what school teacher had the biggest impact on you and why?

Question

Think back to any grade in school and tell me which of your teachers had a positive or negative effect on your life.

Answer 1

The worst teacher I had was this short red headed man in early primary school. He was the PE teacher and he was so very mean. He wasn't much taller than us, but that saying "tiny but mighty" describes him to a tee. I remember wetting myself because I was too afraid to ask him if I could go to the restroom. All I could think of when my bladder was threatening to explode was how that little evil leprachaun had lifted a student by the back of his pants and how the poor childs legs were dangling. I remember the humiliation displayed on his little face. I would rather piss on myself then have him manhandle me in front of the class.

As for the best teacher....i have a few, but one stands out vividly. Her name is Mrs. Hassel and she taught me Geography in 7th grade. I was going through a rough period of time then. I was living with my mom and brother in a Domestic Abuse Family Shelter and I had just recently lost my sister ,who was 12, to leukemia. It seemed like everything that could go wrong was going wrong. Well, Mrs. Hassel must have sensed all this or must have gotten tipped off by her daughter who coincidentally was a nurse that cared for my sister. I didn't even know that she knew me. I thought that I was just another body that filled a desk.
She asked me one day to have my mom call her. Mom called her and she met us at a location away from the shelter (it was a very secretive location due to the nature of situations that led people to hide there). She picked me up and took me out shopping. I was so used to having hand me downs or clothes from the thrift store...not because it was trendy, but because it was necessary. She showed me a whole different world. I felt like I was Alice in wonderland and I had fallen into another world. She was so kind to me and what struck me the most was the realization that she didn't have to be. She was not motivated by anything other than she just wanted to.
It wasn't the fact that she spent money on me. The thing is,she made me feel significant.
In this particular situation, it wasn't what she did as a classroom teacher inside the confines of her classroom, it was what she did beyond her job description.

What strikes me as funny now is the fact that when I first got into her class. I didn't like her. She looked so stern and she was very strict. She taught me another valuable lesson about taking people for face value. You can't do that.

I don't think that Mrs. Hassel will ever know what an impact she made on me.

Funny thing. I've become a teacher myself. I've been teaching Art at an innercity school for the past four years. I devote most of my time and other resources to making my students school experience a positive one. People (students, coworkers, my boss even, and others that have come to the school to visit) ask me all the time....do you get paid extra for this? ....why do you do all this stuff? ....I do it because I know that there is some child out there that will benefit. Some child that will be inspired.

I have some tough students. Everyday is definitely an adventure, but I wouldn't trade it for the world. Just imagine me sitting here, a thirty year old woman, contemplating the kindness shown to me when I was 11 years old. Hopefully, my children that leave me will remember me fondly and know that if nothing else was going right in their life when they were in our school...there was a teacher that really cared for them.

Answer 2

In my almost 50 years on this earth, if there is one thing I've learned is that intelligence has very little to do with success in life. Motivation, emotional intelligence quotient, and being in the right place at the right time and sometimes just knowing the right people are the things that seem to make people succeed in life. I've seen some of the stupidest people that I went to school with get involved with politics and they are millionaires now. I've also seen some of the smartest people succeed but it was because they were people smart and had personality, but the nerds and cocky smart kids rarely succeed unless they change their ways. I am in no way calling you cockey or a nerd, I was just stating what my experience in life has been. If I were you, I'd hit the books and get some fire under you because without college or other post secondary education, you will not earn to your potential and your life will not turn out as you expect. You may underachieve and have bad feelings against yourself later in life, not to mention all the money you'll be missing. By the way, this is very common for smart people to mess up in college but it's never too late to get cracking. Good luck!

Answer 3

this may sound weird but my english 4 teacher had the biggest impact on me. She was the HARDEST teacher in the school and there were only three other brave souls excluding me that chose to take her class willingly. i kinda knew i wanted to write as my career but until i took her class, i passed with a b, i didn't know that's what i truly wanted to do. this was my senior year of high school by the way

Answer 4

I grew up in a home with little discipline, and not much involvement from my parents. By the time I got to high school, I was quickly heading toward hanging out with the wrong crowd and making bad decisions. I enrolled in JROTC, where the 1SG there taught me self discipline, and taught me how to be proud of my acheievements, even if no one else noticed them. I spent all four years of high school in JROTC, and I really believe it's the reason I'm successful today. I graduated almost 10 years ago, and recently went back to visit the instructor. As I left, he smiled at me and told me he was proud of me. That meant more to me than hearing my parents say it a hundred times.

Answer 5

Grade 2) I still remind my self I not to be prejudiced toward my students the way she was to me.
Grade 9) Ms. K. let me write a novel during English class if I kept up with the work outside of class. I still love to write.

Answer 6

MY HIGH SCHOOL VOCATIONAL EDUCATION TEACHER MRS. MYRTHA GREEN SHE WAS A VERY INSPIRING TEACHER BECAUSE SHE KNEW THAT I WAS SERIOUS ABOUT WHAT CLASS I WAS TAKING WHICH WAS COSMETOLOGY. SHE ALWAYS MADE SURE I KNEW HOW TO DO EVERYTHING TO PERFECTION WHICH I ALWAYS TRIED TO DO AND SO BY THE END OF THE TWO YEARS THAT I HAD HER I WAS AWARDED COSMETOLOGY STUDENT BOTH YEARS THAT I HAD HER JUST BECAUSE SHE PUSHED SO HARD AND SHE WAS SUCH A GOOD TEACHER THAT I ACED EVERY TEST THAT I TOOK!! I REALLY THINK THAT THERE'S NOTHING ELSE ANY OTHER TEACHER COULD HAVE DONE TO HELP ME AS MUCH AS SHE DID!!

Answer 7

My choir/band director from 7th grade through 12th. I always had enjoyed music, but he had a way of relating to the students in our small school system and everyone loved him. Our senior yearbook was dedicated to him. I had the honor of playing in a special band concert for his retirement about 9 years ago and will never forget him.

Answer 8

I am currently a teacher and I look back at my high school geography/world history/contemporary civilization teacher as the one who I felt cared about us and is how I want to be as a teacher. I feel you need to care about your students before anything else, so you can teach them what they need to succeed.

Answer 9

My civics teacher. She was very hard on us, and when I was one of the two students who got an A on the final project, I knew it really meant something. It was the first time I'd worked really hard on something, and it paid off big time. I knew I was ready for college after that.

Answer 10

My grade school principal, George Parlato! He used the safety patrol as a way to train kids. We didn't realize the lessons he taught us! He was also a "hugger"...and now you'd be sued for hugging kids!

Thanks for asking the question. It made me smile and think of someone who I hadn't thought of in a while!