Think of the best teacher you've ever had. What did they teach, and what made them so special?

An art teacher. Mrs Miller. I was upset and she sat with me one lunchtime and helped me make a get well card for my mum who had been sectioned with mental health issues. I remember saying I was rubbish at art and she said there are lots of different kinds of art and different ways people use art in different jobs. It is because of what she said that I became a hairdresser and eventually ended up doing what I do now.

I went through many teachers as I was not the easiest of the students and had to do it this way in order for me to learn some. Some of my best teachers was Ad, told me I am an artist, later An., taught me to be an artist, Di., taught me to keep on going, Ma, introduced me to unconditional love.
An., taught me to be nature, whilst Lo., taught me to stop the chaos.
Ge.La., gave me momentum, De, gave me strength, Sp, how to share, Ni., helped me to relax and focus.
Ch. cultivated silence and compassion within me, and Lo.Ha. taught me to love. Fil showed me to keep my stance, lilSh, smiled quietly, Ro., openness and structure,
Qu. reminded me to keep on going heh, Fi. taught me to move forward, Ni, to touch softly.
There has been so many really. So so many.
And all my lovers, they too have taught me so much, each through their embrace. And my friends, with their care.
I want to write about all them one day.
Maybe I am not that much of a terrible student that I used to be any longer, who knows.

Actually, I think it was my English teacher. English isn’t my native language, so memorizing words and studying grammar has always been a real struggle for me ever since I was little. But back in elementary school, I had this amazing English teacher. She was probably in her mid-thirties, super gentle and warm, and I just loved sitting right next to her, listening to her tell English stories

High school in Italy. My science teacher. He was very intelligent and he helped me a lot when I was bullied.

I used to draw and my art teacher loved my work.

He was a football and wrestling coach. Easily the best coach. He had a genuine sincerity about him. He cared about us, and was, is just a really good man. Some people outshine the rest of us, he was like that, and we all looked up to him, compared to some other coaches we didnt like as much. I know he made me better

Best teacher I've ever had was a doctor in college who taught Anatomy and Physiology.

Probably Mrs. Porter, my form teacher in Infant's School in the mid-1950s.

She had, I realised many years later, some very go-ahead ideas, and among other things inspired my reading. I recall she sometimes even lent me her daily newspaper: I would not have known much about the places and people it reported, but I could handle the vocabulary.

When our father's work was moved, along with us, to another town nearly 100 miles away, Mrs. Porter gave me a leaving present: a copy of A.A.Milne's Winnie The Pooh, with an encouraging message to "keep on reading" she had written in the fly-leaf. I still have it!

A maths teacher, who was also housemistress, chaplain and choir mistress at my boarding school. She was kind, patient and devoted to the girls she taught and looked after. The Christmas that my sisters and I couldn't go home because our parents were both on active service turned out to be one of the best ever.

Best teacher i had was a geography teacher..

He clearly loved the subject and had traveled to many unique places on earth and he could tell a great tale about the places he visited and lived in. Always linking the story to the topic of Geology

I had a series of good English teachers who led me to a love of literature. I was very sorry to hear that one of them, Mr Hill, was suffering from depression in his old age. I would have loved to have found him and tell him how much he influenced my life positively, with his humour, Shakespeare and Dickens quotations, sometimes to silence the foolish and other times to lift our spirits. Sadly, I suspect he has died by now, but I hope he was able to know he made a difference.

There were others who encouraged me when others were destroying my confidence. May they RIP.

Dr. Hugsby and Dr. Baily at Concordia. One taught calculus, the other physics. Both were amazing.

College physics, calculus and computer programming teacher, and the college's only computer system administrator.

If that wasn't enough, he was likely the smartest teacher I ever had, and often flew his own craft.

Very fast on the chalkboard. He could fill up three boards, with calculus equations, in a matter of a few minutes.

Seventh grade science, entitled "Time Space and Matter, solving problems using math and scientific theory."
The teacher taught it all beautifully and we learned how to solve ancient problems and new ones, - He was highly competitive, as a person, and the people above him thought the material was impossible to teach and too hard to learn. He proved them wrong.
He was also a pretty good running coach.

I had a biology tutor. She was amazing. Young for a teacher but that had that delightful combination of factors that made learning fun, that came across as confident and also relatable to a roomful of disgusting children like me!

Made me want to be a teacher, which sadly was a route I never went in life.

SJD x

My high school English teacher. She was tough, but we learned a lot. I was editor of the school yearbook my senior year, and we dedicated it to her.

Miss T. Best damn science and Guitar teacher ever. Not to mention just a hell of a nice lady. She was one of those teachers who really gave a damn about her job and you could tell. And she made things enjoyable and interesting.

History. Brilliant man.

For Me it was my university history professor, she had this creative way to keep me inspired .

She would use debates on historical topics that encourage critical thinking and allowed us to explore different perspectives. plus used roleplaying to keep us engaging and it help us understand historical figures and events on a deeper level

For my husband he just said auto shop, because it was his escape

My Social Studies teacher was the best, he made me pay attention for History is exactly that, interesting, I was the sort of student that would goof off and not pay attention for everything else, but for that class.

I only had a few. I was mostly homeschooled

One of my teachers cried when my parents told her I will be going to a new school. What was wrong with her?

Mr Owen. High school. Science teacher. He treated us all like adults and not children. I went into science because of him and all I learned from him. He died in the winter of my senior year in high school. I still miss him decades later.

One of my highschool math teachers. He was really good at explaining things and I really got it. 🙂

He was my 7th grade Social Studies teacher, Mr. Whalen. I don't remember ANY of the subject matter he taught, but he DID teach us all how to STOP the hiccups...and it really works...and I've remembered that all my life!

being very enjoyable to look at

edit: grade 6 'general studies'.

Mr McGowan (Macca) my home room teacher through grades 7, 8 and 9. Very tall, kinda wide around the middle. Huge Walrus moustache. He was quick to laugh and had a huge booming voice that could shake you to your very core. second only to the librarian. Which he used when we played up. So the whole school knew when you got told off.
Said he'd been teaching 17 years and he was going to retire at the end of year. He said that when I was in grade 7 and to my knowledge he still teaches.

If he got bored during class or he saw that we were, he'd take us outside to kick a ball.

The only teacher in school who was allowed to hit his students (The parents gave him written permission) with the 'beach bat' a reinforced Ping Pong paddle covered in graffiti, only on rare occasions when the kid deserved it. (The kid who copped the bat got to sign their name on it, kind of a weird badge of honor)

This muscle bound lout of kid was transferred into our class a few weeks into the school year. He tried to kick the teacher in the head but Macca caught his foot, lifted him bodily in the air and put the kid head first into the open bin. F#ckin Legend.
That kid got to use the teachers desk as his own for the rest of the year and never tried to kick another teacher. (He did kick the stuffing out of me, but we became good friend because of it but that's another story.)

He had a computer at the back of the class loaded with games. If we did really well in class we got a turn on it.

He was the only teacher to let us stay inside the classroom during recess and lunch.

If school wasn't your thing and you struggled too much, he'd find you an apprenticeship in something that was best suited for you.

The man is a living legend!

History. The first teacher who expressed disappointment because I wasn’t putting in full effort.

I had a language arts teacher that let me be totally creative. He would let me turn in poetry and short stories even if it was different than the assignment. I always did really well with writing but it was so good for me to express myself that way at that time.

A tie between two English teachers for different reasons, neither having to do with the subject matter.

1. Miss Sylva, bless her. I was a midweek transfer in the first week of my freshman year of high school and administration assumed I was the son of migrant farm workers and put me into remedial English. Yes, poor white trash can be discriminated against as well. The class assignment for the semester was a pre-teen book, T-Model Tommy. She handed the book, told me to start and get as far as I could while she finished individual follow-up instruction with a few other students. Towards the end of the period she comes to me, I'm sitting there, book closed. She asks if I am having trouble, and I say, "No, I finished it". She grills me on it, and I provide a complete synopsis on characters, plot, etc. She says, "You don't belong here. You belong in my college prep class. It probably will take me a week to get you transferred. Feel free to read any of the magazines, books, other material on the table over there, or bring a book from home, until then."

But wait, it gets better. First class in her college prep English class, knowing that all my new classmates are aware of me transferring in from remedial English, calls me up to demonstrate how to diagram a sentence. To establish I belong.

2. Miss Hallissy, my senior English teacher for essentially the opposite. By my senior year I was an editor on the high school newspaper, writing for the high school literary magazine, working professionally for a couple of weekly newspapers, manager of the football and track teams. An over-achiever, full of himself, with a carte blanche hall pass to skip classes which I used liberally. Except for her class. She would not recognize my hall pass, and she fawned over a couple of other kids who I thought were inferior writers to me. She taught me humility. Bless her too.

History teacher. She was strict af and passionate about it. Also warned the class not to hand in papers during class cause shed absentmindedly tear it up xD

It's so many to choose from. Just know they're all from here, and they know everything about women. Yet they're virgins and besides porn and probably their family member who is female, they have never seen a naked woman in their life.

Ones that treated you like an adult, "you fuck up, it's your life" type of energy.

Philosophy in college, he was amazing
He told us that the American Indians could’ve lived the same way for tens and thousands of years… they lived in harmony with nature