant to the king of saudi arabia and they were shocked that she was not a male so she gave them a choice, pay her the amount they agreed upon [2 mil for 3 months ] or she stay and work... then she refused to wer the hijab because it's too hot, it's all really amusing I wish to be that well travelled someday... she got clothes from all over the world... it's so exciting to go to her class and just even look at the costumes... I ended up with a 100 in Politics [never had to work that hard for a subject like Politics and History TT_TT] and the only one ever to get a 100 from her even back when she was a prof in uni [yay me!!!]
Second is my Printing teacher, he works for Versace and is just so cool abotu everything... he brought in tons of rare art books every lessons, silk print posters, all sort of fashion show invitations, catalodgues, christmas card, etc... we really don;t do anything in class but examine these and talk [not always on topic] but we learned a lot from his class and it was FUN... not so stressed out like all of the other classes, Paolo is our favourite teacher in Milan, all the other one were baaaaaad... [I think they were hired because they were professional in their field and can speak English... teaching ability was not important -_-]
And she can teach so well, a subject that usualy take other teacher the whole period to teach, she can teach it in 5-15 minutes... and we'd understand perfectly... She's also very rich... her diamonds are so big you can skate on it [ok, not that big] and she travelled all over the world so there were so many amusing tales to tell like that time she got hired as the economic consultant to the king of saudi arabia and they were shocked that she was not a male so she gave them a choice, pay her the amount they agreed upon [2 mil for 3 months ] or she stay and work... then she refused to wer the hijab because it's too hot, it's all really amusing I wish to be that well travelled someday... she got clothes from all over the world... it's so exciting to go to her class and just even look at the costumes... I ended up with a 100 in Politics [never had to work that hard for a subject like Politics and History TT_TT] and the only one ever to get a 100 from her even back when she was a prof in uni [yay me!!!]Second is my Printing teacher, he works for Versace and is just so cool abotu everything... he brought in tons of rare art books every lessons, silk print posters, all sort of fashion show invitations, catalodgues, christmas card, etc... we really don;t do anything in class but examine these and talk [not always on topic]
but we learned a lot from his class and it was FUN... not so stressed out like all of the other classes, Paolo is our favourite teacher in Milan, all the other one were baaaaaad... [I think they were hired because they were professional in their field and can speak English... teaching ability was not important -_-]
jefhatfield said:
To be honest it would be all the other "coaches" I had. Demanding what physics make impossible for an over weight kid do, was just crewel. To be made the brunt of their jokes, and my classmates - inexcusable in light of Coach Harrison.
I was not exaggerating that I became violently ill before gym period. I and the school was too dumb to realize what the cause was. Hopefully today students today don't have to go through what I did.
Chip NoVaMac said:
it's terrible how cruel kids, and sometimes coaches can be
we all know of bad kids in school, but a coach or teacher should be above all that...i do remember a semi crazed coach in high school not too long after the vietnam war...he, and many of his classmates, where i went to school and everywhere in america for that matter were drafted and went to vietnam, or joined up and went there voluntarily
i don't know if he knew if he was coaching a soccor team or planning a raid on a vietcong stronghold...unfortunately, there were many men from that baby boomer generation that did not come back the same
jefhatfield said:
Thanks for the kind words.
Gym coaches have IMO the greatest influence on our youth, but are maybe at the lowest rung of the education ladder. They have the greatest involvement in the "physical" self worth of those they teach.
How we feel about our "physical" being truly affects our "mental" being. After Coach Harrison, my grades improved,. Was it him, or was it some other "force"? I realize now in my "older" years and education that Coach Harrison was the reason for my turn around. At the time my parents and I looked at it I realized what I needed to do.
I sincerely hope that kids today, under the same circumstances I faced are in a better place. My parents, the school, and my doctors never realized why that hour before gym class lead me to sever illness. The school nurse thought I was faking it. My parents were clueless since I could not be honest with them. For it would have been a sign of weakness to my Dad. And when I did go to the doctors, I was totally "normal" at the time.
So that others understand, this was over 30 years ago. From what I am told , we are in a different time of understanding of the physical and mental state of the body human. To a point that a doctor in my 30's was concerned about my sudden weight loss, and delved in to my day to day life. It was due to the job at the time, i lost over 30#'s in a matter of months.
Chip NoVaMac said:
that is a lot of weight loss in a very short period of time...did you look at all the possibilities? men can get anorexia, too but it's not an issue looked at by the media that much
also profound weight loss in a short period can be hard on one's gall bladder as i found out from a friend who lost 80+ lbs in one year and her gall bladder, for whatever medical reason, rebelled big time
i hope all is well with you now
jefhatfield said:
Believe me, I went to my doctor. It was his diagnosis of "stress" that lead me to quit that job with nothing lined up. A real leap in faith IMO.That place was a real hell hole. I should have seen the signs when the manger of my group tried to talk me our of the job (he was friends with my former manager, the former company had gone belly up). And I kid you not, most personal possessions displayed in the workplace could fit in a shoe box! The average tenure in my office was just two years, compared to 15+ years at the company I now work at (in fact our receptionist a couple years back celebrated 25 years!).