Did you ever have an inspiring teacher?

simu · 01-06-2006 12:04AM #1

Ya know? Like you see in films? Some teacher who made you see the world in a new light, write sonnets at dawn, dream of taking on the monsters that are the unsolved myseries of science, that sort of thing?

Moi, I did not. Most of my teachers were grand but no one really amazed or inspired me all that much. Meh.

dory · 01-06-2006 12:06AM

Yup, I had about 4 or 5 teachers I could say were inspiring. One of my teachers went to more of my swim meets than my parents. If they were school events.

Others made my like subjects I had previously hated.

Chinafoot · 01-06-2006 12:10AM

Yea I would have to say my History teacher from 1st year to 3rd in secondary school.

She really, really enjoyed her subject and she made it interesting. She was quite young and really connected with the class and made it a lot of fun.
I went through a tough time during 3rd year and she was of great support to me.

She's the main reason I chose to do the subject in college tbh.

01-06-2006 12:14AM

simu wrote:

Ya know? Like you see in films? Some teacher who made you see the world in a new light, write sonnets at dawn, dream of taking on the monsters that are the unsolved myseries of science, that sort of thing?

Moi, I did not. Most of my teachers were grand but no one really amazed or inspired me all that much. Meh.

Yes. Like he came to mind the moment I read your thread. He was his subject. Everyone perked up when he entered the classroom. Couldn't wait for what he would introduce next. But I have something sad to add. In America we don't pay our teachers much, so many a good one leaves after awhile and goes to private sector to make more money and support their family.

GLaDOS · 01-06-2006 12:18AM

My Junior Cert maths teacher deserves a mention, great teacher, made the subject quite enjoyable. Dunno what I'll do without him in fifth year

funky penguin · 01-06-2006 12:30AM

Would definately have to be my 5th and 6th year english teacher. I can still remember the talks the whole class would have about Shakespeare and Hopkins...Sophacles and Plath....

We would laugh, cry and take the piss (especially during our study of Strictly Ballroom).

She loved teaching us. It was her passion. Sorry, is her passion.

The essays....oh the freedom she would give us. The gentle pushes in the direction of our strongest styles of writing, the encouragement.

Everytime I think of my time in school I think of that class, and that teacher.
She raised me from a C3 average to an Honours A2 in the Leaving Cert. Brilliant woman.

Nightwish · 01-06-2006 12:56AM

my music teacher through Secondary school was an amazing woman. She taught us about how music can change your life. We listened from everything from pop, metal, classical, jazz, irish trad etc. Her classes were so laid back and relaxing, it was a joy to be in them.

ChityWest · 01-06-2006 01:10AM

I had an english teacher in primary school who used to sit there smoking and drinking coffee - was a total 'ra head - but was also one of the best teachers I ever had.

Then a history one and an art one in secondary school who loved what they were teaching and managed to get us all completely wrapped up in their subjects.

DonkeyStyle \o/ · 01-06-2006 01:11AM

Inspire in a good way?
Hmmm, probably not.
One or two had their moments for sure, but mostly they were jaded, cranky, smartarsed, bullying gobshítes... which is a lesson in itself I suppose.

the_syco · 01-06-2006 01:15AM

Aye. A Mr Broderick [spelling?]. Great history teacher. Not only knew his sh|t, but also knew how to make it intresting. Proberly why I've such an intrest in history, tbh.

JackKelly · 01-06-2006 01:26AM

I've had one teacher who i will never forget. Probably the best and smartest teacher i've ever had. Taught Physics and Maths and was the first person to have me properly interested in a subject.

Ruu_Old · 01-06-2006 01:41AM

Most of mine were okay but all very weird in their own way. We had a religion teacher who we called Father Ted, he was such a laugh and was a big fan of the show

Tar.Aldarion · 01-06-2006 03:13AM

I've had some truly amazing teachers, come to think of it.Two Maths, French, Two physics and Technical Drawing. Not to 'diss' the others, but my second maths teacher is the the biggest legend going. He was maths and he is maths for me. Funny, smart and the nicest guy around - even to the knacks. (:
He brought out the best in everybody and you wanted to do well so as not to disappoint him.
He was so random too. A small example. He might be teaching a class, suddenly leave dropping everything without a word, drive away and come back half an hour later with a bag of apples and a paper. He would then sit at his desk and read the paper eating apples, not even knowing the class was there. If you pointed out he was teaching maths, he would say 'Oh yeah, let's
do some maths' etc. A lot of stuff like this.

He could teach maths to anybody.

Beer is Life · 01-06-2006 05:28AM

No.

dubtom · 01-06-2006 06:06AM

A couple, one in particular, Mr O'Dwyer, I dont mind mentioning his name, he deserved it.At a time when most of my teachers would use a cane rather than explain, and that's not so long ago,well actually 25-30 years ago, he was a breath of fresh air.He wasn't short on telling a pupil when he wasn't do the biz but not in a demeaning way, His favorite saying was, thats Cat, meaning crap. He though Humanities, which was history, geography and english. He was cool when most were classic teachers, plane suits and no nonsense.
The other one I had was a stand in gym teacher, she was about 21, fab looking and a fantastic personality, we all loved her, no really, every fella in my class had the hots for her, infact everyone in the school loved her. She was only with us for about 6 months, yet when she was leaving a very large party was organised in the parklodge hotel, that had never happened before.She was great

01-06-2006 06:38AM

My inspirational teacher was my english teacher.I was always a bit of a sleepy head and i had english first thing monday to thursday.I was always falling asleep.So he moved me up the front and used to punch me when i fell asleep.
He told us that hamlet was mad for his ma or gay!Complete legend!

Huggles · 01-06-2006 07:13AM

Yep I had two absolute legends in school for art and history. I still think of stuff they said to me almost daily, pity there wasn't more like that.

Sparky · 01-06-2006 07:58AM

Yeah I had a deadly teacher when I was in secondary.
He was our english teacher, Mr O Shea, he was young ~31. What a teacher though, he really made english interesting, he always liked a good joke also.
Its a pity he left a year later after I finished school, I would of loved to meet up and have a good laugh with him. He was really one of our own.

"Let them burn their boats"

Earthhorse · 01-06-2006 08:54AM

We had a pretty cool Bus Org teacher who, rather than teach us Bus Org, used to give us riddles instead. You know the kind: there's two twins in a room and one always tells the truth and the other always lies. Yeah, so we used to spend the class questioning our way around these riddles rather than reading the textbook because he wanted to teach us how to think rather than how to read.

Most of my teachers were pretty good to be honest but his was the class you positively looked forward to.

ionapaul · 01-06-2006 09:18AM

My leaving cert History teacher - really inspirational. As others have mentioned here, he had a big influence on my choice of 3rd level study, as I went on and got a Masters in History in the end.

Tobias Greeshman · 01-06-2006 09:25AM

I had a Technical Graphics teacher for the Leaving Cert that was a right funny fecker and was really down to earth. He made the subject probably a lot more interesting than it was.

In college in 1st and 3rd year I had this lecturer that really knew his stuff, but just made the subject interesting. He wasn't even funny, but just really knew his stuff and everyone ended up enjoying his lecturers and got good marks.

LegacyUser · 01-06-2006 09:27AM

I had a few alright, my Junior Cert English teacher is a legend, but the one who sticks out is my Leaving Cert History teacher, who was so passionate about History that he only referred to the textbooks when he had to follow the curriculum. Probably the most incredible teacher I've ever seen. Also a proud Mayo man and massive sports fan, everything from hurling to rugby league to baseball.

He was so passionate about history that it was only a matter of time before it wore off on the class, you could really tell he enjoyed it and he made it enjoyable for the students. He had some of the most unstable lunatics (some of whom are now probably incarcerated/dead unfortunately) I've ever met, and I'd say his was the only class there never was an ounce of trouble from any of them.

I'll never forget a legendary quote from him:

"Ye have to be a right bollix to be a politician. Ye have to be able to look someone in the eye, and slit their throat, while you're smiling in their face..."

Sleepy · 01-06-2006 11:04AM

I had teachers that changed my life and one's that taught me a great deal about life as well as their subjects but I don't know if any of them 'inspired' me. I don't think I've ever really been inspired for more than a few minutes in my entire life!

Magic Pips · 01-06-2006 11:39AM

Mount temple school, Mr Maurice Maxwell, legend, inspiring, great heart. Anyone who went there will surely echo these thoughts...

also Ms Kerrin, maths teacher, so inspiring a fella with an IQ of 130 ended up in PASS maths... lololol

*insert bitter comment here*

:rolleyes:

simu · 01-06-2006 12:34PM

Zomgers - I've either been unlucky or else I'm very hard to inspire!

WhiteWashMan · 01-06-2006 02:46PM

my english teacher in 5th and 6th year.
he didnt so much as teach us the subject matter, as teach us to learn.
i thought he was brilliant. other people just didnt get it.

however i have met more inspirational people in my work life. people that i would aspire to be more like, who have taught me more than just how to do my work, but how to live my life.
but then again, im a sponge in that regard.
and thats ok

monkeyfudge · 01-06-2006 02:59PM

I had a german teacher who had really big boobs...

She was pretty rubbish at teaching and I really can't speak a word of German... but when you are an adolescent male, boobs are about as inspiring as things get.

WhiteWashMan · 01-06-2006 03:10PM

it doesnt change much as you get older tbh.

Terry · 01-06-2006 03:14PM

And when this loose behaviour I throw off
and pay the debt I never promised...

...I'll so offend, to make offence a skill
redeeming time when men think least I will.

Henry IV part 1. act 2 scene 1. hal talking to poins.

not that i lasted that long in secondary school (2 and a half years), but i really enjoyed going to english class because the teacher was brilliant.

dubtom · 01-06-2006 03:15PM

I should mention the one bad teacher that sticks in my mind, cant remember his name, a lazy bastar d, thought Irish and had lost all interest. Unfortunatly had him as our form tutor on my last year. One of the lads would go and buy him a cream cake and he'd sit and read the paper for the period, this was all great craic at the time, but looking back I learnt absolutly nothing from him.

jrey1981 · 01-06-2006 04:33PM

Had a very good English teacher in secondary school who helped inspire people to think a bit more laterally and outside the box when relating to novels and plays, and showed us how some of the issues could be related to current affairs.

Also had a very fit history teacher with long legs...she inspired some of the lads to accidentally drop things on the floor and spend a suspicious amount of time picking them up...particularly on the days when she was wearing a short skirt.

The air in the room would be claustrophobic with testosterone...

Back in primary school, Mr Atkinson drove an orange VW beetle and was a good laugh and encouraged some of us more reluctanct pupils to join in football and cricket.

Also Mrs Jeffries whose storytelliing I must have really enjoyed when I was 4 or 5, as apparently I used to write her letters about stuff...!

Did you ever have an inspiring teacher?

Comments