best teacher

the_pen_turner

in the interest of fairness
what storeys have you from school about your best teachers.
what did they do that was extra nice or sound

we had evening study after school. 4 15 -6 15. one teacher was really sound. at around 515 he would let anyone walk around or talk or go to the loo for a few minutes. really sound of him. other teachers hated him for it.
he gained a lot of respect from that.

demanufactured

The female German teacher..... Damn..... Those legs....

the_pen_turner

demanufactured wrote: »

The female German teacher..... Damn..... Those legs....

there was one or two like that too
but loads in every other shape imaginable

Karangue

Mary Walsh I rode her sideways the day of the leaving cert.

Noveight

My Junior Cert English teacher.

For every story we did he'd put on a different voice for each character, even in the long-ish books like How To Kill a Mockingbird. He knew each of our interests like football, farming or surfing and would ask us specific questions about it now and again. He was madly enthusiastic and not once did he ever seem fed up or stressed with teaching.

He died only a handful of years in to his retirement. One of the very few men whose example I hope to follow in life. Rest easy, sir.

JimmyMcGill

Our school was all prefabs so we never had any good teacher storeys.

Pherekydes

the_pen_turner wrote: »

in the interest of fairness
what storeys have you from school...

We had prefabs, so we only had one storey.

JimmyMcGill

Pherekydes wrote: »

We had prefabs, so we only had one storey.

Our prefabs were on wheels so we were never really sure if we were going to school or the field.

qo2cj1dsne8y4k

My art teacher. He was very quirky, and didn't follow the same rules as everyone else. I never had my work done on time and he never asked me for it, I had him 5 years and while he'd write in journals if homework wasn't done or projects weren't handed in, he'd simply ask if I had it and skip over me when I didn't.

I assumed he didn't care, that he wasn't wasting his time on me so I'd crack on with whatever I was doing in art and if I needed help he was there but he wouldn't bother me.

Until the parent teacher meeting. He told my mom that I was stubborn and lazy but I was a good kid and I got my work done eventually. He said he leaves me to it because he knew if he fought with me I'd do nothing for him. In 6th year I was staying in at lunch to finish some work in the art room when he enquired where my 5th year project was. I told him it was at home. He just said if I brought it in, he'd frame the board and hang it up, because he knew I put a lot of work into it the year before. No fighting, no accusations - addressed it calmly nearly a year late handing it in. I did bring it in and he did hang it on the school corridor.

he was a lovely kind man

retro:electro

I don't think I had one. They were all pretty meh and uninspiring.
If I had to pick, I'd choose my Art teacher in secondary school- and that is only because I loved the class so much, rather than her. But she was nice enough, pretty chilled and easy going. She had some kind words to say to me on my last day of school and she always seemed to have a smile on her face.

My college lecturers were pivotal in my reappreciation for study. I had some fantastic lecturers who were also amazing people. One in particular who I'm still friendly with. After a pretty meh school experience, education wise; they gave me so much incentive and motivation.

branie2

My English teacher for Leaving Cert. He was very good, and a film buff as well, he would mention some films in the course of the lessons.

Hammer89

The greatest teacher I've ever had was a lady named Sharon.

I dropped out of school - a private school - at the age of 17 and did very little with my life for about a year except smoke weed and eat horrendous food. Sooner or later my parents came to me and said, 'Listen pal you need to sort your sh*t out here like. Here's some FAS brochures. Look through them and pick a course or else f*ck off.' So I did a woodwork course in a North Dublin training centre; not because I had designs to be a carpenter, but because they pay you €230 a week, whether you go or not. This was how I discovered the country was completely f*cked by the way. I averaged three or four days on a five-day a week course but the catch on this particular course was that you had to participate in other subjects for about two hours every week and one of these is communications - which is basically English - and Sharon was the teacher.

One day we were given a creative writing assignment. I scribled down about 500 words about a bloke who smokes weed and goes to the bookies - write what you know, right? I wasn't sure if it was an appropriate tone - a lot of cursing etc - but I couldn't have cared less, providing it was done. The next week Sharon, with a document in her hand, pulls me out of woodwork for a moment in what was the single biggest moment of my whole life.

I'm expecting criticism over what I'd written but it was the opposite - praise and lots of it, though I was initially a bit suspicious. I figured maybe she was being so complimentary in an effort to boost my confidence. You have to remember that everybody in this program has left school early through expulsion or voluntary withdrawal, so a lot of them either felt or were academically challenged and I was no different. I probably could have wiped my arse with the piece of paper instead of writing anything on it and, in my mind, she'd have praised it as art or something. "That was very creative. Well done. That's how Caravaggio got started, you know."

But over time I began to look forward to that two-hour-a-week class and sure enough she was equally as complimentary with everything else I submitted, to the point where she wore down my cynicism and had me believing that maybe I was actually half decent at this. The reason for the cynicism was also linked to the fact that I'd spent over four years in an expensive school and none of the English teachers I had ever highlighted the things she was highlighting, which made no sense to me because if teachers at a distinguished school didn't see anything then why would a teacher who helps a bunch of drop-outs see something?

I left that FAS place in North Dublin, kind of with a heavy heart because our sessions were one-to-one eventually and genuinely enjoyable, but everything I did in terms of education since then was geared toward doing this as a job and I've been a freelance writer for the best part of six years.

I started thinking about her randomly a couple of years ago and terrified myself by trying to imagine my life had she not been so encouraging, guiding and above all else lovely. So I wrote her a letter and posted it to the place in the hope that she was still there. I told her that she literally changed my life and that she gave me a path - a future - when my family and I couldn't really see one.

One part of me felt a little bit weird writing to her after so long, but another part of me was very uncomfortable with the thought that she'd probably never know of the profound impact she'd had on me otherwise, which felt totally, totally wrong. This actually goes a lot deeper.

My mother died in 2015 but she did so with the knowledge that her son had fashioned a decent career for himself when that seemed impossible at one point. That thought helped me tremendously in the grieving process so I also thanked her for that. Fortunately, she was still working there and responded with a lovely letter.

We haven't spoken since but I don't think we need to. She knows and although the scale of her impact means I can't possibly repay her, I'd like to think that knowing she did some good is enough for her.

Hammer89

Hammer89 wrote: »

The greatest teacher I've ever had was a lady named Sharon.[...]

What a lovely post.

As someone who rarely expresses themselves adequately, I've often thought you've a way with words.

Well done, Sharon (and you, Hammer).

Hammer89

Candie wrote: »

What a lovely post.

As someone who rarely expresses themselves adequately, I've often thought you've a way with words.

Well done, Sharon (and you, Hammer).

This isn't true.

Sue Pa Key Pa

Karangue wrote:

Mary Walsh I rode her sideways the day of the leaving cert.

Mary should have taught you that the leaving cert went on for more than one day