Did a teacher change your life?

[ProfPickles]

I saw on social media that it has recently been thank a teacher week and it got me thinking about the teachers I had at school and college.

Nothing remarkable stands out to me that happened whilst in their classes (other than them being great teachers and kind people) but what really stands out to me is that my high school art teacher came to support me when I opened my business 8 years after leaving school.

My college art teacher took me out for dinner to look through my personal statement when applying for uni. I had a baby within a year of leaving her class and everyone else was off to uni without me. It meant so much that she took the time to support me and she sat and held my newborn son while I finished the meal she'd bought me.

I'm going to be starting my teacher training this year and in my current job in a secondary school I see every day how the teachers work so hard for our kids. We're in a deprived area so there is a lot to deal with behaviour wise too and the teachers are inspirational to me.

Anybody else have stories of past teachers that really changed things for them?

I think mine just made me feel valued as a person and not just someone that they once taught

I might be exhausted because it's nearly the end, but I'm a teacher and this has made me a bit emotional

I really hope that my classes look back fondly in the future!

@Onlyfoolsandfathers she was lovely. Mrs Rowley. Yes I think she wanted me to experience the sparkles for a change. I was too young for it to last but I never forgot that. It was reignited at 16 when a very dear friend gave me a red lipstick and said “this is you” ❤️

No, it was a DJ.

When I was 6 I had a lovely teacher who realised how bad my home situation was. She brought me something for breakfast every day and made sure I had lunch. She tried to raise concerns, but having had my three siblings go through the school no-one was that fussed.

The following year I had a new teacher who was completely different in nature. Miss A went to the head and expressed concern that there was no way I’d be getting food from Mrs G and she was worried. In the end she used to come to the playground at break and give me an apple or crisps or something.

The very first day we got a new head she went to them, expressed her concern again and I got called in. By chance it was just after my father had burned my brother with the iron and I told the story when miss A asked me a question in a way that meant I opened up. The new head and Miss A spoke to my siblings high school HT and then all three put their careers on the line and called my grandparents, told them what was going on with the burn, that they’d tried to contact social services but were aware that had been done numerous times before so if they wanted to come and collect me and take us they wouldn’t be prevented.

My GP’s picked us all up from school on the Thursday and basically dared my parents to fight to get us back.

Miss A’s determination totally changed my life.

In a more education related one a genius maths teacher told me at 14 not to bother with something as I’d never manage a good mark.

I spent two years determinedly proving him wrong and only realised by his reaction on results today that he’d realised that the way to snap me out of coasting was to bring out my “I’ll show you” side.

EditedbySKSS

I wonder if these people ever know the difference they make

*results day.

Not today

Yes - my year 6 teacher (or top year primary as it was then).

He was an amazing man - Clever, interesting that and so supportive. Strict too, with practices that you wouldn't get away with these days!

He did 11 plus lessons for free after school for those of us he thought would pass. Lots of us went back to see him for years afterwards as he really made a difference to so many kids.

@Onlyfoolsandfathers I hope Mrs Rowley would have known. As for my friend, I tell her and anyone else who is listening how much she changed my life - 5 years before she gave me the red lipstick when she befriended me at the start of high school. It’s a very treasured memory, the start of our friendship

Lovely Mrs Conway during A Levels. She was just amazing. She taught English Lit but mainly she was just a very, very wise and warm person. I'm still in touch with her and she's still wonderfully supportive and funny.

I still try to teach the way she did - she would always make us feel we'd discovered things she never knew about the text, or that we were all much quicker than her. She totally convinced us that we were worth listening to.

My music teacher in the VI form Mr H. I initially went to see him to ask if I was able to use a music room to practise. He was shocked that I had got through the entire 1st-5th year without him knowing me although I had grade V clarinet and theory. He persuaded me to join the A level music class which I did, dropping Law which my dad had persuaded me to take but I hated.

I ended up taking up the piano too and went to university to study music.

Mr H was the most engaging teacher I had ever known. He was funny and made me believe in myself which no other teacher to that point had ever made me do.

My art teacher when I was in Year 10.

I was a very able student but totally lacked confidence. He took a genuine interest in me, gave me lots of encouragement, and books to read about art history which weren't part of the curriculum. It began a lifelong interest in art and I eventually went on to complete a bachelors degree in design.

Sadly he passed away not long after I finished school. He was seriously ill for a while, and it's one of the biggest regrets of my life that I didn't go and say goodbye before he passed. I was young and I sort of just freaked out.

I had a lovely head of sixth form who saw something in me despite very average GCSEs and encouraged me to apply to Oxford. I would never have considered it myself; I wasn’t one of the “clever ones” at school and my parents were in the midst of a horrible divorce so had no time to guide me with stuff like that. It was a massive long shot but I did get in and my degree has undoubtedly had a huge effect on my career. I still credit her with this, she died recently but she was incredibly kind, inspiring and supportive. A really old school kind of teacher.