Who's the teacher who changed your life?

bitofabind · 20-10-2021 1:53pm #1

Most of my teachers were uninspiring, hilariously conservative and utterly forgettable.

However in 5th year I got a new English teacher, her name was Mrs. Power. I hated school and hated life at that point (hashtag hormones), but she revived a huge interest in English, books, poetry, plays, reading and writing in me. Secondary school was a pretty hopeless time for me looking back, and finding that real passion for her class carried me through some rough personal times. I wrote an essay on 911 in fifth year, and she told me I "had a gift", that she'd never seen anything like me.

That stayed with me indefinitely. I went on to study journalism a few years later because of it, where I had an exciting career that took me around the world. I've moved on from that now and moved to the dark side (marketing), but to this day, have this inbuilt belief in my writing skills and my ability to express things that bit more easily and fluently on paper than anywhere else. I've never doubted that ability, in a world where I've doubted pretty much everything else. And that's because of Mrs. Power.

So AH, have you had a teacher that made this sort of impact on your life? Positively or negatively?

[Deleted User] · 20-10-2021 2:08pm

The school in the general area of Raheny - which insisted on calling itself a college for whatever reason - seemed to have a unique ability to hire incompetence and/or alcholism in every teacher. And outright malice in at least two.

So I did not get any inspiration there really. But as a naive child I did not realise how bad they were until - like you - A good English Teacher came along. Only for 3 weeks as a substitute unfortunately. But he was so good that he made the rest of my school career miserable because I finally saw what school - education - and teaching could be. Until him I did not even know what I was missing and losing that ignorance was actively painful.

I think if I had to pick out teachers who really inspired or changed me - I would point to my first Brazilian Ju Jitsu teacher. In a short space of time he was inspiring, educational, passionate, and a representation of everything I want to be as a person before and since. He remains one of the standards I use when deciding how to conduct myself in life moment to moment or long term goals.

In Actuality · 20-10-2021 3:18pm

I did have a grinds teacher who made a great observation about me. When advising me that I should enter the exam hall early instead of doing last minute cramming, he mentioned that it took me longer than most to get comfortable with my surroundings. I don't think I, nor anyone else, would have ever realised this about me as a person. Of course I've had many teachers that I liked, but this was really the only eye opening moment for me about myself and my anxiety.

AdrianG08 · 20-10-2021 3:22pm

So there was a guy named Feeky right............

nj27 · 20-10-2021 3:24pm

I had a maths teacher who used to explain what the real life application of what we were studying and gave some historical context. I always found maths as boring as shït until he taught me but it ended up my favourite subject. He also gave grinds and was very sought after.

is_that_so · 20-10-2021 3:28pm

Maths teacher who freely admitted he wasn't always sure of the answers! He had an exceptional ability to explain things clearly and was the reason so many did well in Higher Level Maths.

Donald Trump · 20-10-2021 3:32pm

. . .

Mister Vain · 20-10-2021 6:35pm

My headmaster in 5th/6th class. He used to bate the livin shyte out of us. Toughened me up.

[Deleted User] · 20-10-2021 11:13pm

None. Wish there had been one. Mrs Power sounds cool. Well in fairness I did have a few very good teachers, but none that left any significant impression.

corner of hells · 20-10-2021 11:23pm

An English teacher , inspired and encouraged me to read .I read maybe four or five books a month.

Also a corporal in the FCA , thought me to strip down a Gustav smg and reassemble in less than a minute with my eyes closed.

I still read , haven't stripped down a gun in years.

[Deleted User] · 20-10-2021 11:32pm

It's always an English teacher really isn't it? 😊

Oh captain my captain... 🥲

I imagine my retired teacher uncle (also at a boys' boarding school) to have been like Mr Keating in Dead Poets' Society - he seems very similar, but he assures me that while he loves that film/character, no way could he have been like Mr Keating. He had to be tough and strict or the lads would have run rings around him!

[Deleted User] · 21-10-2021 12:13am

None of them. Overpaid, entitled indifference going through the motions. Ultimately a waste of time and energy being in their presence.

[Deleted User] · 21-10-2021 12:41am

I had a class English teacher. He was a big thick lump of a man from out Connemara direction. Very much of the old school when it came to teaching - you either went along with it, or you didn't. Hated Keats and Hopkins. Top class when it came to Shakespeare; which is a sign of a proper English teacher.

Slideways · 21-10-2021 12:42am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118051384#Comment_118051384

I’m sure the feeling was mutual on their part

PoisonIvyBelle · 21-10-2021 12:42am

I had 2 that come to mind, but Miss F in particular.

I had a horrible time in school because of bullying+a disaster of a home life and I had bit of a don't give a **** attitude because of it. I was absolutely awful at Math and therefore as bad at accountancy in Business class. I used to mess around a bit and give a fair bit of cheek to the Business teacher and I never thought she liked me at all. But I swear she's the reason I passed my LC. She pulled me aside end of 3rd year and told me she knew things weren't great for me but I was going to fail if I didn't start to pay more attention and that she believed I could do really well if I put my head down. I started bawling. Not because she was giving out to me, which she wasn't really - she was just being straight with me - but because someone was actually telling me they believed I was capable of doing well. From that day on I set out my plan for what I wanted when I finished school and went for it. I went absolutely mental with cramming in 3 years of catch-up study in 4th and 5th year and managed to get a decent enough LC to get me into college. I think I might have copped on a year too late had it not been for her. I still remember 2 weeks after we had that chat, I got my school report, and she had changed my D to a B and tippexed over "easily distracted, needs to pay more attention in class" to "good student, tries hard and working well". Fcuking legend she was.

[Deleted User] · 21-10-2021 1:15am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118051433#Comment_118051433

She's cool. Not the only case I've heard of where someone took the steps to turn their life around after simply being told they're worth something and they matter. 🥰

TimeUp · 04-06-2022 3:11am

It's funny cause I got to this post by reading a rant you left on the Relationships forum and thought I liked the way you wrote.

As for the question of the main post. Similar situation with a teacher of Spanish when I was in high school. I also used to feel I wasn't too bad at writing but that man boosted my confidence and I did pretty well in my country's leaving cert exam.

[Deleted User] · 04-06-2022 3:27am

Had a teacher for the Junior Cert who spent most of the time in another office chain smoking. A mean arsehole of a man but when he was in the room and actually taught, he was great. I guess what I learned from that class was self-study and a confidence in my own abilities. He'd sort of teach the groundwork and then the nicotine craving would hit and it'd be up to us to actually work it out.

cj maxx · 04-06-2022 1:12pm

The headmaster in my national school. A complete kernt. I was one of the brightest in the class, and he always seemed to make a competition between us. Not in a good way. He would constantly tell me how I wasn't as smart as a boy from his village ( who I knew and was sound). Constantly bring me up for a caning on my hands and started a war. He'd cane me , the cane would dissappear or break😎

I got into a fight with a much older and bigger boy, and cut the shyte of him , due to a bit of boxing I'd done. He called to the house that evening and told my father if I didn't apologise he'd expel me. I told Daddy what had happened and who it was, and Daddy did a marvellous thing and said if he was going to expel me for defending my self against a bully he'd bring me to another school.

After I went secondary school we I was part of a Foroige club quiz team, which he was quizmaster. He car was damaged outside and I was blamed despite being 3ft in front of him all evening. . He made me rebell against authority because he picked on the slower weaker children. A hateful basterd who thought he was king of the castle when in reality he was a pathetic jobs worth

.took me till 4th/5th before I properly engaged with teachers again

Who's the teacher who changed your life?

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