Sticking to the academic team who was or is your favorite teacher and why? For me I have two. One was my my high school English teacher Mr. Matheson. The guy was young, cool, fun, energetic, innovative, everything most teachers I ever had were the total opposite. It kind of planted the seed for me figuring out a profession. In college it was a Professor name Dr. Lu! He was and still is a great mentor to me. The man helped me find my voice and has guided me whenever I feel burnt out in my profession. So who were your faves?

In high school I would have to say my 11th grade math teacher. I took a basic math class so I could pass my junior comp test. I always had a problem with math and he really broke it down for me. His class was the first time I ever got an A all three trimesters. In beauty school I would say my Instructor Kim, she was best at color and I learned more from her then any of my lower level instructors.

Mr Lindley my English Teacher
he looked like Colonel Gaddafi and was just as volatile, but he was a very inspirational teacher, partly why i can type in whole sentences now

Ms. Garcia - Language Arts in junior high, 6th grade

Mr. Doering - Social Studies in junior high, 7th-8th grade

Fun teachers that made learning easy and interesting

Mrs. Thomas, my first grade teacher way back in 1976. I was in Japan and I develope a bad case of Pneumonia. She came on her days off and visited me in the hospital. She would read me stories. If your out there I want you to know I never forgot that.

It certainly wasn't Mr Howard he forced me into the confessional and I am not even a catholic - said it wouldn't hurt me! I will probably go to hell for that sacrilige. He also ate my prize when I won the Mischa the Bear colouring in contest when I was absent the day the winner was announced.

ZombieKitten said:

what a mean guy!
what was the prize? and what did u confess?

jami0mckay said:

it was a violet crumble

and I think I confessed I was mean to my sister and told a lie, (I was only 9)

ZombieKitten said:

I am violet the organ crumple, and I crumple all the live long day.....

well hopefully he's now sad, lonely and living on his own

ZombieKitten said:

The you are going the hell in a handbasket C....sorry to have to tell you

Mr. Corcoran, my English Literature teacher. A failed writer, he was sarcastic, moody, bitter and mean. Funny as hell with it too though.

ms. nichter, my english teacher for all four years of high school. she was strict, screamed at the class more than once, and only respected me once i did well in my first english AP exam , but she was the only teacher i had then who could lecture and make it seem worthwhile. also, hope werness, the head of the art history department at my college. i took an ancient art history survey course of hers my first semester and was totally floored by how fascinating she made it. the classes were 3 hours long but were actually fun to me.

My high school and college English teachers were both great. The one in high school was a grumpyish, middle aged man that was like a slightly kinder House M.D and looked kinda like him too. He had a great sense of humor.

Then the one I had in college was like what my high school teacher would've been like if he was 90% more cheerful and gay. I've taken a couple of his classes just for the fun of it.

Mr Ralph Hawley

One of the best things I can remember about Ralph is way back in 92, school induction week. He was to be our year head through school and in our form we had Ralph's son Neil. We'd just finished football and it was time for our first ever experience of school Extreme Temperature showers (Either -10 or 100 degrees, remember?). Anyway Ralph decides that Neil is going to be first in. None of us knew about Neils blatent homosexuality at the time but it showed as he got incredibly giddy, dropping his towel and sprinting into the shower. Next thing he slips straight on his arse, skids across the floor, and goes slamming into the back wall of the shower. The changing room was in stitches it was quality.As if this wasn't funny enough, suddenly Ralph appears on the scene raging, "NEIL, GET HERE!". I swear the whole of 7H was crying with laughter when a naked Nibzy received a clip round t' back o't earhole of his old man. Class.
[Edited 8/31/07 3:27am]

The french assistant in my last year, because she wanted me.

Spookymuffin said:

And you did precisely nothing about it, am I right? Why not?

fhqwhgads said:

Oh, I would have. Exams got in the way of us seeing each other. I send goodbye to her on the last day in front of loads of people and she wanted to kiss me. We're still talking to this day. Albeit via email. She invited me down to Lyon where she's at but I'm with Laurel now.

I had two:

Mrs. Holmes: Art teacher in 9th, 10th, and 12th grade.

Mr. Zamor - Spanish teacher in 11th and 12th grade.

I liked them because they were both extremely funny, both were very passionate about what they taught, and they actually cared about me and tried to get to know me. I still see both of them every once in a while.

oh, lordy. answering this question always makes me all mooshy.

my favorite teacher was my 6th grade teacher, mrs. nahre.

she was a young-ish reformed hippie who was really good at making us think outside of our smalltown mentalities. when everyone was picking on a new kid who was really queeny and effeminate, she sent him out of the room one day to make copies and while he was out of the classroom, she lectured us on how different doesn't have to mean bad, and that everyone deserves respect. and she wasn't condescending - she talked our language and treated us like little adults.

when the teachers were on strike against the union, she came into class with her picket signs and told us we might see her on the local news, and she explained to us what she was doing and what the teachers wanted, and that it didn't mean she was going to stop teaching us but that she needed to get better benefits for her family. i remember thinking that was so cool, because even then i knew she was risking her job to tell us all that.

on a personal level, though, mrs. nahre was the first teacher i ever had who singled me out and told me i had a special imagination and a talent for writing. she was the first teacher who recommended "grown-up" sci-fi and fantasy novels to me - she had me read "the stand" by stephen king, which was probably the first book i'd ever read which was more than 150 pages.

she also had me keep a steno pad in which i had to keep a fiction diary. every day i had to add on bits and pieces to a story, and i had to turn it in every few days and then she'd give it back with her comments written in the margins. it was ungraded - she was totally doing it for me and because she knew i was excited to do it - but yeah, she was the first person other than my mother who encouraged me to write and told me i was good at it.

she also became good friends with my mom later on, and even though they fell out of touch, it was weird for a while being invited to dinner at my 6th grade teacher's house. but it was always very cool. she was a very nice and funny lady.

so she gets major MAJOR points.

my "honorable mention" teachers would be my college acting guru beth vanderwilt and my philosophy professor dr. cooksey, who was in part responsible for introducing me to taoism.

these people changed my life and altered my path for the better. at best, i think that's what teachers are supposed to do.

My second grade teacher Ms. Poladoro. She was the sweetest little thing.
She always told me I was her favorite student. Why? I have no idea cuz I was a terror when I was younger. But she was more than a teacher to me. She was a friend and always was there for me when I needed her. Even after I left grade school and went on to junior high and high school we were close. My junior year in high school we were having a conversation about colleges and what not and she told me she was sick and had cancer. She always spoke about how she couldn't wait to see me graduate. It was sad but I never wanted to show that to her. The start of my senior year she passed away. I'll never forget her for as long as I live

Miss Thomas 9th grade Science

She was and still is a great woman, she was always very kind to me, never judged me, and made me feel like I could do anything!

Me.

I honestly feel like I managed to avoid the usual teaching pitfalls, like being too talky, too chipper, too stuck on the textbook, too fast, too slow, etc.
[Edited 8/31/07 7:00am]

My private art teacher.
She was a tiny young woman with long black hair that was as long as she was tall, but she usually wore it in a bun. She always wore long dresses and mostly dark colors.
She kept peacocks and swans at her home in the country.
I guess I loved her cause everything about her was so outisde of the norm from where I lived. She just seemed to have much more class and refinement in her mannerisms, dress, speak and style.
She wasnt all wild and weirded/trendied out, just refined.
Oh, and her name then was Mrs. Kohn
[Edited 8/31/07 7:26am]

Mr. Many, he taught me in the fourth grade and was the coolest teacher I had. His specialty was math but he was very knowledgeable all the other subjects and had a real laid back teaching style. Though if you pissed him off (which I did a lot) there was NO mercy for ya. I should say my mother since she taught me in the second grade but in truth she wasn't a fav.