• Lucid Dreaming - Dream Views




    Results 1 to 9 of 9
    1. #1
      pj
      pj is offline
      Dreamer pj's Avatar
      Join Date
      Mar 2006
      Posts
      3,596
      Likes
      5

      Tell me about your favorite teacher!

      Ever had a REALLY great teacher? Tell me about him or her!

      I've been blessed by several of those amazing individuals who combine a profound understanding of their subject with an ability to break it down in a way mere mortals can understand.

      One of the best of those was a writing instructor I had in junior college. It was a required course, without choice of instructor. When my schedule came in, everybody who heard her name highly recommended I drop or transfer because so many people dropped her during the semester and had to re-take anyway.

      The lady never assigned homework. We wrote from the moment we arrived until handing in whatever was done while walking out the door, with maybe five minutes of lecture each session. She would introduce a concept and then we would have to organize our remaining time to get as close to finishing the assignment as possible. Each assignment usually involved a quick outline, a draft, and then (if possible) a completed copy.

      I quickly learned that I was further ahead writing perfectly structured nonsense than trying to create profound, brilliant essays - though some of the essays I came up with during those periods amazed me. (The point was learning to write, not learning to compose!) By half-way through the semester, half the class had dropped out. There were less than a dozen left at the final, which was the same as any other class period - using the very limited available time to write a completed essay about a personal experience that changed your life.

      Everybody I talked to who was still there in the end received an A. Yes, it was intimidating and difficult, but that lady took a kid who had never really learned (or been TAUGHT) to write coherently and in a single semester taught him the elements of English grammar and a lot about rhetoric. She created a writer from a guy who hated to write. She changed my life. (She also pulled me aside as I left and told me how much she enjoyed reading my perfectly structured nonsense essays - that she found them incredibly refreshing. I still smile about that.)
      Last edited by pj; 07-26-2007 at 11:11 AM.
      On ne voit bien qu'avec le cœur, l'essentiel est invisible pour les yeux.
      --Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

      The temptation to quit will be greatest just before you are about to succeed.
      --Chinese Proverb

      Raised Jdeadevil
      Raised and raised by Eligos
      Dream Journal
      The Fine Print: Unless otherwise stated, the views expressed are MINE.

    2. #2
      Badass Member badassbob's Avatar
      Join Date
      Aug 2006
      Gender
      Location
      Sheffield, England
      Posts
      985
      Likes
      0
      My favorite teacher was Mr Castrignano (pronounced cast-ree-are-no), but he'd always tell everyone to call him Mr C. He taught French, and because I had said that I had no intention of carrying on studying French after it was no longer compulsary he never made me do anything at all once it reached the end of the year. He never made us write thousand word essays, or give us homework. He'd always write everything on a white board and go through the class making sure everyone understood fully.

      He had a lot of respect for the kids he taught, and would treat them as he would any member of staff at the school. He didn't have any irrational fear of swearing that you get with most teachers. He's probably also one of the funniest people I've met.

      There was one time where we were locked out of our form-room where we had kept our bags at dinner. Mr C had noticed that his entire French class hadn't turned up and came looking for us. He found us outside the classroom with our bags locked inside and asked what was wrong. Once we'd explained he punched through one of the cracked panes of glass (the whole place was falling to pieces - the building was waiting to be torn down and people had started vandalising everything they could lay their hands on) and proceeded to lower one of the smaller members of the class through into the room so he could unlock it from the inside.

      Adopted Megabenman although he disappeared a while ago.

    3. #3
      !DIREKTOR! Adam's Avatar
      Join Date
      Jan 2007
      Gender
      Location
      Aquanina's closet
      Posts
      5,194
      Likes
      34
      I had a couple.

      My Art teacher at school was my all time favorite, he was just awesome, understood how to teach a class and hold their attention. Really enjoyed those lessons.

      My Classics teacher was also very good. He was weird and always keeping us entertained and had the most amazing stories!!

      My English teacher was blind, and she was just amazing for the respect she gained from the class. People would question her in the beginning etc, but she was such a good teacher, really knew her stuff, and always helping people out!


    4. #4
      宇宙です。。。 •Neko•'s Avatar
      Join Date
      Sep 2006
      Gender
      Location
      Scotland
      Posts
      658
      Likes
      3
      My Chemistry teacher was really good at explaining things, and was strict but fair. He's popular with everyone at school. My English teacher was in his 20s and liked to motivate us, and had a great sense of humour. My current Maths teacher is a really funny but intelligent guy, and we both have exactly the same sense of humour; I wouldn't go as far as fancying him though.

    5. #5
      Old Seahag Alex D's Avatar
      Join Date
      Dec 2004
      Gender
      Posts
      2,374
      Likes
      7
      For about three years it was one

      Mr G-

      Really nice man he was, English teacher who looked a little bit like AdamA. I used to be one of the top people in my school at English, until the year before where I went down to about a D grade student, mainly because I hated the teacher (strangely enough when it came to the SATS, UK ones which are used as teacher assessments I was about at the top). Anyway, because of that I began to really dislike the subject. So, the next year getting this man was a god send.

      He was about 25 when he became my teacher, still convinced he could make a difference etc. He'd be the sort of person you could joke with a lot, he was still kind of in the mindset of a kid I guess. Either way made me love English again. So much so I'll be going to study it in September at university.

      By the end of the four years I had him however, he seemed to have given up with it all. Seemed so disconnected with the class, to the point he'd just sit and read magazines sometimes. Needless to say he stopped being my favorite around that time.


      The year that happened I came across three teachers I really, really liked and who were also brilliant at their jobs for different reasons.

      Miss S-

      A name I could never spell, so sorry if I got this wrong and you're reading this, I know you were interested in lucid dreaming.

      This lovely lady was my Sociology teacher through a bit of year 12 and all of year 13. I really don't know what to say other than she was one of those teachers who'd start huge, interesting debates in the class which really helped the rather dry module she was teaching through year 13 seem like a lot of fun. She also wasn't afraid to join in with gossip. I liked that.

      Miss L-

      My other sociology teacher. Brilliantly clever person, she really was. She was the sort of inspiring teacher who'd be so by encouraging everyone all the time, which again I liked.

      Mr P-

      Woo God, where to start with this one. An utterly evil bastard. At least that's how he seemed at the start of the year I had him. Harshest marker I've ever come across and I love him for that. Really managed to make everyone in the class feel paranoid about their ability, but it was always clear that he had the best intentions at heart. Without a doubt everyone improved beyond measure with him, his demanding mark schemes really aided in other lessons too, which was good.

      Despite that he was incredibly friendly too, but still in an evil bastard sort of way. He'd start arguments in the class for a bit of a laugh, insult class members about various things and unlike any other teacher allowed, even encouraged you to fight back. He was never short of being hilarious in is insults, be they directed at anyone in general or entire nations (more often than not America). I always looked forward to the witty banter in his lessons and always left the room with a bit of a smile and sense that I'd really learned something/had a good time.

      I think if I ever became a teacher, I'd model my teaching style around his.

    6. #6
      Emotionally unsatisfied. Sandform's Avatar
      Join Date
      Jul 2007
      Gender
      Location
      Texas
      Posts
      4,298
      Likes
      24
      Mrs. Smith, middle school. science/biology.

      I liked her cause she made every boy in the class room pay attention. Ever mention Mrs. Smith to any of my class mates and they will like just...all of their blood will rush from their head and into other areas lol.

      Best joke ever, that we didn't know was a joke till we heard the punchline:
      What do cells communicate with?
      Cell phones. Lol

      Also, we were doing an experiment once, and the students thought the gas wasn't on, so she went over and turned the gas on and lit it, but her hair caught on fire. It ended up being a nice new style for her though...most people wouldn't be able to pull their hair being burned off. But she owned it!

    7. #7
      TPV ThePhobiaViewed's Avatar
      Join Date
      Apr 2007
      Gender
      Location
      Somewhere Out There
      Posts
      816
      Likes
      0
      I have to add Mr. Delong my 10th grade US Cultures II teacher. I'm a good student (#1 in class but certainly not the smartest in my grade, I just know how to BS the system) but I normally hate social studies classes. In 9th grade my teacher gave us the test the day before as a study guide almost every time so I never paid attention in class and just memorized the questions. We knew Mr. Delong was gonna be interesting when the first day he walked out into the hallway then immediately turned around and walked back in slamming the door, announcing "GOOD MORNING CLASS, HAPPY MONDAY" and jumped right into things. Everyday was like this and he explained things and had lots of books and internet sites and stupid jokes and enough to keep even me interested. The second half of the year he had a relationship with a woman and we bugged him about it everyday and other classes would steal his cell phone to see pictures of her. The best was when the next to last week of school he showed a slide show of New York but every 20 or so pictures was a picture thrown in of him and a girl which he would quickly move on from. So basically social studies was interesting and I'm happy I got Mr. Delong.

    8. #8
      That Guy
      Join Date
      Jul 2006
      Gender
      Posts
      705
      Likes
      0
      Lol, I've had a lot of great teachers....

      Ms. Caldwell was my English/Social studies teacher for a year, and she was just a brilliant woman, who could've been principal if she wanted too and made a ton more money, but she prefered to interact with the children so she stayed as a teacher, despite the fact that the majority of her students were total morons who didn't deserve to be in the grade that they were in, which she openly admitted to me this year after I visited her.

      Mr. Chaisson, who was my Chemistry teacher, because he was just hilarious.... He had no problem making fun of students, swearing, and just overall making peoples lives miserable in a way that deserved applause. He even spilled a part of a cup of water on me, after I passed in my homework via paper airplane. He was just awesome because he was really down to earth, and would tell us all these hilarious stories about his trips out in the woods, and all the crazy stuff he did in high school, like getting really pissed off while doing homework, flipping his desk over and jumping out the window onto the nearby roof and just free-running until he was done being stressed out. He always related stuff to really interesting stories and whatnot, so it really was fun to pay attention in his class, you learned a lot without even trying.

      Then.... Mr. Lunda, my french teacher.... Funny man, because he's straight out of Africa, and he doesn't understand English very well, he never writes anything down so he constantly forgets about homework and project assignments, and we would just change the date of things in our notebooks to a later date, and everyone in the class would do it, so he believed us. He always made the lamest jokes, that were so lame and with such horrible puns that it was hilarious. Also, he pushed people to be more social and outgoing, and to just live for the day, by making everyone in the class do really stupid things right in front of the class, and he could take a joke well too. I made a picture of Saddam Hussein/Osama Bin Laden morphed together wearing a bikini for a project, and he just laughed. I thought for sure I'd get like suspended or something, I mean it was like borderline pornography....

    9. #9
      Rotaredom Howie's Avatar
      Join Date
      Dec 2003
      Gender
      Location
      Undisclosed location
      Posts
      10,272
      Likes
      26
      pj. I so hate to taint this thread with a downer. But out of respect for the man, I feel I have to voice something.
      My (our)10th grade science teacher was an incredible man. He drew lines that you knew you could not cross. But you could voice your opinion on ANYTHING. A well rounded caring individual would take every ones point into consideration. It was not about science really, sure the specifics. But he taught me more about life than science.
      After school he would go to a care center for down syndrome patience. One girl he cared for dearly died. The next day he took his own life.
      The entire school, students and the personnel ware soo shocked that they let school out early that day.

      Here is to you Dr. Phillips.

    Bookmarks

    Posting Permissions

    • You may not post new threads
    • You may not post replies
    • You may not post attachments
    • You may not edit your posts
    •