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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

to turn the other thread around and ask what is the BEST thing a teacher ever said to you?

66 replies

pullthecracker · 27/03/2018 19:38

Thinking about things on a positive note, I remember my English language a level tutor, when I saw him a few years later, saying “I’ve never met anyone that worked as hard as you” (I only got an E, so that meant a lot to me)

OP posts:

Pengggwn · 27/03/2018 19:43

Oh god, now that is a hard one.

user1465335180 · 27/03/2018 19:47

One of my primary school teachers had a spare apple and said he'd give it to whoever had been the best in class. He gave the apple to me and that was better than words, I was shy and nervous and that apple meant the world to me. I still think of him and hope he's happy!

Cuntricide · 27/03/2018 19:48

When my uni tutor accused me of plagiarizing a paper. I hadn't, and took a probably misplaced pride in knowing that my tutor thought my work was good enough to have been published. Obvs didn't say much about her personal opinion of me though!

Goldmonday · 27/03/2018 19:48

That I was oxford material!!!

I went on to drop out of a polytechnic

Yorkshirebetty · 27/03/2018 19:50

Thank you!! That other thread is horrible.
I remember when I moved from infants to juniors, my class teacher said "I'll miss you - in my classroom there will be a Betty shaped hole". That was over 50 years ago and so sweet I've never forgotten it!!

NormHonal · 27/03/2018 19:51

When I was heading off for university interviews, one teacher told me to remember to smile in my interviews, and should smile more in general, because I had a lovely smile and people would remember me for it.

It’s stuck with me throughout life much more than the praise I got from her and other teachers for my schoolwork.

NormHonal · 27/03/2018 19:53

Another teacher told me after the nativity play that I “deserved an ostrich”.

At least, my 6yo brain heard it that way, and was puzzled. The idea of an ostrich sounded cool though.

Several years later I heard about “The Oscars” and the penny dropped .

mayhew · 27/03/2018 19:54

When I was 5, my teacher told my mum " she'll go to grammar school and then she'll go to university" in a very poor area in the 1960s. None in my family had been to university.
When I was 20, I recognised her in the street, at nearly 90, she still dyed her hair bright red.
She remembered me and I told her I was at Cambridge.

ShinyMe · 27/03/2018 19:56

I honestly can't think of anything. I had good teachers, some of whom were encouraging and positive and decent, but I can't remember a single positive thing they said.

PeterPiperPickedSeaShells · 27/03/2018 19:57

I really wanted to be a nurse when I was at school (am a nurse now) and my teacher said to my mum that if she (teacher) ever got knocked off of her motorbike she hoped she would be brought to my hospital

zeebeedee · 27/03/2018 19:57

A primary school teacher, Mrs Sixsmith, sent me off to walk around the field when I was getting frustrated with something I couldn't do in maths. When I got back, amazingly, I could do it! That lesson has stayed with me and I leave things I'm getting frustrated with and they are nearly always much easier later!!

I try to pass it on to my class too, but it's frowned on to send kids round the field on their own now........

AmazingDetectiveSlashGenius · 27/03/2018 19:58

My A-level English teacher, at parents' evening...her face lit up when we came over and she said, "I just HAVE to show you Amazing's notes - they're fantastic - look, you can see her making all of these brilliant connections...." and she went on for a bit in that vein .

I've had a lot of academic praise (not a brag, I'm a min-wage drudge now at 39!) but that stuck in my memory because I had loved making those notes and loved the class in question (Jane Eyre).

I also remember my teacher in primary praising a poem I wrote and saying I had a natural understanding of scansion. Didn't know what that meant, but I found out

TamzinGrey · 27/03/2018 19:58

Announced to the whole class - "One day Tamzin will be a famous author". Didn't happen, mainly due to my own laziness, but it felt so good at the time, particularly coming from a teacher who rarely praised anyone.

RazzleDazzle3 · 27/03/2018 19:58

That I was naturally gifted at maths and they had great expectations of me... said by the headteacher of my first primary as I was leaving the school in year 4.

Always made me feel very proud, even now 40 years on

Rankellior · 27/03/2018 20:00

My primary school headteacher introduced me to a visitor by saying “this is rankellior. Every school should have a pupil like her” I was only maybe 7/8 and I was so proud! It went downhill from there!

Bigpizzalover · 27/03/2018 20:03

I’m not the best at maths and used to get really stuck on one question and lose time to answer the others... my teacher told me ‘sod it, just sod it, give it a go and if you can’t just relax and move on. Answer the ones you know and come back to the rest’ and it really actually helped me not to stress.

Crispyturtle · 27/03/2018 20:03

‘I would like to help you try to get your work published’

It never came to anything, but the thought that an Eng Lit lecturer though so much of my work was amazing.

I’ve had so many wonderful teachers, one in particular really sticks with me & I wish I knew where she was now.

Wishfulmakeupping · 27/03/2018 20:03

My tutor at gsce level got my mum in for a meeting she was worried that I was on course for all C’s and she turned to me and said ‘wishful you are anything but average, don’t ever settle for mediocre’ gave me a right old telling and I needed it she made me go the extra mile revision wise 👍

caringdenise009 · 27/03/2018 20:05

My form teacher in sixth form was aware that I was really suffering with home circumstances and mental health issues. On my last report he wrote in the personal comments that he was really impressed by my ability to keep going no matter how hard things were. I didn't read that comment until about twenty years later due to the extreme fear I had of what was written in the academic bits. I wish I'd read it at the time, I think that seeing that someone recognised that I was trying would have been a boost that could've changed my life for the better. I was very touched and always remember him with great affection.

WinkyisbackontheButterBeer · 27/03/2018 20:06

A level English lit teacher, as he chucked a book to me.
“Here, read that. It will appeal to your warped sense of humour. It’s one of my favourites.”

Doesn’t sound very nice but I loved that he got me.

TansyViolet · 27/03/2018 20:07

I remember an English teacher reading out some homework I'd done as she thought it was good. My mum used to go to a place for people with mental health problems for therapy etc and i used to go to the kids' bit. There was a really lovely teacher there who let us do Art and she used to rave about how good my creations were.
A friend pointed out a scraperboard I'd done of a tiger on the wall at high school to a dinner lady we were friendly with and she thought we were kidding her as she thought it was really good.
I couldn't think of anything to add to the other thread. I certainly remember being bollocked plenty but don't remember anything nasty being said as most of my teachers were decent people

SunnySkiesSleepsintheMorning · 27/03/2018 20:12

A sixth form teacher said “I believe in you”. I had been in hospital with a serious illness and lost all faith that I could continue with my studies. This teacher had known me since I was 11. I still remember her fondly. :)

Atthebottomofthesea · 27/03/2018 20:16

I'm trying to remember something, but what I do remember is in middle infants we used to do Best Writing. For those that did well you got a star and then there was a gold and silver for the best. I am sure you stood on the chair if you got a gold. I got it once, I was so chuffed. I found the book the other day whilst sorting my loft out.

Atthebottomofthesea · 27/03/2018 20:22

Another 'bad' one that was actually good. GCSE mocks english. I was pulled aside and basically told that my mock paper was dreadful and that I really should only do the lower paper but as they knew I wanted to do a levels they would put me in the standard paper. I thought 'I'll show you' I still only got a B overall but they had predicted me a D or something.

GinaLinetti99 · 27/03/2018 20:36

I had a French teacher who I absolutely adored. I'd had a really rough time health wise during my GCSEs but loved her classes. She made me love languages, even to this day.

Sometime in Y11 I asked her nervously if she thought I could take A level French, and she cried with joy, saying 'I really hoped you would, you have such a talent'.

I ended up dropping out of French A level for lots of reasons, but went on to learn another completely unrelated language as an adult.

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