Two, four, six, eight — who do we appreciate?
Photo by bradjward
Most of us have had at least one teacher in our lives that has motivated us to some sort of greatness. (At least, I hope that’s the case.) For me, it was Mrs. Montgomery, fourth grade. She still stands out in my mind as one of the most influential and inspiring people in my life. She and I kept in touch long after elementary school — she even came to my high school graduation — and we corresponded frequently throughout college.
This week is Teacher Appreciation Week, which got me thinking about Mrs. Montgomery and some of the other inspirational (and not-so-inspirational) teachers I’ve known. What qualities make for a great teacher? It’s a question that has been asked many times in Answers, and looking over the myriad responses, there seem to be a few common threads.
I really like Aim T’s idea that great teachers are constructivist in their methods, meaning they teach in a manner that enables their students to learn by making discoveries for themselves. This is a shift from the idea that teachers are simply repositories of knowledge, offering facts and figures for their students to learn by rote. Though there are definite benefits in learning how to memorize and store information, constructivist methods tend to engage students more completely in their own learning process.
Many of you agree with housescrubs, Shawn, and amber that great teachers find a way to incorporate humor and energy into their lessons. Finding a way to make even the most tiresome subject enjoyable keeps students engaged and interested. Not all teachers need to be as outrageous as Robin Williams in “Dead Poets Society,” but finding small ways to make their subjects relevant to their students goes a long way in making the learning process both entertaining and effective.
Most concur with violamom74 that great teachers are enthusiastic, fiercely knowledgeable about their subjects, and behave in ways that earn respect from their students. Above all, great teachers make you want to learn, not just in that specific class or subject, but for a lifetime. Those qualities were certainly true of Mrs. Montgomery, who I wholeheartedly appreciate not only this week, but always.
What do you think sets certain teachers apart from others? What qualities do you think make a teacher great?
Mine was Mr Stacy. After two years in his Engineering Tech Prep class, he made me realize that I wanted to stay the hell away from anything having to do with Mechanical Engineering. I am now a happy college student studying Software Developement.
I had long admired the two or three ROTC instructors–sergeants–in high school, but Mr. DeHaan, my vocal teacher stands out the strongest. Eastern High in Detroit has long been leveled, but Mr. DeHaan, and his hard tactics in corraling mischievous boys and teaching the fundamentals of voice and music theory was admirable. His bald pate would turn crimson as he mouthed blue words at the class to get us to pay attention.
To pass the final semester we had to write down the music as we listened to an LP record. With that knowledge, plus the years that followed, my music career was paved better through what I learned in Mr. DeHaan’s vocal class.
May God bless him.
MAH FAV. TEACHER WAS MS. TURNER …. SHE iS THE BEST i MET HER WHEN i WAS iN THE 6TH GRADE AND TiLL THiS DAY WE KEEP iN TOUCH ….
SHE HELPE ME PiCK COLLEGES AND … DO THiNGS i THOUGHT i COULDNT DO THANxx AL0T MS. TURnER
Mine was Ms Simone Kyle - the most influential teacher of my time, Taught me drama and theatre, it was her class i discovered my love for the arts, i am forever greatful as i am passionate and successful!
WOO MS KYLE
Mine was Mrs Keywoth, grade 4 teacher. She was fun to have around , a good teacher and my friend and i could always have a good chat to her about Harry Potter!
My favorite teacher is Ms. Jennifer Dover she is the best teacher in the whole world. She teaches Drama and Dance at McDowell high and she is one of the sweetset, open minded, friendly teachers in the world.
Mine was Mrs. Kokinda.. OMG! best teacher ever. She helped me when i needed it.. she was the most kindest teacher i have ever had… she made learning fun and easy.. i wish i had more teachers like her..
my personal favorite’s name is Mary Jane Clements. she taught me world history. she showed all those traits you listed. she even kept us interested that day during the french revolution that she spent a whole entire 90 min class period talking about the uses of the guilotine. not that a few of us 9including me) werent a bit queasy by time we left.
My favorite teacher is a teacher I have now.,Mr Kingman. He’s so amazing! He’s so good at teaching and he’s such a kind person. I’ve always been the person to respect all my teachers, i’ve always been more mature than most kids so I tend to get along well with all my teachers. I think they play a large role inour lives and I would love to become one. (Plus Kingman is sexy hehe)
I had a learning disability and couldn’t learn how to read. That was back in the day they just pushed you along in school. When I reached 8th grade I was reading at a 1st grade level. They put me in a special reading class. Ms. Shaw was my teacher. I don’t know what she did, but she taught me how to read. By the end of the year I was reading at a freshman in college level. She was and still is an amazing woman. I have kept in touch with her all these years. She admitted to me that she never even went to college. That she started out in the school system as teachers aid. She was proof that being a good teacher has nothing to do with having a degree. She opened doors for me and many other students.
This is the first time I’ve read a blog like this related to ‘answers’ ~~ it is good to hear that many people have had teachers they remember well into adulthood… I never usually get this personal but I would like to name a really great lady, an example and an inspiration to me: Mrs L Edwards (she would not approve of her Christian name being used here, I am certain!)
She taught me English grammar, at a time when most schools had taken it off the curriculum. This came about initially mostly because I was interested when she first offered to tutor me (maybe for a small amount of money: I have no idea, but I would venture that there was, in fact, no charge.) She was already retired by the time I was ten years old, the time of our first encounter, and likely missing teaching… I was hooked after our first hour together. She had that rare quality of helping another person become as enthused as she was about a subject: to those who never benefited from her tuition, English grammar may sound pretty boring but I can honestly say that I was never bored… it led me to my initial degree and I have no doubt that it has helped me in so many other areas of which I may still be unaware.
Besides all that, she was, as I implied earlier, a real lady ~~ not affected, but a genuine, charming lady who had the innate qualities of graciousness, warmth and humour, to name but a few, in abundance… she never overtly attempted to teach me my “manners” but I am certain that I was as much influenced by her demeanour as the subject we officially studied together.
A chance click bought me here tonight… it has been a pleasure to read some of the entries and a real joy to remember this remarkable lady in such detail.
I never realised, while she was alive, just how great a teacher she was and how much I owe to her. She was also very perceptive, though, so I hope very much indeed that she did know what an important role she has played in my life, right from that first lesson onwards.
Somehow, writing this tonight, I have a feeling that she is not so far away, even now… she may well be checking not only the grammar, but content and style as I write… if she were, I wouldn’t object
I imagine she would not quite approve of smileys and so forth, more because her generation would possibly regard such things as not quite proper and not from any rigidity in her attitude towards language. It was she who taught me that language is ever-changing as well as the approved syntax of the day… I was encouraged to break grammatic rules ~~ provided, of course, that I was aware of which rule I was bending or down-right breaking, at the time!
To all the great teachers who have given so much and to my own role model, in particular.
Layla
My first eight years of education took place in a one-room school, Grades 1 - 11, and the teacher was my mother. Fiercely dedicated (you had to be, with that workload and that payscale), she believed the way to teach was get the students started along the road and let them make their own discoveries, stepping in only if they strayed too far off track.
I remember how the younger grades (myself included) would listen as she read ‘Macbeth’ with the Grade 11 class and ‘Prester John’ with the 9s, and the Friday afternoons when every student in the school recited poetry and talked about the poems they’d chosen, and the short stories and serials she read aloud from ‘The Saturday Evening Post’.
She taught me to love learning and books and that anything you undertake must be given your very best effort. I don’t know of any gift greater than that. Thanks, Mrs. Rogers (Mom).
My math teacher from the 8th grade Ms. Rose played a big roll in my life. She was so open and foward about everything. She didn’t stress us over big test and cared more about her students then the work. She found fun ways to solve problems we didn’t understand. She believed in recycling and every Friday, we would go outside and pick up trash around the school. We also got to go around the school inside and fix stuff. (broken doors, bent lockers, ect.) I’m so glad that my brother gets to experience somewhat of what I got to. She’s not his teacher, but she helps out in his class. She was so fun to be around and made you laugh.
Mine is Mrs.Lovell. She was the best teacher ever. Her kindness tought me trust and to forgive and to forget.
Mrs.Lovell was the nicest teacher ever.