Worst/Best Teacher You Had

[BikeJunkie]

Inspired by another thread, I thought it would be interesting to contrast best/worst teacher experience. If you had sex with a smoking hot teacher, you're allowed to use the experience for both.

Worst

I had a Spanish teacher throw my textbook at me from across the classroom when I was in the 7th grade. I was struggling in class and did a lousy job in my workbook. When she spot-checked it and saw how bad it was, she took it. She marched to the front of the class, showed it to everyone, and told them "this is how NOT to do your workbook."

Naturally, I objected to her methods every bit as publicly as she objected to my work. Enraged, she threw the book at me from 20+ feet away and then stormed out of the classroom.

If I saw her today, I'd probably tell her she was a c***. But I don't have a burning desire to get it off my chest, because she knew at the time she was a c*** (or she wouldn't have stormed out and hidden from her class for the remainder of the session). She knew she was a c***, I knew she was a c***, the other students knew she was a c***, and we ALL knew that she was damn lucky to keep her job after that.

Best

This is actually a much more difficult pick. Of course I had a bunch of mediocre teachers, but really only one or two BAD ones. On the other hand, I had quite a few GREAT teachers/professors.

My high school music teacher was simply amazing. He's a legend where I'm from. The funny thing is, he wasn't very good at actually conveying concepts or teaching skills. That's okay, because what he WAS good at was instilling self discipline, desire to achieve, desire to perfect, and desire to reach maximum potential... and I'll take those things over concepts any day of the week. As a direct result of my time with him, I approach my job, my hobbies, and my family with very high expectations of myself and I don't settle for half-assery - from myself or from others. I learned that I was responsible for solving my own problems and that no one else was responsible for me and my success/failures.

I also had a HS math teacher who enjoyed math but not to a nauseating degree. I went through ups and downs in HS where I cared, didn't care, etc. I actually had her for math 3 out of 4 years, and when I gave a shit and cared, she was there for me. When I wanted to be left alone, she was cool with that, too. Some people might not think the latter is a good approach by a teacher, but I can honestly say there's nothing anyone could have said or done to make me care when I didn't want to care. She let me come around to math on my own time, instead of making me resent it and her. I ended up majoring in math and graduating Summa Cum Laude.

TL;DR;
- Had a shitty Spanish teacher
- Had awesome math, music teachers

 

[Texashiker]

Best - 8th grade science teacher. She was an older lady retired teacher who was filling in for current teacher who was out from having baby.


Worst - gym teacher who hit me in the face on purpose with a basketball.

 

[Engineer]

Worst:

Reserved

Best:

EE-587 Professor (Micro-computer systems design). Hands down the best taught class that I've had. Very hard nosed and tough but taught the material very well. Most enjoyable class / professor combination that I had. The downside to this was that he spent too much time teaching and not enough time researching (i.e. bringing in money to the University) and was let go just a year later.

 

[IronWing]

I had a biology teacher who really opened my eyes to the truth about abortion and the sanctity of human life. He hammered home the lesson with movies that didn't sugarcoat reality.

 

[BikeJunkie]

I had a biology teacher who really opened my eyes to the truth about abortion and the sanctity of human life. He hammered home the lesson with movies that didn't sugarcoat reality.

I see what you did there :hmm:

 

[BikeJunkie]

I had an econ professor who was really cool to talk to. He was a little too hardcore Libertarian for me and inadvertently made me realize that a good thing can be taken too far, but he showed that you can be passionate and staunch in your positions without alienating everyone you're talking to. He was really good at listening to even the most absurd viewpoints and distilling from them at least something worth holding onto.

 

[JManInPhoenix]

Best - English lit teacher I had my junior year of college. I have always hated all things English & English lit but she made the class extremely interesting. Knew her stuff and taught with passion & enthusiasm. First time I ever got an A in an English class ever...

Worst - CS teacher I had my junior year of college also. Was an old burned out dude who probably took too much acid in the 60s. Mumbled a lot and would walk into furniture (his desk, empty student chairs, etc) every class. Kind of like Mr. Magoo...

 

[manimal]

best teacher would be a tie between my old voice teacher Mr. Miller and my current Shifu. Mr Miller was a retired professor at the school I was going to and I changed majors and studied voice with him privately because he was so much better than any current faculty or available teacher in the midwest. Guy was in his 70s and spoke in riddles like yoda. I treasure those days more than any material possession I own.
Second would be my current Taijichuan shifu. He is a Taoist priest and refuses to take money for teaching. He has very few students partly because he is extremely selective and even more demanding and I feel crazy lucky to be able to learn from him in my old age. Its the hardest thing I have ever tried to learn.

Worst teacher is shared by too many to list..The teachers that other kids hated for making them work too hard/too strick/crazy were some of my favorites. I could smell apathy like bad cologne.

 

[santz]

I have so many experiences, there was this super awesome, if some what little too conservative English teacher, the end of the term project was to write an essay on any word we choose (find out the word's history, significance, etc), i totally surprised her, my co-ed class and myself by picking a bold topic by writing an essay on the word love. the look on her face, the next day after i submitted it as she had to give grades and critique it

i dont know if she was pissed or surprised in a good way.

anyway i got an A-

 

[BikeJunkie]

I had an awful Chem TA my freshman year. He opened the quarter with "I don't want to be here, you don't want to be here, let's just get through this."

He was FUCKING USELESS. He spent every class with his back to everyone the entire time, just solving problems on the board. If you asked him for help, he'd just do the problem start to finish. Ask him to clarify? He'd just do the problem (again) start to finish. No explanation, no "this is why we do this and that." If you asked a third time, he practically told you to fuck off.

Then there was his professor. If you dared go to him for help, he treated you like you were stupid and should be paying him for his time. This was a guy who just wanted to do research, and undergrad classes were the bane of his existence. Usually he told you to just go to the TA.

I had all A's and a C that quarter, and I was happier with that C than any of the A's.

 

[NetWareHead]

Worst:

Have to think about this one.

Best:

This pervert teacher when I was in 7th grade. I had a seat in the front row and we had a class with this one chick who blossomed early and had DD cups. Biggest boobs in the entire grade. She knew it too and dressed with the right bra/shirt/vneck top combos. Teacher sat this girl in the front row just so he could capture glimpses of her tits and cleavage and I sat next to her. Guy was just a dirty old man and total perv lol. Having her next to me made 7th grade a whole lot easier... :whiste::biggrin:

 

[Sho'Nuff]

Worst - My stats professor in college, Dr. Xu. He was very smart and clearly very motivated, but he could not speak English worth a darn. Took me three classes to figure out that when he said xbaaa, he meant x-bar. I suppose that doesn't make him a bad teacher. It does make him ineffective, however.

Best - toss up between my high school chemistry teacher (Dr. Adams) or my high school AP biology teacher (Dr. Pierce). Both were great teachers and totally sold me on science.

 

[NoCreativity]

Worst:

Teacher who blamed me for being bullied. Completely ignored the kid who was giving me a hard time but disciplined me any time I tried to stand up to him.

Best:

Had 3 really good math teachers; geometry, pre-clac and calc 2 and 3. My college physics 2 prof was great as was my high school chemistry teacher. We did so much cool stuff in HS chem that I was disappointed how tame/lame college chem was.

 

[ch33zw1z]

Worst Teacher - Finite Math in college. Teacher was a Health science teacher whose position was cut, but for whatever reason the school couldn't get rid of her. So they plopped her in the math department. She was a know-it-all, which wasn't a good thing. She regularly did problems incorrectly on the board, and then blamed students for their poor grades. There was one guy who was taking the class for the 3rd time with her, and I ended up tutoring him for free. It wasn't hard stuff, but if you already struggle with math and have a teacher like that it's just terrible. Needless to say, she didn't like me because I would keep correcting her.

Best Teacher - tough one. college Biology teacher or Chem teacher. Both were very knowledgeable, presented topics in a way that encouraged learning and questions.

 

[KlokWyze]

Worst - My stats professor in college, Dr. Xu. He was very smart and clearly very motivated, but he could not speak English work a darn. Took me three classes to figure out that when he said xbaaa, he meant x-bar. I suppose that doesn't make him a bad teacher. It does make him ineffective, however.

Best - toss up between my high school chemistry teacher (Dr. Adams) or my high school AP biology teacher (Dr. Pierce). Both were great teachers and totally sold me on science.

It does actually make him a shit teacher.

Best: My self. There were a couple professors I've had that I would be genuinely pleased to see again. They had faults, but they LOVED teaching and their subject matter. Their personalities fit the job title.

Worst: 2 Online teachers that are completely uncooperative. They will fail you or cause drama simply because they can. The real lesson is to not trust them and don't them any reasons or leverage on you. It's quite odd the blatant disrespect and lack of cooperation. Just completely put me off to college in general. I view it as a scam now, which isn't far fetched anyways. I suppose it's because it's community college.... what a waste of time.

 

[uclaLabrat]

Worst - My stats professor in college, Dr. Xu. He was very smart and clearly very motivated, but he could not speak English work a darn. Took me three classes to figure out that when he said xbaaa, he meant x-bar. I suppose that doesn't make him a bad teacher. It does make him ineffective, however.

Best - toss up between my high school chemistry teacher (Dr. Adams) or my high school AP biology teacher (Dr. Pierce). Both were great teachers and totally sold me on science.

Are you a fan of irony?

 

[nageov3t]

worst -- my second grade teacher. she basically spent the entire year torturing me... I even peed my pants in class one day because she refused to let me go to the bathroom, after I'd repeatedly asked and expressed how urgent the situation was D:

thank god we moved the following year.

I later found out that this teacher knew my mom -- and, in fact, my mom and her clique spent their high school years bullying her, so she took out all that rage on me.

best -- probably one of my college Lit professors. he was the first teacher I ever had that really made me want to push myself just to impress him.

 

[purbeast0]

i had a lot of great teachers so i won't comment on them, but the worst teacher i had was actually a cool teacher but she had really big time anger management issues.

7th grade teacher of mine and she was a big fat lady. she loved playing video games and would sometimes bring her SNES into school and let us play it all class after like a test. my mom actually bought her a game that came out one day when she bought it for me too, because my teacher couldn't leave work to get it in the middle of the day. she gave my mom money, but my mom actually picked it up for her and brought it to school. so she was cool in that sense.

however there were a couple incidents in the class. one was when she pulled this chicks pony tail and yanked her hair back. i don't recall why she did it but i was in class for it.

another incident was when this one kid hit the kid in front of him in the head while he was sitting in his desk. when the teacher told him to go to the principals office, he said "FUCK YOU" and flicked her off and put his head down on the desk. she got REALLY pissed and yelled at him but he didn't even move. she then walked over to his desk, physically picked up his desk and turned it sideways, and dumped him out of the desk onto the ground. i forget exactly what happened after that other than eh ended up getting out of the room.

needless to say, she was gone shortly after that.

 

[Scarpozzi]

I'll never forget my 7th grade science teacher. He taught biology mainly, but covered a lot of physics and general science. The only reason he is on my list is because I stopped doing homework. He pulled me aside instantly and said, "What's wrong with you? You can do this stuff, you need to put forth more effort...." Simply, he took the time to notice I wasn't trying and got me back on track with a 5 minute pep talk.

Another good teacher was my high school geography teacher. He was an animated guy that used a lot of visual tools in the class to get people involved. He always had coffee/tea/hot chocolate in class and often would bring food in for everyone. He also was an avid hiker and nature photographer and took trips outside of class with parents and students. We had some good times those years as a group. Best of all, everyone learned the material while having fun.

As far as worst teachers, my graduate-level International Business class was pretty bad. The material wasn't well communicated, the exams were all essay and there were written research papers throughout the semester. My biggest gripe was that this was one of those classes where the professor (adjunct) played God with grades and despite how much time and effort anyone put into a paper, he ultimately made the decision on what was a C, B, or A.... I made a decent grade in that class, but others in my group were not pleased with his personality or lack or guidance. I had a similar thing happen in a graduate finance class also taught by an adjunct.....the material on the test wasn't in the book and the whole class was curved to an A from C's as a result of it.

 

[mmntech]

Worst: oh, there's a pantheon to this one. I had a lot of bad teachers growing up. Which is why I have quite the disdain for the "profession".

I used to get bored in class when I was in elementary school. Was getting average but not great grades. I was a pretty introverted kid as well. My forth grade teacher swore up and down I had some sort of mental problem. Even seated me separate from the rest of class. Keep in mind I wasn't disruptive or anything. When my dad found out, he let the school have it. The teacher replied that I had ADD. Parents had me tested, found out I had no issues, and immediately switched me to a different school. Grades shot up after that. She was probably the worst of the worst.

In grade 8, I had this English teacher laugh sarcastically at an assignment I handed in.

In grade 10 I had this tech teacher who was a arrested for solicitation of a minor. The girl was 12 IIRC. I remember getting the letter home. He also gave me shit for refusing to stand when Pierre Trudeau died.

In grade 12, I had this accounting teacher named Mr. Wagget. First thing he told us was about his name and he knew what it could be turned into. He was a hardass when it came to assignments. Which would have been tolerable if he wasn't also lazy as fuck and never provided help to his students. The guy used to get up in the middle of class, go to his office, and check his stocks. Then he'd wander around the halls for a good 30min (during his class) each day bothering other teachers who were on their office hour. The school and the rest of the faculty eventually got fed up with him and strongly urged him to retire.

Best: I really had no exceptionally good teachers growing up. Though the best was probably my grades 1-3 teacher. She was from Haiti. A bit hard even though she was teaching younger kids. However, she was the only one at that school that saw potential in me.

 

[IndyColtsFan]

I had a horrible professor in grad school for an object-oriented design/analysis course. His specialty was listed as "artificial intelligence," and we joked that was good because he certainly had no natural intelligence. Seriously though, I'm sure the guy was good in his field but he was terrible for this course. The biggest example was our final project and presentation -- this girl (who was hot) got up and gave what is possibly the worst presentation I've ever seen. It was horrible in every way. Yet she got an A on the presentation and I think I got a B or B+, even though mine was clearly better. It might have something to do with her being hot and the fact that I'm pretty sure he overheard us making fun of him, but what do I know?

Oh, and he had a picture of him and his wife in his office in what appeared to be a wedding picture. In the picture, he's laying a big kiss on her cheek and her face looked like someone had just shot her dog in front of her or something. It was priceless.

Another professor in grad school taught one of the math courses. He was very offhands and really didn't do much teaching other than showing examples of working through problems. He really left it up to us to learn it on our own. Many people hated him (and one guy got into a big argument with him and some classmates in the middle of class about his 'incompetence'), but I kind of enjoyed the class because I just breezed through the book and aced it and probably learned more than I would have otherwise.

Lots of good teachers at every level, so I won't single any out.

 

[nageov3t]

having a mom who's a teacher herself really screwed me over.

I had some awful, awful teachers, but no matter what disagreement I had, my mom always sided with the teacher, no matter what.

 

[bas1c]

My worst teacher was my high school biology teacher. He was a total bore and kind of a dick...but the thing that clinched it for me was when he brought in his child's dried placenta and had the class pass it around. He also looked like Biff from Back to the Future.

 

[DrPizza]

Best: Vinnie Monachino & Robert Hannah for math (Geom, precalc, calc) and Howie Van Scooter for physics. Plus, probably Rodriguez for AP Chem, since I walked into the exam thinking she barely taught us anything & walked out thinking "wow, I aced that exam" (and did). I can still remember Hannah coming down hard on me and 2 of my friends for half the class. We made the mistake of picking up a calculator to add two 2-digit numbers together (but while belittling, a lot of praise; more of a "shame on you, you're among the smartest people in this building and you're picking up a calculator to do 2nd grade addition.") I think a lot of my teaching style is modeled after them.

From high school, hard to say I had a "worst" teacher, because I think it's implied the teacher was horrible. But, I had teachers (Sgro) who completely turned me off on their subject. "In your opinion, how did Pip feel when Estella..." I still remember that much of the question. I still remember my follow-up question when I got that full credit off for my answer: "how can my answer be wrong when it's my opinion?" Apparently, I didn't know how fictional female characters thought. I suppose it's safe to say, I still often don't know how females in general think. But, I never read another required book in high school after that (and still maintained 90's in English.) Are you a good English teacher if a student can get a 95 on your test without reading the required book - if you create an environment where the students realize that you're going to give them all the answers before the test & that actually reading the book became completely optional?

 

[BikeJunkie]

having a mom who's a teacher herself really screwed me over.

I had some awful, awful teachers, but no matter what disagreement I had, my mom always sided with the teacher, no matter what.

Which side did she fall on when the teacher she tortured decided to repay her through you?