NationStates Jolt Archive

Your favorite teacher(s) ever. Favorite could be in the form of funny or what knowledgeable or whatever.

Personally, I had a cool teacher in 5th and 6th grade who was awesome beyond belief. He was funny, and although seemingly strict, let me get away playing "Go" in the back of the room for the whole year during math with a friend. I'm not sure if he caught on, but it was very, very close...

Then during 8th grade I had this 'gangsta' teacher who dressed up in black leather jackets every other day and who used his hands very expressively to talk. Strangely, he always had a literal explanation for his behavior, as weird as it was.

Well?

my High School English Teachers. both of em were fun and I'd schedule my classes to get either one of em.

both made you sweat, one from the pressure, the other from laughing too much.

(you should hear her interpretation of Beowulf... and her interpretation of McBeth.) :p

the tough one was also fun. When I signed up for the TA program, I would assist her class. :D

In junior high we were on "learning teams" which meant that there was a big group of about 80 kids who had the same teachers for the core subjects (math, science, history, grammar). The teachers in my team came to school on Halloween dressed as Oompa-Loompas, and during each passing period they would come out into the hall and sing one of the songs from the movie....so freaking hilarious, they were all in their 50's and 60's and very very strict all year, it was almost surreal......wait not almost, it just was. The science teacher is the one who gave me extra credit for eating a worm too, so she was awesome. (if not an enabler)

My junior year math teacher would put a problem up on the board every morning and the first one to solve it would get a prize. I got it right every day, by the end of the first semester I had 4 CD's two gift certificates to the mall, and $300, that was nice, since I was living in my car and all, I would actually rush to get to his class to be the first one there and get more time to work on the problem.

Example: you have 10 saplings, and want to plant them in 5 rows with 4 trees in each row, how do you do this? (HINT: the answer is NOT buy 10 more saplings)

my favourite teacher was probably my gcse french teacher. probably the smartest teacher at my school and he had an awesome line in bowties and waistcoats. and his daughters were HOT! he did give me a fair amount of detentions though but they were interesting detentions, he'd give you a really odd essay title somewhat related to your offence and you had to write a page on that topic. but he'd rarely read them so i'd often try and come up with the most fucked up and offensive response to the essay question i could think of to entertain me for the hour. only got pulled up on it once, shouldn't have written the essay in purple felt-tip i guess.

I will forever remember my fifth grade teacher, who I'm told died last year, for being the first teacher that I ever heard swear in class. :p

My middle school art teacher was awesome. We'd spend about the first two weeks of the trimester being taught stuff, and then the rest of the trimester was just work time. If we only finished one project all year, we'd still get an A as long as it demonstrated knowledge of the material presented. That, and he'd play Smashing Pumpkins on the radio during class.

My world history teacher my Sophomore year of high school was awesome. He had a deep loathing of Freshmen, and a no-nonsense attitude that I found worked quite well for the class.

My political science teacher at college was fun, if only because we still don't know to this day what his political leanings are...he's the master of deception!

My favorite teacher of all time, however, has to be my high school choir teacher. He helped instill in me the love of music that I have today, and also was fun as hell to have as a teacher. I could go on and on about all the fun I had in his classes...good times.

My first band teacher. A literal music man, went to schools that didn't have music programs and did one for them. Inspired the hell out of kids, he's great. I recently found out he's still alive and I really want to do a documentary about him.

My band teacher in high school, sarcastic as fuck. And kind of mean. He could be hard as hell on people, and at first it bugged me. But then I realized that he didn't give the time of day to people who sucked. Still, practiced hard so as not to get yelled at. He still asks my brother if I'm still playing and my brother lies for me.

College jazz instructor. Much like the one in high school, really. Taught me "It's a sin to wanna." I could do what ever I wanted, but I had to know why, be in control of it or people can tell you're faking it.

First playwritting mentor. I'd still be failing as a musician if she hadn't shifted me to failing as a playwright. She's the only one that would let me write stories without plots.

Second playwritting mentor. Wouldn't let me write stuff without a plot...

Well, the best teacher I've ever had was unquestionably my high school chemistry teacher. He's been teaching at the same school for something like 40 years now, and rather resembles a teddy bear in both appearance and personality. He makes at least one terrible pun per class period, usually more, and always looks rather cutely proud of himself if he manages to elicit groans. Given his years of teaching experience, at this point, he has a fair number of little routines he does every year, from the "King Kong demands apple cider!" lecture on barometric pressure, to the "baby grand piano in outer space" lecture on mass. After taking both regular and AP chemistry with him, I came back for a third year as a TA, which typically involved a fair amount of both setting up labs and setting up jokes for him; he clearly got a kick out of having a straight man to play off of. Absolutely everyone loves him; students who would have sworn they hated chemistry end up liking it in spite of themselves because of him. He is very definitely getting on in years, but no one wants him to retire; every year, parents beg him to stay on just long enough to teach their children, and all of us alums can't fathom what our alma mater would be like without him.

There's a few other teachers who might compete for the title of my personal favorite - I'd say his top three competitors would be two of my high school English teachers, one a sweet, elderly Norwegian lady, the other a marvelously sarcastic ex-Army officer, both of whom were wonderful and insane and hysterically funny in utterly and completely different ways, and my college choral director, who's kind of my role model for the sort of musician I'd like to be. Unlike many other people in his profession, he manages to be extremely smart and talented without any hint of egoism, and he's a better director for it. (It's amazing how good you can get a choir to sound when you actually welcome feedback from your singers. Crazy idea, that.)

Possibly my current philosophy/english teacher. He has so many good stories, and he explains the more complex philosophical ideas often enough that I tend to grasp them.


Plus its great hearing about his life: he was originally training to be a Dominican Friar, then decided that (and I quote here) "This god stuff is a load of crock" so he quit, got a doctorate in philosophy, grew a pony tail, got a black belt in karate, two cats, learned to tango, and got married. Great guy.


Although I have to say, I appreciate my media teacher last year more, thanks to him I realised not to take life seriously. It's easier this way, so I got a lot to thank him for.

I loved my 8th grade history teacher. He would make jokes about us everyday to lighten up the mood and give us a reason to come to class everyday. He encouraged us to keep thinking in different ways. He would always tell us "Once someone has started to think differently on a subject, there's a good chance they'll never think the old way again." He wanted us to explore with an open mind so that we would be accepting of new information.

My world history teacher in high school was similar in a way. Friday was current event day and discussion. He never tried to force us to debate a certain topic. All he wanted us to do was to choose something that we thought was important so we could have an open ended debate so that we could think critically. He was a bit of a pervert, but in an amusing way. He'd tease the girls in the class and show us slide show with std ridden genitals right before prom night just to gross us out for his own amusement.

I'd also want to include my sophomore PE teacher. He was laid back and lenient, but knew when to bring the hammer down on us just to make sure that he wouldn't tolerate us if the class tried to exploit his generosity.

I had a teacher in grade 4, in Seattle named Mr. Dorsey. He would say things like "Homie don't play that" when yelling at people. He also had classroom court, where you could take other kids to court for knocking pencils off your desk, stealing paper, etc. In the true American fashion, you could take anyone to court for anything... the 'money' was tokens earned for good test scores, which could be used at his periodic toy auctions. There was no appeals court though.

I was the best defense lawyer in the class... and the best prosecutor as well, but I didn't really like prosecuting. I only prosecuted once, and earned a good friend of mine a stiff penalty. It didn't make me feel so good. :(

I think he's a principal now.

I had an awesome lecturer in my second year of uni. Our lectures were fairly early in the morning, and if people bothered showing up at all they were usually half dead and not paying attention. He had a simple solution. The first time, he yelled out "GIGANTIC COCK!" mid sentence and then continued what he was saying. Another time it was "COFFEE." and he promptly took a sip from his coffee and continued.

I never missed those lectures. Hehe. Coincidentally, it was also one of my best subjects. :)

My music teacher is cool too, since i've known him for three or four years, we share similar tastes, and occasionally meet up at gigs and stuff.

My junior english teacher was a great man, my justice theory professor was a very smart guy, my oxford-educated, old school academic briton linguistics (she preferred "philology") professor was the most rigorous academic I've ever known, and a sicilian gentleman who I have taken several classes from(outside my major, just because he teaches them) is the truest intellectual I have ever known.

In junior high we were on "learning teams" which meant that there was a big group of about 80 kids who had the same teachers for the core subjects (math, science, history, grammar). The teachers in my team came to school on Halloween dressed as Oompa-Loompas, and during each passing period they would come out into the hall and sing one of the songs from the movie....so freaking hilarious, they were all in their 50's and 60's and very very strict all year, it was almost surreal......wait not almost, it just was. The science teacher is the one who gave me extra credit for eating a worm too, so she was awesome. (if not an enabler)

My junior year math teacher would put a problem up on the board every morning and the first one to solve it would get a prize. I got it right every day, by the end of the first semester I had 4 CD's two gift certificates to the mall, and $300, that was nice, since I was living in my car and all, I would actually rush to get to his class to be the first one there and get more time to work on the problem.

Example: you have 10 saplings, and want to plant them in 5 rows with 4 trees in each row, how do you do this? (HINT: the answer is NOT buy 10 more saplings)

You grow 10 more?

I loved my 8th grade history teacher. He would make jokes about us everyday to lighten up the mood and give us a reason to come to class everyday. He encouraged us to keep thinking in different ways. He would always tell us "Once someone has started to think differently on a subject, there's a good chance they'll never think the old way again." He wanted us to explore with an open mind so that we would be accepting of new information.

My world history teacher in high school was similar in a way. Friday was current event day and discussion. He never tried to force us to debate a certain topic. All he wanted us to do was to choose something that we thought was important so we could have an open ended debate so that we could think critically. He was a bit of a pervert, but in an amusing way. He'd tease the girls in the class and show us slide show with std ridden genitals right before prom night just to gross us out for his own amusement.
I'd also want to include my sophomore PE teacher. He was laid back and lenient, but knew when to bring the hammer down on us just to make sure that he wouldn't tolerate us if the class tried to exploit his generosity.

Well that's one way to prevent them...

My history teacher is a bit of a pervert, and picks on this one girl in the class who supposedly likes another guy in the same class. She's always placing them together whenever we did seating arrangements.

My 8th grade English teacher. Funny old man who was arguably crazy and who used to belittle and insult all of the students whenever we fucked up (which was often). All in good fun and all, and he never really picked on anyone in particular.

The coolest thing about him was, and I don't know if this is a standard thing for 8th graders, but he had this activity where towards the end of the year you could write a letter to yourself, self-addressed, and he'd stamp it and send it out 4 years later once you were graduating from high school. Sort of like a time capsule.

I just got mine two years back, was kinda surprised (I'd totally forgotten about it) and amazed at how different the person who wrote that letter was from who I am now.

You grow 10 more?
nope.

My favourite teacher?

A third semester professor, a surly Scotsman who is a walking chimney stack who often smelt llike he had a swig of gin but insanely smart and an excellent teacher who knows how to keep students engaged. He would give us the questions for each test at the beginning of the semester and expect us to be able to give one page answers.

don't know, but the ones I was stuck with last year were terrible.

I'm sure we had a thread on this a few weeks ago...

Anyway. I have to say my year 5 teacher, Ms. Glover. Had I not been in her class, it's fair to say I probably wouldn't be at uni today. She pulled me out of most school assemblies and worked on my handwriting to get it up to the just about legible stage it is at today.

I'm homeschooled, and my mom is a great teacher. She knows exactly how to teach me.

My favorite teachers:

For starters I had a great 9th Grade Teacher. She was intresting because she was very much an idealist though not an imposing one. She made you really think, and she taught you well. She was also very much willing to give you a break when you needed it and deserved it.

I had a teacher for both 8th Grade History and 9th Grade Geogrpahy, he was awsome. He never gave too much work though his tests were murder. But once he was nice enough to let me take a test home and finish it. And I didn't cheat (well I don't cheat really at all) because he trusted me enough to take it home.

Math is beyond my worst subject I was actually in Special Ed Math for a long while. My teacher through middle school was very nice and helpful. I'm still not great I'm only in Alg 1 thanks to getting tutoring.

My music teacher is awsome. He's tough and he pushes you he reminds me a lot of Chef Gordon Ramsay with not as much cursing and screaming, mind you he has screamed and cursed at all of us. But he's fun he makes class fun he really has helped all of us improve.

My Sociology teacher is amazing. He's been everywhere and done everything. No seriously he's just trotted all over this globe and has so many stories to share. He's also the advisor of two clubs I'm in.

I had my favorite teacher as a science teacher in 6th and 7th grade, as a history teacher in 8th grade, and as an Algebra teacher for 1/8 of 8th grade. (same teacher for all of those.)

i had some just can't recall what years of school

nope.

Is it a trick question, or does it actually involve math?

For example, me being tricky...
Row 5:
Tree
Row 1: Tree Tree Tree Tree :2 woR
Row 3: Tree Tree Tree Tree :4 woR
Tree

Does it involve something like that? It must obviously have a little bit of "logical" thinking.

I had a teacher who was once a lawyer, but then decided to become a history teacher, and she would always give us 'board benders' right before class. Sometimes they had "tricky" math, other times visual puzzles, etc. I remember that since the usual clamor involving them (we had a lot of talkative people) would take anywhere from 5-15 minutes, not only did it take away time from the actual lesson, but it was a lot of fun for my nerdy self.

edit: that row 5 is supposed to be a little to the right

I'm homeschooled, and my mom is a great teacher. She knows exactly how to teach me.

My mom homeschooled me for a year. I still attribute most if not all of my current academical achievements for that year, because I "fell in love" with school and learning. Of course, that's mostly faded away by now, but once in a while I may get a great desire to learn and be nerdier than I already am.

Is it a trick question, or does it actually involve math?

For example, me being tricky...
Row 5:
Tree
Row 1: Tree Tree Tree Tree :2 woR
Row 3: Tree Tree Tree Tree :4 woR
Tree

Does it involve something like that? It must obviously have a little bit of "logical" thinking.


edit: that row 5 is supposed to be a little to the right

it mostly involves geometry I would say.

as a hint: think outside the box.

Both my current high school history teachers, elementary and middle school excel teachers (the advanced track class thing), my French teacher, my 7th grade science teacher.

For the tree thing....

The easiest way to go about constructing it is this:

1) Realize that 4+3+2+1+0=10.
2) Thus, you start with one row, 4 trees.
3) The next row needs to intersect this row in ONE place, thus adding 3 trees. The most natural way to do this is to start with one of the endpoints of the first row and to make a right angle. This leaves all points in good position to play a part in other rows.
4) The next row needs to intersect BOTH of these rows, thus adding 2 trees. There are several ways to do this, three of which will get you to the right garden: you can either go from one "free" endpoint (not the intersection point) to the tree immediately next to the intersection point (and you can do this with either free endpoint), or you can go from the point adjacent to one free endpoint over to the point adjacent to the opposite free endpoint.
5) The next row needs to intersect BOTH of the original lines PLUS the line you just made, thus adding only 1 tree to the total formation. This means that of the three lines available in the previous move (4), you must now draw another.
6) The next row needs to use 4 trees that are already in the garden, adding 0 to the total. But you should find that you have that. Just add the final line from step 4.

In other words, if you start with this drawing:

A......B......C......D

E

F

G

You have two lines and 7 trees. Draw a line from F to C, adding two trees. Now draw a line from B to G, adding one tree. That tree, placed carefully, will give you a line from E to D.

For the tree thing....

The easiest way to go about constructing it is this:

1) Realize that 4+3+2+1+0=10.
2) Thus, you start with one row, 4 trees.
3) The next row needs to intersect this row in ONE place, thus adding 3 trees. The most natural way to do this is to start with one of the endpoints of the first row and to make a right angle. This leaves all points in good position to play a part in other rows.
4) The next row needs to intersect BOTH of these rows, thus adding 2 trees. There are several ways to do this, three of which will get you to the right garden: you can either go from one "free" endpoint (not the intersection point) to the tree immediately next to the intersection point (and you can do this with either free endpoint), or you can go from the point adjacent to one free endpoint over to the point adjacent to the opposite free endpoint.
5) The next row needs to intersect BOTH of the original lines PLUS the line you just made, thus adding only 1 tree to the total formation. This means that of the three lines available in the previous move (4), you must now draw another.
6) The next row needs to use 4 trees that are already in the garden, adding 0 to the total. But you should find that you have that. Just add the final line from step 4.

In other words, if you start with this drawing:

A......B......C......D

E

F

G

You have two lines and 7 trees. Draw a line from F to C, adding two trees. Now draw a line from B to G, adding one tree. That tree, placed carefully, will give you a line from E to D.

I am impressed. That's totally not the answer I got.....although I did a bit of intersecting myself.

http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c389/Smunkee/trees.jpg

I am impressed. That's totally not the answer I got.....although I did a bit of intersecting myself.My seventh grade math teacher used to do something similar, and I'd always be the one to solve them. Although... he did it to keep us busy, not to award prizes, and so the "solutions" tended to be trickier than one might expect.

Indeed, in a few cases he told me that I was the only student to solve them in his many years of teaching.

He also told me never to reveal the answers.

Example:

There are three houses (H1, H2, H3) and three utilities (U1, U2, U3). Lines must be run from EACH utility to EACH house. No line may cross any other line.

You may arrange the houses and the utilities in any configuration you wish.

Both my current high school history teachers, elementary and middle school excel teachers (the advanced track class thing), my French teacher, my 7th grade science teacher.

My first history teacher liked me for my diligence in history, and now he lets me put together his summer reading and his independent study course for next year. The other history teacher is a sarcastic guy who will go off on political tangents by himself, always an interesting class.

The excel teachers pushed my to reach my level of potential.

My French teacher instilled a love of French in me.

My 7th grade science teacher was equally sarcastic and constantly detested the excel kids I mentioned. He told us we were so smart but lacked common sense, and he was right. He also instilled a push to prove that we were smarter than the average bear.

My first history teacher liked me for my diligence in history, and now he lets me put together his summer reading and his independent study course for next year. The other history teacher is a sarcastic guy who will go off on political tangents by himself, always an interesting class.

The excel teachers pushed my to reach my level of potential.

My French teacher instilled a love of French in me.

My 7th grade science teacher was equally sarcastic and constantly detested the excel kids I mentioned. He told us we were so smart but lacked common sense, and he was right. He also instilled a push to prove that we were smarter than the average bear.

I find that neither my German nor my French teachers "instill a love" for either language. Somehow those classes are always my most boring.

My seventh grade math teacher used to do something similar, and I'd always be the one to solve them. Although... he did it to keep us busy, not to award prizes, and so the "solutions" tended to be trickier than one might expect.

Indeed, in a few cases he told me that I was the only student to solve them in his many years of teaching.

He also told me never to reveal the answers.

Example:

There are three houses (H1, H2, H3) and three utilities (U1, U2, U3). Lines must be run from EACH utility to EACH house. No line may cross any other line.

You may arrange the houses and the utilities in any configuration you wish.

You mean one line from each house to all three utilities?

So, a line from H1 that goes to U1, U2, and U3 (in whatever order), and then one from H2 and H3?

i could do another "favorite math problem" thread or something:p

My French teacher at high school was pretty cool. He was Parisian & had a very quirky sense of humour.

My seventh grade math teacher used to do something similar, and I'd always be the one to solve them. Although... he did it to keep us busy, not to award prizes, and so the "solutions" tended to be trickier than one might expect.

Indeed, in a few cases he told me that I was the only student to solve them in his many years of teaching.

He also told me never to reveal the answers.

Example:

There are three houses (H1, H2, H3) and three utilities (U1, U2, U3). Lines must be run from EACH utility to EACH house. No line may cross any other line.

You may arrange the houses and the utilities in any configuration you wish.

Isn't that a mathematical impossiblity?

My current politics teacher is a legend. We start seriously but it all degenerates into us taking the piss out of each other and him and vice versa yet he is also the most knowledgeable teachers around as he publishes politics textbooks and such for other schools.

Isn't that a mathematical impossiblity?It is.

But you haven't really solved the problem unless you can prove that.

Both my A Level Economics teachers were pretty cool. One reveled in the fact his name was Christopher Wallace, and occasionally insisted that we call him Biggie or Notorious during lessons. The other was quite possibly crazy, and had little dances to demonstrate economic theory. When it came to exam time, students could be seen recreating the dances with their hands on the desks. Worked, though.

One Maths teacher I had was good as well. Excellent teacher, knew his shit, and was determined to make sure that we knew it too. Didn't take any crap either.

And I had a really hot French teacher...

But my favourite teacher was my History teacher through GCSE and A Level. Almost certainly insane, he was of Polish descent and was born in the East End of London. He made history fun, and was almost certainly the reason I took history at university (and subsequently failed to get a job). :p

My high school Latin teacher and my Criminal Law/World History teacher. The latter, in all honesty, probably saved lives just by telling his tear jerking story about six of his friends dieing behind the wheel during high school. I would do just about anything to have them become my college professors.

I used to have this hilarious teacher for Spanish. Very odd sense of humour. Once we turned up and he insisted no-one make any noise, as there was to be an unexpected test. Handed the papers out and anything, told us again that we had to be silent, then started playing a harmonica, only stopping to warn us to remain quiet. And his car set on fire once, setting off the fire alarms and getting us out of a P.E. lesson. Happy days.

I had a fantastic teacher for 4th and 5th class (I think that it's the same as 4th and 5th grade; it was from the ages of 9-11 anyway).

She used to write our homework on the blackboard in the morning before class started, so that, if you were sly, you'd get your homework finished by the end of the school day.

She could draw well and was creative so there were always loads of art sessions (Friday afternoon was art time).

She loved creative writing and so every Monday afternoon she'd gove us a title and about an hour to write a story; which she marked out of ten. I wrote some great stories in that class; I honestly think that I was more creative then than I am now. She even gave prizes to the best ones (little things like sweets, pens, pencils, erasers, etc.).

She made Irish (Gaelic) classes more interesting by letting us act out the stories in our Irish vocabulary book on stage in groups.

She rearranged the seating every week so that we weren't always stuck next to the same (in my case because I was smart and a good influence) idiotic person.

She would always end our long (8:50am-2:10pm; I wish I had those hours now!) days with 20 minutes of her reading a story.

She'd come up with creative competitions, such as writing a book for children (which she read to young relatives to asses the best). I guess I remember that one because I won it. :D Good times.

The only thing that I didn't like about her was that she had teacher's pets (and I wasn't one of them) which meant that for two years I was rarely asked to read aloud (because I was neither a favourite nor a terrible reader who needed the practice), which helped to develop a stutter when reading aloud.