To ask you to tell me about your favourite school teacher from your own school days?

[MrsKiplin]

Shamelessly starting a feel good thread!

Mrs Ford, my A level economics teacher. Inspired me and led directly to me working as a professional economist. Also helped me through the loss of my mum three months before my A levels. She was amazing - funny, smart, understanding, strict, engaging. Loved her.

My German teacher, he was crazy and eccentric, he used to stand on his desk, throw books about, do funny voices, just anything to make it more fun and memorable, he used to have a language lunch club where he’d make German food and tell fabulous stories about his life growing up in Germany, a wonderful teacher I remember all his lessons, I still write to him every month or so, as do lots of old pupils, he’s 80 now and still has the same warmness and humour!

There was an English teacher in our Grammar school, early 1960s, of whom everyone was terrified, there was an arched opaque window onto the corridor and his silhouette seemed to glide by. The story was that he had been in a special army unit in the war and had been trained to react to noise so he was very strict because otherwise he might kill us! Later we discovered that he was the softest, kindest person imaginable and loved his reputation as a silent killer! Years layer, when we lived on the otherside of town he came to our church.
Now if I were to tell about my other favourite teacher there'd be a court case by today's standards but we were amazing!

Mrs Roberson . History teacher before the days of forms and permission slips !

'Come on girls no point in listening to me talk about the civil war.. into my car and let's go see one of the battle fields it's only ten minutes away' .. so 6 in her Morris traveller (small o level class) .. that was her all the way. Bought history alive.

We ALL got As for olevel . Brilliant. Have loved history ever since. !

I've had some fantastic teachers but my favourite (in fact everyone's favourite) was an English teacher. He was funny, passionate about literature and just connected brilliantly with a class full of teenagers - always stimulated and actively encouraged debate, as long as it was well informed debate! Although easy going on the whole, nobody messed around with him. They just utterly respected him and therefore nobody ever crossed him (you knew when he wasn't in the mood for humour). Fond memories of GCSE and A level English in his class.

My English teacher, and form tutor, in first year of secondary. We'd moved from a completely different area and I felt completely at sea. She had us do an All About Me project and it really helped me connect with the other girls, think about why we were all special and different, and ultimately make friends. Marvellous Miss McK, I wish I could thank her,

In infant school, Mrs Jones was my favourite. She was my second teacher. The first one had dismissed me as awkward and unteachable and humiliated me (I was the youngest in the class). She didn't believe I could read. Mrs Jones bumped me up 7 reading levels in a week and had me reading independently by the end of year 1.

Mrs Mann and Mrs Eliot were my favourites from juniors. They were kind and patient.

I have loads from high school. Mrs Gresham taught maths and was my form teacher for two years. She always went out of her way for us.

Mr Atkin taught me to love history by challenging how I thought and, generally, being very funny.

Mrs Divall taught English. She was sharp, took no prisoners, in a very quiet way, and always encouraged everyone. She writes historical novels now.

History A'Level teacher. Passionate and funny. Taped me (am old ) his Led Zeppelin and Pink Floyd albums and made me start critical thinking and getting political. I passed my A'Level but not with a spectacular grade, and I remember feeling I'd let him down.

I shamelessly hunted him down about 10 yrs ago- he was by then a HT in a different area. We struck up an email correspondence which basically involved us talking about books we were reading.

I want to be a teacher that people talk about 40 yrs later.

My primary school head teacher Mr Swamley. He was ex army and therefore called everyone by their surname.
I was sent to his office one day because I had been rude to a teacher. I was absolutely terrified of him. However he sat me down , gave me some chocolate biscuits and told me that I was super intelligent and could do so many great things. He really changed my outlook on life.
My English teacher at secondary school was absolutely amazing . She brought English Literature to life

My maths teacher Miss Ally. I absolutely hated maths with a passion and had always struggled . However, she taught maths in such a simplistic manner , that I actually began to enjoy it.
I ended up taking A level maths

Maths teacher, known as "The Boss". He had an amazing aim with a board rubber and could throw it the full length of the classroom and hit Darren Smith on the head with unerring accuracy, every time. He was scary but very entertaining. This was in the days when no one batted an eyelid at such behaviour. I'm very old!

Biology Teacher, Miss G. She took us on an A level field trip and we all went to the pub! We were only allowed half a pint each though.

Music Teacher, Mr L. He inspired a lasting love of music and educated us about apartheid. He made me aware of human rights and politics and in a way that had a profound and lasting effect.

My O-level history teacher, Mr Talbot. Yes I still remember all the major political issues of the 1906 election and the earth-shattering win for Campbell-Bannerman.

Mrs D, an earlier history teacher had managed to make the Jacobite Rebellion as dull as dust; Mr Talbot made Edwardian psephology edge-of-your-seat exciting. He's the main reason I went for a History degree.

Mrs Clements, completely brought me out of my shell and gave me confidence in year three, nurtured my love of reading and encouraged me to read far beyond the school reading scheme, was warm and interested and inspiring. Taught us in creative ways, I remember her bringing in eggs from home (she kept hens) , and watching them hatch under incubator lights, learning about the cycle of life and also where the food we ate came from. Built model Tudor houses from lolly sticks and went on a fantastic residential. I really hope she knows she had such an impact.

I had a lovey form tutor/language subject teacher. She was fab. Really laid back and understanding. Sad thing was when my nan was in a hospice a few years ago dying she was in the bed opposite. She had MND and died a few months later.

My p6 teacher who was always so grateful for me tidying up everything.

My Latin teacher, Mr Santangeli, known as Santa. Funny and enthusiastic, made Latin fun and that's not easy. Flew off a desk pretending to be Icarus & twisted his ankle. I did Latin to higher because of him, was amazed to find that people at other schools thought it was a boring subject!

Mr. Howe, the worlds best science teacher. He had a gift to make it all seem understandable and we all loved him.
He was ace.

'Come on girls no point in listening to me talk about the civil war.. into my car and let's go see one of the battle fields it's only ten minutes away' .. so 6 in her Morris traveller (small o level class) .. that was her all the way. Bought history alive.

Jesus Christ - imagine that happening now.
She’d have to plan that trip weeks in advance. Fill out the paperwork. It would need to be signed off with about 5 people. Letter sent to parents, permission slips collected in. Collect first aid kit, complete register, definitely don’t use own car, have another member of staff there, make sure one of you has first aid training, collect in medical plans, collect emergency telephone...

My maths teacher from y8 to A level. He was terrifying but fantastic at explaining concepts. Even at A level you would make sure you did your homework. Thing is though he would give up any amount of time to help you, and encouraged you to ask for help if needed. We all respected him for it.

DD has now started high school and he is still there - I hope so much he teaches her!

Also a physics teacher who brought everything to life - bouncing around the classroom pretending to be on a diving board (potential energy) or a slinky spring.

Not only does he still recognise me over 20 years later, he still recognises my mum and asks how my brother and 1 are.

"Taffy Taylor", mad Welsh maths teacher (apologies if that is offensive nowadays!!). Had a laugh at times but took no nonsense in class when teaching and taught well keeping class engaged. Regularly lobbed a piece of chalk, or if you were a frequent offender a blackboard duster, at the head of any pupil not paying attention or talking in class.

This was in the 1980s, I've moved away but heard he retired a couple of years back and had a huge send off from pupils past and present filling the playground and making a day in the life of a maths teacher short comical film.

My secondary school English teacher up to age 16. I was the weird nerdy clever kid who got bullied and she let me sit in her classroom and read books during the lunch hour. She gave me books she thought I would like and generally just 'got' me. I was devastated when she left before 6th form.

My Maths teacher in year 8 and a bit of year 9. She was young and very different from all of our other teachers. She made Maths seem exciting and fun because she was exciting and fun. Years later I've realised her real value to me was to make me realise that you don't have to fit the stereotype that's there cut out for you - there's always room to do things differently. I was devastated when she left too.

My history teacher who - happy ending! - taught me all the way through to the end of A levels. A lovely, kind man who taught me about politics and believed in me a great deal more than I did myself.

I am nearly 40 now and I think about them regularly. I hope that I can have as much of a positive influence on someone else's life as they each did on mine.

Meryl Lacey was the deputy headmistress at my grammar school (I was there 82-89).

In appearance she was very similar to Pam Ferris as Miss Trunchbull in Matilda - the figure and the tweed suits.

She could terrify everyone with just a look and seemed to play up to the ‘bad cop’ role.
She was the one who would catch you doing the things you shouldn’t, mainly because she’d more than likely seen and done it all herself and knew all of the dodges. She never had to fund her own smoking habit as she confiscated plenty of ours.

She had a wicked sense of humour and cackle to match.
She was passionate about maths and always had time to help those with the same spark.
I got to know her best during the sixth form when we were both members of the school archery club.
What I took from her was to be passionate about your work, have time for others and know how to have a laugh.
I was very sad when I heard she had passed away.

My GCSE English teacher. We shared a love of Jilly Cooper and she surprisingly encouraged my 15 year old self to read all the naughty ones. She was a fabulous teacher too, and though I can picture her clearly I'm ashamed to say I've forgotten her name....

I loved geography with Mr. O'Donnell. I really understood all the processes and the principles and if I didn't then he was approachable. He made the lessons fun and interesting and had a funny way of teaching. The students who misbehaved in other lessons didn't with him so we actually got to learn something. Because of him, I got an A at gcse and a B at a'level. I should have done on to do it at university but ended up specialising in something else that I didn't enjoy nearly as much.

Lovely memories.

And the tragedy is that these days, most of these teachers would have MN threads about them "AIBU to be livid" with the great keyboard unwashed exhorting the OP to contact the HT, the LEA and possibly the police for even daring to be funny, or innovative, or have a personal relationship (not that kind ) of any sort with their pupils.