<laughs> I had a feeling if I didn't catch myself you would. <smile>
Most influential teacher?
- Thread starter Nika
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<laughs> I had a feeling if I didn't catch myself you would. <smile>
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aww, nika. <laugh> you can blame my 7th grade teacher for that. she was the one who caused me to be this way. <giggle>
Yup, she was a slapper. Come to think of it, most of my French school teachers were slappers. It was just common ground. The French even have a word for this kind of system (they recognize it in their own school system) -- "psychorigide."
Most teachers can (or at least could) get away with a lot because the adult's opinion was always taken over the child's.
My biology teacher was like that too. No one was ever too slow or too stupid. At the same time, if the whole class except one or two students got a concept, he would offer to patiently explain it to them after class. Concepts that didn't click for me with any other teacher clicked with him because he was willing to come up with as many metaphors as necessarily.
For example to explain reverse transcriptase he used a CD as a metaphor. DNA running the right way was like having a CD play tracks 1 to 10. But having the reverse transcripate read the RNA was not like having the music play backwards, it was like having the CD play track 10, then track 9, etc. So it read the RNA backwards in chunks, not totally backwards. He was always great at coming up with metaphors for concepts students had a hard time understanding. And he would make sure everyone understood the material before moving on. If the whole class failed a test, unlike so many teachers, he would realize the error lie not just in us but in both the students and the teacher. So he would reteach us and retest us. He was a great guy. I still visit him today.
I had another math teacher that taught me balance in teaching. My first school was way too strict and my second school was way too lax. But she, along with my AP Bio teacher, was the only other teacher that I felt had the perfect balance. She was assertive, but not mean. She was funny but didn't get carried away. I also still spend time with her, go out to lunch with her. And it's even greater to know her as a friend now.
For example to explain reverse transcriptase he used a CD as a metaphor. DNA running the right way was like having a CD play tracks 1 to 10. But having the reverse transcripate read the RNA was not like having the music play backwards, it was like having the CD play track 10, then track 9, etc. So it read the RNA backwards in chunks, not totally backwards. He was always great at coming up with metaphors for concepts students had a hard time understanding. And he would make sure everyone understood the material before moving on. If the whole class failed a test, unlike so many teachers, he would realize the error lie not just in us but in both the students and the teacher. So he would reteach us and retest us. He was a great guy. I still visit him today.
I had another math teacher that taught me balance in teaching. My first school was way too strict and my second school was way too lax. But she, along with my AP Bio teacher, was the only other teacher that I felt had the perfect balance. She was assertive, but not mean. She was funny but didn't get carried away. I also still spend time with her, go out to lunch with her. And it's even greater to know her as a friend now.
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i used to go out to lunch with my 8th grade english teacher, but eventually we lost touch and i no longer remember what happened to her. i'm afraid that given her age back when she was my teacher, she's probably in her 60s by now.
I had a lot of teachers that were in their 60's while teaching. I kind of like having old teachers and younger teachers. It's nice to have a mix. Also my middle and high school had a very even ratio of male and female teachers, which I definitely thought was nice.
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my middle and high school had a nice mix of female and male teachers as well -- although most of the teachers i had for history, english and reading were female while those for the sciences and music were male.
NorCal20
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Coach Lentz. My Parents n sister. Professor Domatti.
they influenced me to focus on education as first priorities than being athletic. they affected me who am i as today. they guided me through life till now. They have helped me to become completed dude that i grew up.
Now, i will always miss Coach Gil Lentz, thank you for what you have done for me through HS. Rest in peace, Coach.
As for Professor Domatti, she kept arguing with me all the time through classes in HS and trying to encourage me to focus on education than being a athlete. She always tell me that there are a lot things that can be better than athlete. she kept watch me through HS to make sure that im doing good at school and sports. She is a much alike my parents n sister.
Thats all, i guess.
VamPyroX
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I don't think I ever had a teacher that influenced me enough to change me into what I am today. I would say that I did have a great teacher when I was in high school. She could understand what students were going through and would do what she could to make it easier. One thing she did was change the curriculum so that we would have a lot of work at first, and then have it easy for the rest of the year. Normally, all students have to learn 10 vocabulary words each week along with learning anything else related to writing and reading. That's 360 vocabulary words for the whole year.
Well, she did it this way...
She had us memorize 60 vocabulary words each week. She would review stuff that we would be doing related to reading and writing, but never really expected us to put a lot of focus into that... just the vocabulary part. While 60 words was a lot, we had a whole week to review them the best we could. We had a test at the end of each week and it wasn't exactly 60 words... but something like 30 or 40 words on the test. She just didn't say which words would be on the test. By the end of the first 6 weeks, we had completed all 360 words. Now, the rest of the year was focused on reading and writing. That put a huge load off our minds with vocabulary and spelling. A lot of us actually managed to have better grades than we ever did in the past.
Well, she did it this way...
She had us memorize 60 vocabulary words each week. She would review stuff that we would be doing related to reading and writing, but never really expected us to put a lot of focus into that... just the vocabulary part. While 60 words was a lot, we had a whole week to review them the best we could. We had a test at the end of each week and it wasn't exactly 60 words... but something like 30 or 40 words on the test. She just didn't say which words would be on the test. By the end of the first 6 weeks, we had completed all 360 words. Now, the rest of the year was focused on reading and writing. That put a huge load off our minds with vocabulary and spelling. A lot of us actually managed to have better grades than we ever did in the past.
That's great, VampyroX. I always loved when my teachers truly understood the concept of school burnout and so gave us the load of the work in the beginning. The beginning of the year is when students are the least sleep-deprived and not quite as sick of school as they are later in the year, so I always appreciated the teacher that took that into consideration. <smile>