What were the characteristics of your favorite teacher?

[Zeldy]

You gain more respect being nice, but not too nice as then you're a push over. My History teacher, at times, we can have a right laugh with, but when we work we're silent. We are topset History though, so we actually want to learn Once or twice, though, if we work really well she'll pass around cookies, and she once brought in a chocolate fountain and marshmellows. I have to admit though, that just writing pages and pages copied from the board becomes very very tiresome.

When I was younger Id love to have a teacher who couldn't control a class, as it was amusing, or one who wasn't strict enough to make us do any work. We call them "sit offs". Now, though, I hate them. My Physics teacher is such a walk over - I don't think Ive learnt anything all year

[Cid]

I'm off to the beach, but I'll return and give some long-winded responses. I really appreciate all the well thought out stuff you guys had to say.

However, I figured you'd all like to know: we throw around a stuffed animal version of Vivi when we do reading out loud in the class ("Throw to who reads next" kind of thing). There are a few kids who know who Vivi is... not surprisingly, all in my honors class :)

[Rye]

That is pretty awesome. xD I always liked that in classes when picking who reads outloud. Popcorn, right?

[Shoeberto]

However, I figured you'd all like to know: we throw around a stuffed animal version of Vivi when we do reading out loud in the class ("Throw to who reads next" kind of thing). There are a few kids who know who Vivi is... not surprisingly, all in my honors class

That's super awesome. I'd just be worried about a person who's a fan of FF that's not too, er, honest taking off with the doll. Especially since I'm assuming it's one of those limited edition Play Online Vivis from FFIX's release?

[Shiny]

From my experience, History teachers tend to rule. I remember my seventh grade teacher being one of the best teachers I’ve ever had. She was witty, outgoing and made up games to teach the curriculum. It wasn’t always about work work work with her, but when she did give us work she made sure we understood it.

My favorite teacher by far was my Algebra teacher. One time she stayed after school with me for three hours to make sure I understood everything. I think the best teachers are the ones who aren’t uptight, don’t just stick to the textbooks, and who are willing to help their students instead of just saying, “Well what don’t you get?” And then shrugging it off. You could tell she really cared about the importance of knowledge and wanted her students to learn even if it meant sacrificing her own time.

I also, like teachers who know how to have control over the class and don’t let it get out of hand. That was a huge mistake that my most recent Spanish teacher did. She was an idiot with a lack of sense of humor and got all of her lessons from another teacher, or out of the textbook. We’d learn something and then have quizzes on something entirely different. Not to mention the fact that she didn’t know how to grade fairly, so she gave everyone B’s on the final exam.

[Jessweeee♪]

My Algebra teacher was really nice and gave us candy and she explained everything well and she teached us lots lots more than most math teachers and I never had to do work at home

[daggertrepe]

I had a teacher named Mr. Colley, who taught health. (You know, drugs and alcohol. He never used those textbooks either! ) He was kind, sweet, caring, and was over all a very good teacher. Whenever someone needed something from him, he always was there. Whenever a student had a depressing problem, he was always there talk, ready and willing to help out. He taught his lessons very well and always made sure he got his point across. He helped out with the 8th grade dance every year and was a spectacular track and wrestling coach. He was also very, very funny and made everyone around him feel good. But don't get me wrong! He was no pushover, he had his moments.

He was just the kindest man I've ever met in my life, and I will NEVER forget him. I cried so hard when he retired. His exact words at his last speech were:

"I never did any of this for myself. I did it for the kids-"

But he got too choked up to say anything more.

If you want to be remembered, kind, gentle, yet funny and strict if needed. Be like Mr. Colley!

[rubah]

vivi

[Rengori]

I WANT TO READ IN YOUR CLASS NOW KTHANX

[Værn]

I've had two history teachers so far through Jr. High and High school: Mr. Zuver and Mr. Davis.

Mr. Zuver's classes were always exactly the same, every day: Toss some hand-written notes onto the overhead projector and make us copy them down. Nobody really did too well in his class and they were always bored to death.

Mr. Davis's class was the bomb. Funny, never went too far out of his way to watch his mouth, plenty of interaction... re-enactments, role-playing, plenty of videos (though mostly just recorded from the History Channel), the occasional movie now and then, and he made the projects quite fun.
He also put notes on an overhead projector, except his were distinctly different from Mr. Zuver's. His were actually computer printed so they were easy to read, far more organized, and he talked through them a lot faster. What would've taken 2-3 weeks to cover in Mr. Zuver's class took 3-4 days in Mr. Davis's. Copying them was far more optional; he gave us worksheets and showed any videos he had related to the present topic that he had, and gave us occasional projects, so there was plenty of opportunity to pick up anything we didn't catch the first time around in the notes.

One movie that I'd suggest for class is Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure for a history class. That's really the only way I remember that Lincoln's birthday is February 12, 1809, and Napoleon's ending up at the Waterloo water park is the only reason I bothered to look up anything about the Battle of Waterloo =)
I find that comedy is very good for learning; people like to laugh, and they're going to want to remember what they were laughing at. As long as a comedy movie is accurately related to history it should be pretty good for teaching.

[Roto13]

My grade 9 Social Studies teacher was the best. I don't even know how to put into words how great he was. Well, how about this. He died a couple of years ago and his funeral was packed full of former students. Hundreds of people. It was like a wedding or something, except everyone was crying. o_o

[Miriel]

I had a History teacher in the 8th grade that was super passionate about his subject. He would like, seriously put on one man shows and reenact battles of the Civil War. The fact that he was so interested in his subject made the students more interested, you know? But even though he sometimes did goofy things in class because of his enthusiasm, he wasn't a goofy sort of guy. He was incredibly well spoken, intelligent, and respected at my school. Pretty much everyone loved him. He wasn't the kind of guy you could fool or mess with. If you didn't turn something in, he'd have no qualms about giving you a F for that assignment. But on the other side of it, he would occasionally bring in donuts for his classes, and he would always always stop and chat with you if he saw you in the halls or at lunch.

A lot of my most "memorable" teachers DID try and be friends with their students. I didn't learn a whole lot from them, but they were definitely memorable, and THOSE were the teachers that I went back and visited after I graduated from middle/high school. The friendly "cool" teachers were the ones that we would buy little Christmas presents for, and take pictures with on the last days of school.

One of the teachers I learned most from, and had the most engaging class in High School was my 11th grade US History teacher. And he was an ass. Sheesh, what a douche that guy was. But he was smart, he knew how to structure his class, and he made sure that pretty much everyone passed the AP exam. But like I said, he was an ass. He would just say the most stupid ultra-right wing conservative sometimes.

I think it's very hard to find that balance of being likable but also teaching a lot to your students.

I would just suggest that you not lean so far towards being instructive that you're this hardass that no one likes.

[Rye]

I had a History teacher in the 8th grade that was super passionate about his subject. He would like, seriously put on one man shows and reenact battles of the Civil War. The fact that he was so interested in his subject made the students more interested, you know? But even though he sometimes did goofy things in class because of his enthusiasm, he wasn't a goofy sort of guy. He was incredibly well spoken, intelligent, and respected at my school. Pretty much everyone loved him. He wasn't the kind of guy you could fool or mess with. If you didn't turn something in, he'd have no qualms about giving you a F for that assignment. But on the other side of it, he would occasionally bring in donuts for his classes, and he would always always stop and chat with you if he saw you in the halls or at lunch.

That's exactly how my 8th grade History teacher was, and he was definitely my favorite teacher too. xD

[Quindiana Jones]

The history department were definitely the best at my school. They were the least funded of the lot, having only two crappy little huts for classrooms, and the teachers were nutters. I used to constantly have insult fights with both of them.

[Shlup]

My favorite teachers were the ones that I felt liked being there and liked being with us. Also the ones that had a lot of hands-on activities.

Like I remember in 6th grade to sequence The Lion The Witch and The Wardrobe we made a board game of it, and mine was super awesome.