Coolest teachers you ever had?

[DisobeyedCargo]

Share some stories about the coolest teachers you ever had!

for me, my coolest teacher was my trigonometry teacher last year. I was struggling in the class, and she decided to work with me every single day after school to help me understand the material. She went above and beyond every single time I asked her for help. Even today she was willing to write me a letter of recommendation for a scholarship that is due in two days that I didn't find out about till last minute. She even sent it in already!

[Nym]

In Canada, every teacher is the coolest.

[carefreejules]

My comm tech teacher in high school was really into video games so he grew up with owning all of the Nintendo consoles and even his son was a huge fan of Mario. During that time when My Nintendo rewards were still a thing, I ended up collecting a lot of Mario related rewards that I ended up not using anymore so I'd gladly gave them to my teacher to give to his son and he would always say how happy and thankful his son was. Eventually, his son made a thank you card for me which I still have to this day. I haven't visited my high school ever since I got into university (fourth year now) but I still hope that both my teacher and his son are still Nintendo nerds. In general, he was a really motivating teacher and always made sure we were going at projects with 'can' instead of 'try'. 

My art teacher was also a really important figure to me in high school for being a great instructor but also a great supporter. When I was still going to portfolio interviews for the colleges and universities I wanted to go to, the first portfolio interview I went to was super harsh and basically didn't like anything I produced so it seriously crushed my confidence as a designer and artist. But, he always had my back and reassured me that he had to struggle a lot himself because he got to where he was. Maybe he was just saying that out of pity because of how cheesy it sounded, but it helped a lot nevertheless. 

[saisymbolic]

Had this awesome band teacher in high school. Really funny guy that liked sprinkling his lessons with random factoids; he was also prone to getting off subject constantly. He was also fluent in about three languages (Japanese, German and Italian) and had visited the respective countries over the course of his life. Had the knack for describing cool things as "nasty" with an accompanied exaggerated grimace that never failed to make me crack up.

Had this other great English/Reading teacher in the same high school that everyone liked. I remember her classroom was decorated with fluffy cushions, beanbag chairs and other colorful decorations. We had a unit on Edgar Allen Poe where we read the "The Cask of Amontillado," which became my favorite short story; one about Stephen King in which we watched a short film for "Suffer the Little Children"; and some other fun stories that I can't quite remember.

Same high school. Had a teacher that doubled as a coach and History teacher that had two Japanese students on his team and in his class. Whenever these two guys would "insult" him or play around with him, he would always say that they "Pearl Harbor'd" him. Was funny and a little sad when the two guys once questioned what he meant by that. He also liked using "hell" in his speech a lot, which would leave some of us floored, but we got over it because we were all old enough to hear it by then. When I first got into his class, he couldn't pronounce my name and said that he would never hire me simply because of it. I responded by saying that if he judged by how easy names were pronounced and not on work ethic or skill set, his employees were probably trash anyways. He then changed it and said he wouldn't hire me because I was a smart ass.

Edited January 9, 2018 by saisymbolic

[Captain Karnage]

I had a professor who was just an overall great educator, he had a great sense of humor

first day in class, and many of us being our first day of college, he came in yelling at the class "ALRIGHT NOW, i'VE GOT ONE QUESTION FOR YOU WHICH OF YOU TOOK MY PARKING SPACE!"

He even plays Magic The Gathering at the same shop I do

He even laughed when I casted Thoughtsieze and asked "Where are the exam answers?"

[Rezzy]

1 hour ago, Nym said:

In Canada, every teacher is the coolest.

Is that an Ice pun?

 

I've had quite a few.  I'm on mobile so I can't do them justice.  One I had was a psychology professor who would give points back on answers if you explained your reasoning in front of the class.  I got over 100% in that class.

[Slade]

I never had this teacher, but my friends told me the story. Someone was smoking in the back of his class (this was 8th grade Earth Science), I think it was a hookah pen. Anyways the teacher caught him, and instead of confiscating the pen and reporting the kid to his parents and the school administration, he gave the pen back to him and said: "We all do stupid things." Didn't do anything to get the student in any trouble.

[Nym]

5 minutes ago, Rezzy said:

Is that an Ice pun?

You know it Rezzy!

[Solvaij]

I had a great history teacher in high school who made a huge impact on my life. He was incredibly funny and great at accents, and really made things stick in your mind. I honestly had hated history for a long time until I had him, and now I love to read history books, even text books!! :D It's one of my favorite things to do, and learning more about history has significantly improved my writing, so I credit most of that to him. He also made a huge effort to make even quiet or hidden students feel like they were a part of discussions and lecture. He used to stand in the halls and wave at people in between classes. Always willing to take discussions outside of class and give additional resources for personal study. He died of cancer my senior year and it was huge loss to our entire school. I had taken all the classes he offered at that time, so I didn't have to suffer through the apparently terrible replacement, but I imagine most anyone who followed him as a teacher would be perceived as terrible just because he was so great.

Edited January 9, 2018 by Solvaij

[John Denver Fan]

Back in Middle school I had a teacher that taught math that is easier than the newfangled shit. She would help me up to the stairs because I have a bad back. (Yes I may be young but my back gives me problems.) Also she gave me and my mother a ton of food and containers to store food after my daddy died due to a fatal heart attack. On my last day there in May (I don't go to school in June because of a superstition) she helped me pack my backpack and waved goodbye. That was the last time I saw her because I moved in late June of 2013. 

Edited January 9, 2018 by John Denver Fan

[DisobeyedCargo]

10 minutes ago, Solvaij said:

I had a great history teacher in high school who made a huge impact on my life. He was incredibly funny and great at accents, and really made things stick in your mind. I honestly had hated history for a long time until I had him, and now I love to read history books, even text books!! :D It's one of my favorite things to do, and learning more about history has significantly improved my writing, so I credit most of that to him. He also made a huge effort to make even quiet or hidden students feel like they were a part of discussions and lecture. He used to stand in the halls and wave at people in between classes. Always willing to take discussions outside of class and give additional resources for personal study. He died of cancer my senior year and it was huge loss to our entire school. I had taken all the classes he offered at that time, so I didn't have to suffer through the apparently terrible replacement, but I imagine most anyone who followed him as a teacher would be perceived as terrible just because he was so great.

Oh my god I'm so sorry to hear that, he sounded like a great guy though.

16 minutes ago, Slade said:

I never had this teacher, but my friends told me the story. Someone was smoking in the back of his class (this was 8th grade Earth Science), I think it was a hookah pen. Anyways the teacher caught him, and instead of confiscating the pen and reporting the kid to his parents and the school administration, he gave the pen back to him and said: "We all do stupid things." Didn't do anything to get the student in any trouble.

Heh, sounds like a cool guy

 

20 minutes ago, Rezzy said:

Is that an Ice pun?

 

I've had quite a few.  I'm on mobile so I can't do them justice.  One I had was a psychology professor who would give points back on answers if you explained your reasoning in front of the class.  I got over 100% in that class.

Oh wow that's really neat. How often did you do that in class?

21 minutes ago, Captain Karnage said:

I had a professor who was just an overall great educator, he had a great sense of humor

first day in class, and many of us being our first day of college, he came in yelling at the class "ALRIGHT NOW, i'VE GOT ONE QUESTION FOR YOU WHICH OF YOU TOOK MY PARKING SPACE!"

He even plays Magic The Gathering at the same shop I do

He even laughed when I casted Thoughtsieze and asked "Where are the exam answers?"

I mean parking space is some serious shit

YES A NERD TEACHER

 

1 hour ago, carefreejules said:

My comm tech teacher in high school was really into video games so he grew up with owning all of the Nintendo consoles and even his son was a huge fan of Mario. During that time when My Nintendo rewards were still a thing, I ended up collecting a lot of Mario related rewards that I ended up not using anymore so I'd gladly gave them to my teacher to give to his son and he would always say how happy and thankful his son was. Eventually, his son made a thank you card for me which I still have to this day. I haven't visited my high school ever since I got into university (fourth year now) but I still hope that both my teacher and his son are still Nintendo nerds. In general, he was a really motivating teacher and always made sure we were going at projects with 'can' instead of 'try'. 

My art teacher was also a really important figure to me in high school for being a great instructor but also a great supporter. When I was still going to portfolio interviews for the colleges and universities I wanted to go to, the first portfolio interview I went to was super harsh and basically didn't like anything I produced so it seriously crushed my confidence as a designer and artist. But, he always had my back and reassured me that he had to struggle a lot himself because he got to where he was. Maybe he was just saying that out of pity because of how cheesy it sounded, but it helped a lot nevertheless. 

Wow Nintendo nerd. Once a Nintendo nerd always a njntendo nerd. 

Thats great that he was able to help you pick yourself back up after that devastating blow

23 minutes ago, saisymbolic said:

Had this awesome band teacher in high school. Really funny guy that liked sprinkling his lessons with random factoids; he was also prone to getting off subject constantly. He was also fluent in about three languages (Japanese, German and Italian) and had visited the respective countries over the course of his life. Had the knack for describing cool things as "nasty" with an accompanied exaggerated grimace that never failed to make me crack up.

Had this other great English/Reading teacher in the same high school that everyone liked. I remember her classroom was decorated with fluffy cushions, beanbag chairs and other colorful decorations. We had a unit on Edgar Allen Poe where we read the "The Cask of Amontillado," which became my favorite short story; one about Stephen King in which we watched a short film for "Suffer the Little Children"; and some other fun stories that I can't quite remember.

Same high school. Had a teacher that doubled as a coach and History teacher that had two Japanese students on his team and in his class. Whenever these two guys would "insult" him or play around with him, he would always say that they "Pearl Harbor'd" him. Was funny and a little sad when the two guys once questioned what he meant by that. He also liked using "hell" in his speech a lot, which would leave some of us floored, but we got over it because we were all old enough to hear it by then. When I first got into his class, he couldn't pronounce my name and said that he would never hire me simply because of it. I responded by saying that if he judged by how easy names were pronounced and not on work ethic or skill set, his employees were probably trash anyways. He then changed it and said he wouldn't hire me because I was a smart ass.

That history teacher sounds a lot like my current English teacher...

 

oh oh dear, that must have been awkward for that teacher to explain 

 

 

[Rezzy]

@DisobeyedCargo Every test I missed answers on.  We had very similar ways of thinking, so I always got at least partial credit back.  That was a pretty fun class.

[DisobeyedCargo]

13 minutes ago, Rezzy said:

@DisobeyedCargo Every test I missed answers on.  We had very similar ways of thinking, so I always got at least partial credit back.  That was a pretty fun class.

Wow that sounds pretty cool

 

 

[Ae†her]

My calculus teacher in high school. He always had dank Russian jokes, and made fun of kids in a humorous, but not immediately offensive way. Always great during the winter, when he leaves the windows open as well. And this is in NY.

[Ertrick36]

Firstly, I really like the premise of this thread.  Good teachers don't get enough love.

2 hours ago, Nym said:

In Canada, every teacher is the coolest.

The state I live in is basically American Canada.

Except it's only most of the teachers that are the coolest.  I've had a few bad ones... like this one crock who thought that movies and video games were all just unsubstantial fluff with no potential.  Some of my peers took this dogma further and proclaimed in my AP English 4 class that nothing of substance has been written for hundreds of years... which is just pure ignorance and even a bit of arrogance, if I may be frank.

1 hour ago, Solvaij said:

He died of cancer my senior year and it was huge loss to our entire school. I had taken all the classes he offered at that time, so I didn't have to suffer through the apparently terrible replacement, but I imagine most anyone who followed him as a teacher would be perceived as terrible just because he was so great.

Damn, my condolences.  That sounds like a loss not just for the school but maybe even for you a bit.  Sounds like he was a great, engaging teacher, and it must've been quite a sting to your community when he passed.

 

Anyway, I think I did talk about my Sociology/Criminology teacher before.  He was the opposite of "by the books"; he made every lesson plan himself, every year was different, and he frequently brought in guests such as police, FBI, a drill sergeant, and even apparently a former carjacker (who showed how quickly he could jack into that teacher's car).  Not only did I learn about all sorts of interesting stuff - from crooks and police to hate groups and cults - but he also took the extra step to immerse the class.  Oh, and he did allow cursing and one time had someone pretend shoot him and ask his students who "shot" him in order to prove the shakiness of witness testimonies.

I also had two very good choral instructors in high school, each of which I had for two years.  The first guy - who actually continues his work with a local choral group to this day - was just very upbeat and was the kind of guy that could get you into just about any little hobby or activity.  He had me pegged as a lower Tenor and made something I was only considering doing for one year just to get a fine arts credit into a four year venture.

Then he was succeeded by someone who was quite different.  He was... a lot more tough.  He actually caused a lot of ladies to leave one of the Women's Choirs initially.  But that sort of cold introduction eventually gave way to a genuinely warm - yet still reasonably hard - heart.  He probably taught me a lot more about singing and music in general than the previous guy did.  We learned about sectionals, actually reading sheet music, intervals, singing acapella... to be honest, it's stuff we probably should've learned immediately, but even so he shaped us to pretty much be the best high school choir in the state.  But he did his best to make sure we didn't screw around until after a concert.  It was a tough start, but he just worked, and the ladies who had left actually came back the last year because they heard good things about this instructor.  Also, he knocked me down to Baritone, which I honestly prefer at this point.

[Nym]

16 minutes ago, Ertrick36 said:

Firstly, I really like the premise of this thread.  Good teachers don't get enough love.

The state I live in is basically American Canada.

Except it's only most of the teachers that are the coolest.  I've had a few bad ones... like this one crock who thought that movies and video games were all just unsubstantial fluff with no potential.  Some of my peers took this dogma further and proclaimed in my AP English 4 class that nothing of substance has been written for hundreds of years... which is just pure ignorance and even a bit of arrogance, if I may be frank.

My comment was a bad pun.

But I had my share of good teachers, even in high school.

French teachers for the most part, really don't put a lot of efforts in their classroom.

[Dismissed]

My Social Studies teacher let me write a history document on The Walt Disney Company (I got around 80%), and my Science teacher was a Pokémon fan.

[DisobeyedCargo]

8 hours ago, Ertrick36 said:

Firstly, I really like the premise of this thread.  Good teachers don't get enough love.

The state I live in is basically American Canada.

Except it's only most of the teachers that are the coolest.  I've had a few bad ones... like this one crock who thought that movies and video games were all just unsubstantial fluff with no potential.  Some of my peers took this dogma further and proclaimed in my AP English 4 class that nothing of substance has been written for hundreds of years... which is just pure ignorance and even a bit of arrogance, if I may be frank.

Damn, my condolences.  That sounds like a loss not just for the school but maybe even for you a bit.  Sounds like he was a great, engaging teacher, and it must've been quite a sting to your community when he passed.

 

Anyway, I think I did talk about my Sociology/Criminology teacher before.  He was the opposite of "by the books"; he made every lesson plan himself, every year was different, and he frequently brought in guests such as police, FBI, a drill sergeant, and even apparently a former carjacker (who showed how quickly he could jack into that teacher's car).  Not only did I learn about all sorts of interesting stuff - from crooks and police to hate groups and cults - but he also took the extra step to immerse the class.  Oh, and he did allow cursing and one time had someone pretend shoot him and ask his students who "shot" him in order to prove the shakiness of witness testimonies.

I also had two very good choral instructors in high school, each of which I had for two years.  The first guy - who actually continues his work with a local choral group to this day - was just very upbeat and was the kind of guy that could get you into just about any little hobby or activity.  He had me pegged as a lower Tenor and made something I was only considering doing for one year just to get a fine arts credit into a four year venture.

Then he was succeeded by someone who was quite different.  He was... a lot more tough.  He actually caused a lot of ladies to leave one of the Women's Choirs initially.  But that sort of cold introduction eventually gave way to a genuinely warm - yet still reasonably hard - heart.  He probably taught me a lot more about singing and music in general than the previous guy did.  We learned about sectionals, actually reading sheet music, intervals, singing acapella... to be honest, it's stuff we probably should've learned immediately, but even so he shaped us to pretty much be the best high school choir in the state.  But he did his best to make sure we didn't screw around until after a concert.  It was a tough start, but he just worked, and the ladies who had left actually came back the last year because they heard good things about this instructor.  Also, he knocked me down to Baritone, which I honestly prefer at this point.

I know, cool teachers don't get enough love!

2nd teacher sounds like a really good teacher, firm yet fair.

2 hours ago, Purple Mage said:

My Social Studies teacher let me write a history document on The Walt Disney Company (I got around 80%), and my Science teacher was a Pokémon fan.

Dude my Comp Sci teacher this year let me write a paper on the crappy trends of 2016-17, he loved it. 

[Dismissed]

12 minutes ago, DisobeyedCargo said:

Dude my Comp Sci teacher this year let me write a paper on the crappy trends of 2016-17, he loved it. 

I hope it included fidget spinners. Those things are utterly useless.

[DisobeyedCargo]

9 minutes ago, Purple Mage said:

I hope it included fidget spinners. Those things are utterly useless.

Oh of course it did 

I aso included Harambe/dicks out for harambe, the dab, etc...

[Solvaij]

5 hours ago, Purple Mage said:

I hope it included fidget spinners. Those things are utterly useless.

Hey, don't you dare hate on fidget spinners!!! Those things are tripedal spirals of pure joy!!

14 hours ago, Nym said:

French teachers for the most part, really don't put a lot of efforts in their classroom.

This is also my experience! haha

18 hours ago, DisobeyedCargo said:

for me, my coolest teacher was my trigonometry teacher last year. I was struggling in the class, and she decided to work with me every single day after school to help me understand the material. She went above and beyond every single time I asked her for help. Even today she was willing to write me a letter of recommendation for a scholarship that is due in two days that I didn't find out about till last minute. She even sent it in already!

I had a math professor like this. I mean, I'm a math major, but I still suck at it. I went to his office hours just about every week during diffEQ, and I was so lucky because he happened to be teaching the classes I needed during the next two semester, so I got to take him 3 times. Great guy, awesome in class and out.

14 hours ago, Ertrick36 said:

Damn, my condolences.  That sounds like a loss not just for the school but maybe even for you a bit.  Sounds like he was a great, engaging teacher, and it must've been quite a sting to your community when he passed.

It was a major loss for me for sure, and totally awful for the school. It's been a few years, but it's still hard. I think part of why it was so tough was because it was so fast. We found out he had cancer early October and he passed away January 3rd. Watching him deteriorate in those last months was really bad. He taught through his whole last semester though (with help from a sub when he had to be at chemo). I guess it goes to show how committed he was to his students! And he never lost his sense of humor.

I didn't mean to get depressing, haha. It's just that he remains the best teacher I've ever had. I'm really glad this forum is here. Teachers are so important and influential.

[Shoblongoo]

...I had a physics professor in High School who would give hellishly difficult little mini-quizzes ahead of big exams, that most of the class failed but that didn't actually count for anything towards your grade if you did better on the actual test (which was not nearly as hard as the little mini quizzes)

His rule was: If you get an A on the quiz, you don't have to take the test. You can take a free period to do whatever you want that day while the rest of the class is testing and I will give you an automatic 100%, because if you get an A on the quiz then you've very obviously mastered this material.

That was a pretty cool move. 
------ 

I had  an Adjunct Spanish Professor in college that invited me back to her house to smoke weed with her.

____

I had a law school professor who taught a Trial Advocacy skills class where literally the only thing we did the entire semester was roleplay in mock trial exercises. Ostensibly, it was a law class. It might as well have been Performing Arts. He didn't teach us any law--but hot damn--he taught us how to make a bloody, tawdry spectacle of objecting to opposing counsel and impeaching a credibility witness and pitching an opening statement to a jury. 

...that was a fun class...

And the Professor was rocking some Cervantes-level facial hair--automatic cool points.      

Edited January 25, 2018 by Shoblongoo