To ask about your best/worst teachers?

[marriedwithhounds]

In light of school starting again in a few days... let's share stories about our best and worst experiences with teachers:

Worst: Geog teacher who would whistle or clap at you instead of using your name. Once told my older sister she had 'swan like grace' creepy fucker!

Best: English teacher who once called me a 'dark horse' when I'd always seen myself as distinctly average. Made me love English and eventually go to uni to study it and become an English teacher (going into my 10th year!)

Best was my English teacher (in fact I never had a bad English teacher), who brought everything alive, jumped on tables to enlighten stories and text, and had a brain the size of Australia.

The worst was my history teacher who monotonously read out the American Civil War from a text book for two solid years. I got a 'U', funnily enough....

Same school, 30 odd years ago.

Best: teacher who didn't buy into all sorts of fads, taught us difficult material, was strict but caring. They were firm and fair. They made it clear they expected everyone to achieve. I loved their lessons because I could get on and wouldn't get stuck next to Timmy who wants to make a penis out of blue tac he nicked from maths. They prioritised the education of the majority and didn't allow everyone to be held back in order to engage 1 or 3 students who couldn't be arsed.

Worst: tried to be mates with us, didn't get through much work because they were too busy having us dress up, put silly hats on, giving sweets to disruptive students to reward them for shutting the fuck up for 30 seconds, lessons were planned to cater to disruptive students, bright or quiet students were expected to be sat next to loud and disruptive studnets because we were a good influence. They didn't seem to care about how well we did because they were more bothered about their likeability factor with disruptive students (who didn't respect them but loved their lessons because we didn't do much).

Worst: maths teacher who had the worst body odour I’ve ever encountered in a human and had clearly given up any hope he had ever had of being a good teacher. He never once, in an entire academic year, handed back marked homework. He would stand with his back to the class talking to the board as he wrote for the entire lesson. He used to have explosive rages where he would rant so loudly and aggressively that teachers from other classrooms in the corridor would come and tell him to calm down.

Best: my school chaplain / R.E. teacher. I was the only kid in my class at A Level and he was wonderful. We covered the syllabus very quickly due to me being the only pupil so he would find interesting alternative subjects (art, music, literature, politics, economics) and teach me about those instead. He made me realise how ambitious I could be, and how capable I was. He exhibited such love and support for the pupils at the school - even the most difficult, miserable kids felt appreciated and supported by him. He later conducted my wedding service when I married my husband.

I also had an English teacher who once told me ‘in thirty years of teaching I have never had a pupil with a brain as quick or insightful as you. If you’d only hand in your bloody homework you’d be a teacher’s dream.’ (I know that it’s horribly boastful to share that but since this is an anonymous forum I am indulging myself!)

He used to have explosive rages where he would rant so loudly and aggressively that teachers from other classrooms in the corridor would come and tell him to calm down.
I've worked with one of those. I remember once walking down the corridor and the poor child who was on the receiving end was standing there.
As I got closer, I interrupted and said 'sir how about I take this young man off your hands so you can return to your class'. There is a time and a place for reprimanding with a stern tone, but that child did not deserve the awful yelling he had (regardless of what he had done in class).

Timmy who wants to make a penis out of blue tac he nicked from maths.

😂

Why is swan-like creep but dark-horse not?

The worst teachers (I employ / have employed) are the ones who try to emulate people from their past. Ironically they've always been English teachers.

businessModel
Don't all teachers take bits from those who taught them/they have worked with?
I know I've been influenced by the good and the bad over the years.
(E.g. it's one reason I'll never do seating plans for behaviour where disruptive child is always put next to the quietest child in class and why now as an adult I still cringe when I see colleagues try to court the public opinion of teens).

Why is swan-like creep but dark-horse not?

Because swan-like means the teacher is commenting on her physical elegance, whereas dark horse means ‘you have hidden talent’. The connotations are so wildly different for each, it’s odd you would even ask!

MissusGeneHunt that’s interesting, I never had a bad English teacher either! Maybe the subject attracts interesting people and I’m not just saying that because my first degree was in English literature

Worst - there were lots to choose from, English teacher who used to go purple with rage and made first years cry (this was secondary btw). Cow of another English teacher who took the piss out of me in a way that invited everyone else to join in laughing (thanks Mrs.D, like you didn't know I was already unpopular and made fun of to begin with ). But the winner is a PE one, the usual culprit of if you weren't in her netball or hockey faves she couldn't be fucked with you and treated you with utter contempt. I needed to get some music equipment once that had been left in the hall where she was teaching. I knocked, nothing for ages. Gingerly stood inside right by the door waiting for her to notice me. Nothing. She KNEW I was there, and only when I thought bugger this and ventured quietly across the stage, nowhere near the class.. oh then she leapt, now I was noticed - for a huge bollocking on interrupting the lesson and some personal insults about my PE ability. Highly unlikely she'd ever see this, but Dyer, you were a cunt.

And breathe

The best one was my form tutor, he taught French, which I was crap at, so not best as a subject teacher but as a form one. He was the one to say to my parents, this one's going to uni, he actually gave a stuff about me and my education. Coming in second was a lovely primary school teacher who I always remember as being very kind, and I'm now friends with her on facebook.

@Maisy

Worked with, yes. That's natural progression and comes when you're in a position to professionally agree (or not) with what you've seen but you need to be coming from an educated and experienced place. I place little trust in the opinion of a student and, the more I see, the less I trust it.

I've never employed anyone who's told me about 'an inspirational teacher'. The only thing it tells me is that they're childish.

businessModel
I think it depends on the topic when considering student opinion. I can remember how I felt in some classes desperate to learn but not being able to.

With you on 'inspirational teacher' though. Can I also have a motion to stop people asking at interview 'so what makes you a consistently outstanding teacher?'

I've been so lucky and had so many amazing teachers.

My best taught me algebra 2 and later calculus teacher and was the most dedicated person I've ever met. During the year she taught me calculus, she suffered a debilitating illness, and ended up in hospital, but still managed to grade our test papers for return the following day and came back to school herself before fully recovering just to help us pass our final exams. She also taught us a cheer for the distance formula and a song for finding domain and range both of which I remember to this day.

I guess the subject does make a difference. There are subjects where a passionate essay might gain more marks than a dispassionate but correct answer.

I have one head of department who is almost universally hated but the figures for IB results speak for themselves. With one influential family complaining Mr x is poisonous despite their daughter studying having an offer to study the subject the following year at Cambridge the situation became very clear.

I'm with you on 'consistently outstanding teacher' I think although I do like 'why are you the best teacher for this position. The answers should be similar. I was on the board for a position where a prospective employee cleverly asked what made a consistently outstanding teacher so they could answer appropriately. He got my vote!

@businessModel I don't think it's childish to have been inspired by a great teacher. I know what you mean about gushiness in interviews / letters though - can come across as insincere.

I don't know if there's any separation between gushiness and inspiration though when in an interview setting.

If an interviewee thought it worth mentioning then they aren't on the same page as I am.

Wow businessModel, way to piss all over a lovely thread.

At school, for me, the good teachers far outweighed the bad. The worst teachers were the ones who felt it was fine to belittle and humiliate pupils in front of everyone - even if they'd tried really hard - for the tiniest mistake or infringement. The best were the ones that were encouraging and supportive.

Worst: elderly maths teacher - it was well known that she had a phobia of bananas 😂 she was so vile to students that they used to leave Bananas on her desk when she wasn't looking. She would chase you down the corridor with a ruler if you put a foot wrong.

Best: my form tutor who was also a maths teacher. In year 11, aged 16 I found out my beloved (ugh) boyfriend had cheated on me with one of my friends. I was in true teenage girl distress and when he denied it I slapped him round the face (not hard at all but still can't believe I behaved like that!!!) form teacher saw and I was pulled into his office. Rather than telling me off for slapping him he gave me a talking to about how to stand up for myself without resorting to violence, how young girls needed to protect their hearts against "caddish young men" and to concentrate on my exams rather than boys. Best talking to I have ever had and I never forgot his words.

@IHeartKingThistle

A "lovely" thread which asked about your "worst teachers".

Are you always this difficult?

Lol don't feed the troll 😘

We had an RE teacher for A level who told us a really inappropriate story about how he knew his wife had been cheating because her 'secretions' were different when he 'checked her underwear' 😧

My best teacher was my first. She was called Miss Wyn and she was a very elegant older lady with curly white hair. She had lots of very smart, elegant suits and looked so classy. I was perhaps 4? She was the most patient, calm, reassuring lady I think I've ever met. We were in a tiny Welsh village that was very rural and very working class, and she was a local girl who had got an excellent education and stayed in her village to teach. She was seen as a bit 'posh' I think in the area, but everybody loved her and she taught the first class in the primary school for decades. She lived near me and I went to Sunday school for years despite being a complete atheist - I went until I was about 11 just because she taught it and she was so lovely. My dad used to see her regularly after I left the area, and did odd jobs for her, and she always asked about me. I saw her sometimes as an adult and in her 80s she was ridiculously elegant. She taught me to read, and to love books, and she gave me my first cat, and we still have Christmas decorations I made in her class at school. She died a few years ago and the crem was packed with old pupils.

@ShinyMe I feel calm just reading about her! She sounds lush x

At the Grammar school, many, many years ago we had an English teacher who terrified us, the rumour was that he had been in something like the SAS during the war and was trained to kill any sudden noise! Years later we discovered him to be the gentlest person imaginable who enjoyed his 'wartime past' reputation.