Choose one. Let’s not name names.
Many people who choose to teach have vivid, warm memories of one (or several) teacher(s). Think about and discuss that one amazing teacher you have had. What made that teacher memorable to you? Are there any key events that made you remember this teacher? From your perspective, what made him or her such a good teacher?
Many people choose to teach, in part, because they had a terrible teacher at one point in their education. Choose a teacher who made a negative impression on you, and write a description of this person. How did that teacher behave with students? What was his or her teaching style? Why do you have negative memories of that teacher? From your perspective, what were some of the person’s attributes that made him or her a poor teacher?
Through the years of my education I’ve had both “good” and “bad” teachers. Each of them had different styles of teaching and sets of skills that affected the way I viewed them as a teacher. The teachers who could understand me and made the effort to help me when I was having a hard time were the teachers that I found were “good” to me. It also helps if their know their content. The teachers whom I consider to be “bad” were the ones who put no effort in their teaching or just had a horrible personality. To me a teacher need to be able to help a student or recognize when they are having a difficult time in their studies. They need to be able to deal with a student on a professional level instead of treating them as if they were inferior. As I’ve stated before I have had my share of “good” and “bad” teachers but there was one teacher that stood out to me the most in the negative experiences. This person is someone who I felt teacher may not have been the job for them to pursue, I felt that they couldn’t connect with the students at all.
I feel that if a teacher can’t treat a student with respect then how can they expect the same thing in return. This teacher was someone who I couldn’t go to for help of any kind because she just couldn’t connect with us. She was always constantly yelling and their wasn’t a day that went by where she wouldn’t make a student cry. I do have to admit that she knew her subject area well but she didn’t know how to deliver it. Sadly because of her for a time I lost interest in school altogether. Many of the students who had her would always tell the younger kids that pray to God you don’t get her because she just wasn’t a great teacher. For her teaching method instead of helping the student when they got something wrong she belittled you and made you feel insecure. Altogether she had a horrible personality and teaching methods. I felt the age group she was working with was not right for her. I felt that she should have been teaching older kids instead.
As a student I feel that it is difficult to have such a bad experience with a teacher. Teachers should always be aware of their students and help them where it is necessary. In fact if you can’t treat a student with respect don’t expect to be treated right. Having negative experience with person encourages me to be better than them and give an outlook of what not to be as a teacher. In my opinion of you teach like her you shouldn’t be a teacher at all.
Over the years at Kamehameha, I’ve had my share of “good” and “bad” teachers. One of my middle school math teachers was a prime example of one of those good teachers. I was never good at math; it was always a struggle for me to grasp the concepts. In class, I was too afraid to ask questions when I didn’t understand because I was embarrassed. I was embarrassed that my peers would think I was dumb. What I loved about this teacher was his constant positivity. I think that is what made him such a good teacher. He was always smiling and he seemed to really love his job. He was genuinely excited to see students understanding and getting the equations right. His approachable demeanor made me feel comfortable to my ask questions. I finally could get the help that I needed. I appreciated that he made it a priority to make sure that I understood, and would work with me until I did. And he didn’t mind me coming in to his classroom almost everyday before school for help with my Algebra homework. In fact, he welcomed me with a smile everyday.
A teacher that I had a negative experience with was one of my teachers from freshmen year. Again I found myself struggling with math. But this time, my teacher wasn’t of much help. In class we learned mostly by watching videos on Khan academy or doing ixl instead of her actually going through practice problems with us. Maybe that’s just her teaching style. But I remember whenever I wanted to come in to get help, it was a struggle. I would try to come to see her during all the possible free periods and she either wasn’t there or when she was I found myself getting very little attention on my question before she brushed me off to speak with the next student. She would look at me like I was inconveniencing her by being there. I think this is what made her a poor teacher in my eyes. I didn’t feel comfortable with her and I felt like my questions weren’t getting addressed. I ended up going to another math teacher for help.
Throughout my schooling career, I would say that I’ve had decent experiences with teachers. Every teacher has their own teaching style and personality. I think the teachers who stood out the most to me were the ones who had welcoming personalities, had a creative teaching style, and really tried to connect with their students. Knowing their content is probably the most important thing, but I feel that an adults ability to connect with and help students makes them a better teacher. If I ever had a problem with or didn’t care for a teacher, it was most likely because they weren’t compassionate, patient, or passionate about their subject.
I may have had to deal with a few teachers who were not the best throughout elementary and middle school, but I never really had a teacher who had a negative impact on me until high school. There were a few teachers who I didn’t particularly favor, but I did have this one specific teacher in my junior year who actually made me dread attending the class. This teacher was not my favorite because, although they taught a subject area I was quite interested in, their teaching style slowly diminished that interest. I respected and understood that this was just the way they taught, but it was obvious to me that others as well as myself were almost always confused about assignments even after asking for clarification. In general, their personality wasn’t bad, they did try to understand and connect with us. I think what really caused the negative impact was that they didn’t have good communication skills. They probably did know their content very well, but most of the time the class was confused and we almost needed to teach ourselves. This teacher may have had good intentions, but I did not agree with his teaching style. It was too often that they were unfair, unclear when giving assignments and assigning a specific due date, and failed review and help students with test questions that students got wrong or didn’t understand. I personally had a very difficult time in this class. Although it was not a desirable experience, I did have to learn to work with that teacher and it showed me another type of teaching style.
I will always remember my teachers who left such a huge impact on me because I could genuinely feel their love and compassion for not only their job but for me. Even if I may have had them years ago they still remember me as a student and will always ask about me and check up on me. Those teachers that take the extra time to acknowledge me and reach out to check up on me have let me into their lives and have established strong relationships with each other. Not only now are we friends but it is now easier to go up to them and speak about advice or their experiences through all types of media like conversations or even emails or phone calls. These teachers I always will have great respect towards, for always being willing to give up their time and who are totally understanding. They were great listeners and a trustworthy source I could always turn to.
In my schooling career I also had bad experiences of teachers who I could tell did not care about what they were doing and it felt almost as if they were going through the motions. Someone could have it all, all of the resources ever needed to be successful yet they just might not make the best of all of it. There were times, even going to a school as fortunate as this one, faced teachers who could not teach. There were times when the teacher was an incredible person, they were easy to build relationships with but yet they were not able to transfer their ideas and lessons so that we could understand. Notes and test, test and lectures, as a learner those lessons may work for some but it did not work for me. I feel it is something to do with communication, they were just not able to get the message across. I have also had teachers that criticized me as a person, made racist comments about the person I am and once that happens it was hard for me to see the person in the same way. These experiences have stuck with me and even though they may mean no harm words is a powerful tool and it can easily build up or break someone.
I feel like it is easier to remember the bad that has happened with teachers compared to the many good that has happened and those teachers who devote so much time and energy from their own lives don’t get the credit they deserve. As a student there were times where I have done wrong, and I understand that the teacher too is not perfect but when authority in the classroom becomes a dictatorship and the setting becomes uncomfortable and unorganized it becomes distracting and hard to learn. At times there were many times when I felt like giving up, knowing my limits there are times when I have to take a step back and those teachers that support you and are understanding to what is happening around you make a huge impact knowing that there is support at school, not only constant drilling of words and phrases that don’t make sense. As a student I don’t think all teachers are perfect and they shouldn’t be, we are all human and we make mistakes but we are all learners too and I respect those teachers who grow with us and admit their struggles and share their stories to not only build relationships but also make us better people.
Throughout my whole 12 school years of being a student the teacher that stood out to me the most was my middle school teacher. What made her memorable to me was she was not just my teacher she was like an aunty that would take care of me but yet still treated me equally in class. What made her a great teacher was that she would make learning the new lesson fun but still kept it at a level where things wouldn’t get out of hand. She was always new who was gonna participate and who wouldn’t so she would make the learning environment where no matter what type of personality you had you would always participate. I’ve had many memories with this teacher but the one that stood out the most was when some kids who thought they were wise and knew everything were bossing the class around while she was out sick. All of my classmates were irritated with them because we normally wouldn’t do the things we did while she was gone but because of those kids we screwed up the assignment that was to be done. The next day that she came back we all told her what happened and the kids who bossed us around ended up having to do another extra 3 assignments or else they would have been switched out to the teacher that wasn’t as fun.
One teacher that was the most awful to me was a teacher in high school. This teacher hardly knew anything about the subject and when we would go in for help and questions the teacher would tell us to go see another teacher because they didn’t have time. Most of my time in that class me and my class mates were teaching our selves. I think that a teacher should stay in tune with there students.
Throughout my twelve years (and counting) I’ve had a huge range in teachers with a wide variety of skills (and lack of). Although I’d like to think that most’ve them had a positive influence on me as both a student and a person, I honestly don’t believe that it’s. There have been a few teachers who have stood out to me, for both good and bad reasons. When I think of an amazing teacher I had I think about what made him so memorable. His humor. This teacher was particularly funny and had a very positive energy about him. He always talked to students and got involved with the latest trends. All of these things made him an approachable person and one myself and others were willing to learn from. In addition to his funniness, he knew his subject matter really well and was able to explain stuff in a way and develop projects that were both entertaining and informative. He was just one teacher who I found to have their teaching craft together.
On the flip side one teacher in particular stood out to be just awful. He knew his subject exceptionally well, but was horrible at explaining pretty much everything. He spoke rather monotone and very rarely cracked jokes or attempted to reach his students beyond the classroom. When we asked for help he’d explain in a way that was completely confusing and then expect you to understand. It was completely ridiculous. It was basically a teacher yourself style classroom, and it didn’t help that the course material was tough enough as is. There’s a huge difference between a good and a bad teacher and is everything to have one or the other. Teachers make the difference between a good or a bad school experience.
Throughout my twelve years (and counting) I’ve had a huge range in teachers with a wide variety of skills (and lack of). Although I’d like to think that most’ve them had a positive influence on me as both a student and a person, I honestly don’t believe that it’s. There have been a few teachers who have stood out to me, for both good and bad reasons. When I think of an amazing teacher I had I think about what made him so memorable. His humor. This teacher was particularly funny and had a very positive energy about him. He always talked to students and got involved with the latest trends. All of these things made him an approachable person and one myself and others were willing to learn from. In addition to his funniness, he knew his subject matter really well and was able to explain stuff in a way and develop projects that were both entertaining and informative. He was just one teacher who I found to have their teaching craft together.
On the flip side one teacher in particular stood out to be just awful. He knew his subject exceptionally well, but was horrible at explaining pretty much everything. He spoke rather monotone and very rarely cracked jokes or attempted to reach his students beyond the classroom. When we asked for help he’d explain in a way that was completely confusing and then expect you to understand. It was completely ridiculous. It was basically a teacher yourself style classroom, and it didn’t help that the course material was tough enough as is. There’s a huge difference between a good and a bad teacher and is everything to have one or the other. Teachers make the difference between a good or a bad school experience.
I feel that the ideal teacher is able to interest me in current lesson. Also they will need to find multiple ways to convey the topic to me. The teacher that influenced me to enter this class was able to meet both of those criteria. My needs as a visual and kinesthetic learner were met during all of the classes through the year. This teacher was not only able to appeal to my style of learning but also connected to other styles of learning at the same time. There was a good balance between note taking time and the interactive activities.
What I enjoyed most in the classroom was the good energy that filled the classroom. There was always a good vibe that encouraged me to try my best and not fear failing. I feel that this was the most important thing for the successful learning environment. I started to complete my assignments not for the grade. Instead I did my assignments because I wanted to learn more about the topic. Something so simple had such a heavy impact on my learning.
As far as teachers go, when it comes to one that has had a positive influence on me as an individual, one teacher stands out from the rest. During my freshman year, when I was still in the transitioning from the “Middle School” mentality, his teaching style made the transition a bit smoother than it could’ve turned out. His teaching style consisted of constantly interacting with his students, as well as create projects for us to get engaged in. One for instance would be the balloon car lab. This lab was the most memorable for me when it comes to his class. During this time, we were both learning about the subject material (physics) as well as creating a competitive environment for the groups. Due to this I was able to learn effectively on the subject, which could also be because I personally am a “hands-on-experience” kind of learner. Overall he effectively educated me on the subject at hand, which proved to be a good attribute that he possessed. When he would interact with us as a friend he would also balance it with his relationship to us as a teacher. Due to this, in my perspective, a mutual respect was set in place.
Now when it comes to teachers that have proved to be quite bad examples of how teaching should be done, I’m aware of quite a few teachers that fit the bill. The one teacher of the select few that, in my opinion, taught poorly was in charge of educating students in P.E. She was very passionate about the subject, although she didn’t really know how to effectively get the subject across due to her lack of communication skills. Due to this it eventually led students to become frustrated with her as well as establishing a bad relationship with them as well. Even though these two results of her teachings were present, she didn’t change her teaching style but instead made it worse. Another factor that contributed to her bad image was the fact that the rules set in place at the beginning of the year was constantly changing. In other words her schedule or the curriculum that was mentioned one day in advance was different on the day of the activity or class. Due to this it eventually led students to believe that she was unaware of what she was doing at all. One experience that comes to mind when I think of this teacher would be when she decided to lose track of whether or not I did an assignment (Which I did) and decided to make me do it again for less credit (1-mile run). So some attributes that I believe that she possessed that made her a poor teacher, based off of previous experiences, consist of the following: Lack of organization, communication, consistency, and credibility. As far as the process of learning in this class, I felt that she was just going through the motions. Which in my opinion, can be seen by the students and this also creates tension and negativity between the two.
The one teacher that has created a big impact on my life would be one of my high school teacher. My sophomore year was probably one of the worst years throughout school. So many things were happening at once, I just couldn’t help myself but to break down every night in my room. I played this role so good that I made sure not one person knew I was living a troubled life. I have been having issues from the start of my sophomore year. But instead of allowing all the negative thoughts build up in my mind, I knew I had to open up to somebody to get this weight off of my shoulder. The way this teacher upheld her class with confidence and everything in control, I felt that I should slowly open up to her to see how it goes. Once I knew that this teacher had gained my trust I just opened my heart out and spilled every bit of information to this teacher. The feedback my teacher had gave me were pretty powerful and helped me stay strong for myself. My teacher had stuck with me for months helping me build up my confidence. This affect that my teacher had upon me is what I would like to do for another student. Being there for other when they need it the most will touch lives and have a positive affect on them.
When I first got into Kamehameha Schools Hawai’i, I have always disliked this one teacher. Learning about History is very hard for me because there is so much names, and date you need to learn about. I think the connection between my teacher and I wasn’t strong at all. We both kind of knew that I was in that class because it was a requirement, so whatever we had to work on in class had no effort at all. I’m not saying that this teacher was poor at teaching. But, my teacher didn’t really make any effort in trying to get me interested in any topic we were learning about. With my teacher only focusing on the smart students made me feel left into the background which made me dislike History even more.
One teacher that I will never forget was my teacher in middle school. She completely embodied the image of the nicest teacher ever. She always made me feel like I was apart of my class even when I sometimes felt left out or uncertain. I always remember having such a hard time in math and in 6th grade that was a big problem for me, considering everyone in my class was quite skilled. I found myself getting frustrated a lot and unable to organize my thoughts. That teacher really helped me get through what Iʻd like to consider a rough time in my middle school career. I felt like she really cared about my education and success, and the fact that I still remember my 6th grade teacher, 6 years later is amazing because I have a really bad memory so she really made an impression on me and I will always remember how kind and caring she was.
Another teacher that made a negative impact on me was my 8th grade teacher, I just remember strongly disliking her. I dreaded going to science class every even day and I also had a hard time focusing in that class because I was completely and utterly scared of her. She is most definitely the worst teacher Ive ever had in all my 13 years of high school. This teacher didn’t really handle a crazy class full of 12 year olds that well, she would usually just resort to yelling or punishing us instead of realizing what the real problem was… which in this case was her. Her classes were always the longest, and she never changed up her teaching style. She would usually just hand us assignments and make us read the text book, which is probably my most boring 8th grade memories. Overall, just the way she decided to handle things were poor, and she wasn’t fit to be a middle school teacher. But because of how strict she was , she would have made a good high school or college teacher.