Memorable things teachers did…

[Fyrefox]

I always liked my elementary music classes especially around Halloween, because the music teacher would bring in and play records of such classical pieces as Danse Macabre, The Sorcerer’s Apprentice, and A Night on Bald Mountain. This probably fueled my lifelong enjoyment of horror themes. I don’t know if this practice is still allowed as this might be attacked as “promoting Satanism in the schools,” and even traditional Halloween parties have been banned...

What memorable things good or bad did some of your teachers do, and would they be allowed to do them in today’s settings and educational climate?

 

[JonSR77]

We had two, very very wacky teachers. They were both extremely talented teachers and extremely talented as comedians. Really, both of them could have quit their day jobs and become professional comedians. Hard to reproduce it here, because a good portion of it was, you know, off color. But both those guys were just hysterical.

And, by the way, because they were so funny and personable...they were excellent teachers. In their classrooms, everyone was very obedient and wanted to learn. They made learning fun.

One was a biology teacher. The other was the drafting teacher.

 

[squatting dog]

I had a math teacher with the patience of a saint. Needed at least 9th grade math to graduate high school. Managed to fail this class in 9th, and summer school, 10th and summer school, 11th and summer school, and I'm pretty sure it was a mercy pass in 12th grade so I could get out. By the way, it was the same teacher all those years. Thank you dear lady.

 

[Paco Dennis]

When I was in 1st grade my teacher invited me to have lunch with her. I had some not so good citizenship marks. We went to get a burger and fries and when she asked me if I wanted horse radish I said "Yea, I love horseradish." ( I was thinking in my mind pickle relish ). We sat down and before she could start counseling me I took a bite, and had an instant horrible reaction . I couldn't believe how hot and spicy it was, and started crying. For some reason I started behaving better in her class.

 

[Geezerette]

When I was in 6th grade my teacher had a “science cabinet” basically a small glass door China closet, with all sorts of interesting natural objects, like interesting rocks,shells,bird nests, nature-curios, things like that. My favorite was a large intact horseshoe crab skeleton shell. My life was very landlocked at that point and and I was just awed at the beach things especially the horseshoe crab. Was just thrilled many years later when I found one for my very own on an Atlantic beach. It’s still in a box somewhere, comes along on all the moves.

 

[Jeni]

Have many memories of various teachers ..... both good and bad.... one Music teacher stands out a very scary woman had each of us come down to the piano to sing and she could judge our voices separately....all others sang but standing next to her she could access.
she told me my gift would be lip syncing and not to bother really singing again....

 

[Gary O']

Memorable things teachers did…​

A little clip from a too long story;

The Wadsworth Years

Mrs Wadsworth was our teacher for a couple years…..actually 2 ½ years, as she stepped in when Mr Taboli made his infamous exit.
The white coats didn’t come to get him, but after the zip gun affair we never saw Mr Taboli again…our first conquest.

Mrs Wadsworth was different.

She was old, and done with it all, but folks gathered around her and conned her out of retirement.
Turns out she’d run a concentration camp of grades six thru eight back in Milton-Freewater for centuries.
Quite the disciplinarian, as she could still wield a bamboo rod with the deftness of a samurai.
And those high top orthopedic oxfords that housed her rheumatoid ankles were nothin’ to mess with either.
She stood about five six, and weighed in at oh say 97 lbs, but still had a presence about her.
I got her to smile a couple times, but usually she wore this sour look, like she just got fed some horse shit, of which we tried.
She had what was sometimes referred to as denture face, some real jowls, kinda looked like Deputy Dawg’s gramma….and she used it to her advantage, lookin’down on you over her bifocals.
Eddy P, the terror of third grade, was putty in her gnarly hands, and even his little brother, satan of second grade, was no match.

So things were as quiet as they could be in those two years.

We all respected her, and I even admired her, and I’d like to think she got a charge outta me, as she would single me out as an example for others not to follow.
When she gave me her special attention, I’d notice her neck would commence to sorta blossom into a rather deep crimson beginning at the start of her collar and creeping up to her chin.
This aurora was gradual, and mesmerizing.

Grammar was her specialty, and diagramming sentences on the blackboard was what we all did, over and over…past participles and me became friends, as we both found our little special place in the parse tree of life.

 

[Lewkat]

I had a 4th grade teacher who in the middle of a lecture, would suddenly duck and look over her shoulder at the sky. Now WWII was in full swing at this time and I wondered if she thought some plane was strafing us in our comfortable USA classroom, or if another flock just flew over? Really weird to say the least.

Also had a principal who was a known tippler, but I couldn't say anything at home about him as he and my dad were lifelong friends. But came the day when I was returning to my classroom from and errand when he sailed through the door and promptly staggered and fell down the steps and broke his arm. I had to make this the topic of conversation with many chuckles during dinner and my father was most unhappy with me. We really had some characters for teachers and yet we had a first rate education.

 

[Jan14]

I can’t think of anything very memorable that a teacher did. However, I had a 3rd grade teacher that had a big black mole on her chin with a black hair growing out of it. It was hard for me not to look at for fear of being caught in action. How stupid is that !