Who was your favorite or worst teacher you ever had?

[Little32]

Least favorite: Sister Pat (is it bad to speak ill of nuns?), she was my seventh grade homeroom, reading, and science teacher. This is the woman that told me in seventh grade that I couldn't listen and take notes at the same time. To make sure that I fully understood her point, she took my notebook (that I was taking notes in) and threw it across the classroom. She is also the same woman that told me that I could not have possibly understood a story that I read during reading, because I had read it too fast. She asked me what the story was about; after I told her and was completely accurate, she made me memorize "The Road Not Taken" for being right. That was about the only good thing that she did; I love that poem to this day. Also, before I met Sister Pat, purple was my favorite color. But that woman wore purple every day, and basically ruined the color for me. It has only been the last three years or so that I have started wearing purple again.

Favorites: One of my favorite has to be my AP English teacher Mr. Gilbert. It was in his class that I decided to be an English major in college; and his methods of teaching influence the way that I teach today. Also, he was really nice to me outside of class too. I felt, in highschool, like something of an ugly duckling. One day, Mr. Gilbert told me a story about a student of his who was to use his words, "a late bloomer," not particularly popular or sought after in highschool. He told me that he had seen her when she was about 30 years old in a restaurant, and that she was easily the most stunning woman in the place. Though at the time I thought, "so it's true, I am ugly now," now I understand that there is something to be said for growing into your beauty--and I think that this is what Mr. Gilbert was trying to tell me.

Dr. Carmines, at Hampton University. She is another one that has influenced my love of literature and my style of teaching. She was tough and challenging, but in such a way that I always felt really good about what I accomplished in her class--even if it wasn't the A+ that I was used too. She was one of those teachers that really forces you to push your thinking about a topic or a text beyond your comfort zone to the next level. Also, to this day, she is a mentor to me professionally and apparently I for her. She has told me some of the ways that my own pursuits have influenced her ways of thinking, and a couple of years ago, she told me that she was going to use something that I had written for her senior seminar class (thesis). That was really flattering. I really love that we have this relationship that has evolved from professor/student to collegial.

[Still BLUTANG]

the only teacher whose name i can remember (terrible of me, i know) is Mr. Adkins. he was my AP us hist and i believe AP civics or govt or some other class i took with him. i basically had him for all social sciences my last 2 years of high school. he let us do video projects and get creative when turning in assignments. i loved him for that. he was the spitting image of ned flanders (mustache and all) and just a true sweetheart, you could tell he cared about the kids he taught.

my least fond memory of an educator (i dont have a worst teacher, amazingly i've had pretty good teachers my whole life) was my 8th grade science teacher. i dont even remember he name but she made me SICK. she always had on big, puffy clothes or those multi-colored track suits trying to be "hip" or "down" or whatever. I was always good in science until i got her. i never knew what the hell she was talking about (and i was smart y'all!) and was reprimanded whenever i asked a question. one time my best friend got put out for chewing gum and i left the class in a show of solidarity. UGH i get sick just thinking about her. she wasnt really a bad teacher just weird and i think this was the 1st time i wasn't a teachers pet so i wasnt sure how to handle being "average"

edited: i am leaving out college and grad school because, well... those professors aint really teach. it was like i'm throwing out this information. you can pick it up or whatever. as long as your parents keep paying tuition we're cool.

[KAPital PHINUst]

Fortunately or unfortunately, I don't have as many best/worst college professor stories as perhaps I did in grade school, but these ones come to mind:

I would have to say the best college professor I had was my College English 2 instructor Susan Murray at Kent State. She taught freshmen level Literature to primarily adult students (I had to take that course in the evening due to scheduling problems). Would you believe on my first assignment I turned in she ripped me apart (and a whole lot of other students as well). She said in no uncertain terms she gives out very few As on the papers she grades. So on the next assignment I try harder--matter of fact I stayed up all night one night trying to write a simple 3 page paper on The Horse Dealer's Daughter by D.H. Lawrence. And she STILL gave me an F on it for not being able to follow a thesis statement completely throughout the paper.

(sidenote: I had to write another paper on the very same reading 2 years later for an English 200 class at Columbus State and I tore that mess up--I was writing some deep, bottom-of-the-ocean type of stuff and aced that paper without breaking a sweat).

Anyway, she challenged me into writing clear, concise, well thought out papers that improved my grades as time went on. The most challenging paper I had ever wrote was a 3-page research paper on Hamlet and his personal struggle between good and evil, complete with 3 research sources, footnoted, and with a bibliography. I had NEVER done anything like that before. Anyhow, I was up to the task, and actually got a B on that paper for content. Btw, at this time I was pledging Alpha Phi Omega, so I felt that at least for this course, I was academically pledging that as well, and for that, I was a better writer and researcher for it. How fitting the circumstances were. I passed the class with a C.

Worst professor: Joann Bossenbrock (a 50-something white woman) who taught Precalculus. I didn't like her because her teaching style was incompatible with my learning style and when she would tutor me, she would get audibly frustrated when a concept didn't click with me or I just couldn't catch on. And I would bust my butt in that class. The only reason why I didn't drop the course was because I was graduating from Columbus State that quarter and I didn't want to delay it by waiting for another professor to teach me. I took that final, which was the most challenging final exam I had ever taken, and learned I had BARELY passed the course with a 61 percent (D). I was as estatic as crossing the burning sands AFAIC. That to me was as good, if not better, than getting a A.

Sidenote: I had flunked a previous college math course taught by a female teacher (Kathy Struve), retook it with a male teacher (Ken Seidel) and breezed through it (perhaps my already knowing the course content helped matters). But his teaching style matched my learning style, so that could've been the other factor.

[*ClassyKeshia*]

My favorite teacher was Ms.Hendrickson (Mary Mcleod Bethune Academy M.S 394 JUnior High) She always told us to do our best in everything we did. She was also there for me when i was about to get into trouble. Thanks!!

[WenD08]

my worst teacher was Mrs. Goggins, my 4th grade teacher at Infant Jesus of Prague in Flossmoor, IL. she embarassed me in front of the whole class which was mortifying to as a new student at the school
my favorites were my English teacher in 7th grade, DST Mrs. Ramey and my HS counselor (not a teacher) Mrs. Lovelace. these women were so good to me, all kids should have educators like them in their schools.
plus, having Mrs. Lovelace was a sign that i should've been an AKA. her late mother-in-law was Soror Laura Lovelace, the 13th National President

[sageofages]

Originally Posted by WenD08

my worst teacher was Mrs. Goggins, my 4th grade teacher at Infant Jesus of Prague in Flossmoor, IL. she embarassed me in front of the whole class which was mortifying to as a new student at the school

Small world....my step-grandmother's funeral was last weekend at Infant Jesus of Prague in Flossmoor, IL. Quite a place.

I don't know about worst teachers...but there are memorable moments from most of my teachers...all vingettes and snipes I associate with them.

Most notable...

Pam Matthews, my third grade teacher at New Heights Elementary in Ft. Walton Beach, FL. I remember her because she was fairly young and quite hip. And her name was Pam...just like 3 of us in her class.

Mrs. Fenwick, my fifth grade teacher for the first part of the year at a DoD school on Ramstein AFB, Germany. She was an english major and pretty much that is all we did the whole of my time in her class...writing and poetry memorization. She did something quite unprofessional toward me (not sexual). I didn't tell my parents, but my best friend told her mom who told my mom. My parents went ballistic. (I was told to empty my desk and meet them in the Principal's office). My parents said I would be on the next plane headed stateside and they threatened IG involvement etc, if I was not out of her classroom immediately. When I got to my new class room (a Miss Dorothy Krolick, older who I learned to LOVE), I was woefully behind in math and science and had to work my butt of to catch up in 4 months. Mrs. Fenwick didn't teach again the next year.

Ms. Johnson (Susan I think) my sixth grade teacher (Southside Elementary Ramstein AFB). She was a refined southern woman, young, pretty fresh out of school. A bit homesick. As I look back, she was DEFINITELY a sorority debutante type, away from home on a "career woman" adventure before she settled down and married her lawyer boyfriend type.

My seventh grade science teacher. A Mr. Gilbert (I think). He was fabulous and I learned to LOVE physical science, so much I pursued it greatly in HS. I was the only girl in my whole section of advanced physical science/physics in 9th grade. (liked breaking that gender barrier, the "guys" all learned to talk to me like a person one on one in class etc..pretty cool during the course of the day)

Mrs. Daniels, Drama Teacher, Redlands, HS, Redlands California. That woman was an inspiration and spirit to so many students. She opened her heart and her home to teach the love of theater and the pursuit of possiblities. What a generous soul.

Mr. John Hobbs, a LARGE ROUND black man, who was my 10th grade geometry teacher, Redlands HS, Redlands, CA.. He was also a council man in San Bernadino California. I remember so much of his class. He would get up and draw his graphs on the board to teach a concept and sing "I love to swimming with bowlegged women" and then he would turn to us, everytime, and say "you have to sing to get those marks to be evenly spaced". What a wonderful booming laugh. He was the coolest.


I think that is enough.