Kickas.org Forums Ankylosing Spondylitis General Discussion #1 AS Web Support Group Weekend Question #4

Hi everyone,

This one is in honor of my father who also has AS. He was a school teacher for 42 years and retired last Friday and is now down here visiting his grandson.

So the question...

Do you have a favorite teacher from grade/mid/high school.

I have several, but one I recall in particular was Mr. Fanning. He taught English/Social Studies at Appleton West High School. He was very professional in his approach and treated each of the students with respect. Each class he started with a foreign phrase that was used in the English language... (ex. habeous corpus).

OK.... let us know if you had a favorite teacher.

Tim

BTW - I never had my father as a teacher, but his students loved him. Several I got to know at Junior and Senoir High School

Mr. Kevin Jarigese, science teacher at Rio Rancho HS . . . he is AWESOME. The most enthusiastic teacher I ever had, he could get the gang-banger kids totally absorbed in things like physics and astronomy.

After my class left the school (he was EVERYONE'S favorite teacher, btw, not just mine) he was falsely accused of child abuse and ended up in jail and losing his job and other disgusting things that prove there is NO justice in this world . . . (anyone who knows him even a little knows the accusations are CRAP) . . . one of life's larger screw-ups. I've been hoping he could somehow move to another country and start teaching there, away from the bad rap, so he could be influencing kids again. He's so awesome. I ended up changing my schedule for all 4 years of high school so I could take one of his classes every year lol.

So, Kudos to Mr. J! We all still love him dearly! I know I'll never forget him.

-Bridge

My Honors Spanish 3 teacher, Ms. Swenson. She was freaking awesome. She was one crazy chic, but she knew how to teach and have fun. We were always dancing or singing in her class, but we learned so much and didn't even know it.
I also had an awesome speech teacher, but I can't remember his name to save my life. How sad is that? He was just as goofy, but knew how to teach.

Those are the only two I really like when I was in school. Everyone else was just the same ole boring type teacher.

Several stand out:
Gr 7 & 8 - Mr. Clark and Mr. Stokoe were my enrichment teachers...creativity and critical thinking were the daily fare in their classes...Mr. Clark was one of those story tellers who could be easily drawn off on a tangent. Mr. Stokoe married my French teacher, Mme Redwood whom I had a big crush on...why did I include him?

In College I had an instructor who inspired a love of history from the "warts and all" perspective - her name escapes me suddenly...I'll have to look that up.

In University, I had a rather lecherous (in a good way) prof who I used to smoke dope with...a lot like the Donald Sutherland character in Animal House...I won't give his name to protect his reputation.

Oh, it was Gwenyth Lewis...she sure does deserve to be remembered in both name and deeds.

I should also give an honourable mention to Mrs. Robinson, my Gr 3 teacher who once karate-kicked my desk so hard it did a complete flip in the air and landed on its top at my feet. She was terribly apologetic and that was the first time an adult spoke to me like a person...and the first time I ever heard of "anger management classes".

Oh yes, Mr Hewittson, he would humiliate me twice weekly by telling me I was stupid, asking me to repeat that I was stupid and then tell me to stand on a chair and to tell the class that I was stupid.........girls tittered, I reddened and was embarrassed, he sneered, satisfied with his work, he would knock me about a couple of times a week too..............no wonder I hide behind a facade of idiocy.

great question Tim, certainly made me look back........sadly,my memories of school are pretty awful. For me it was a grim period to get through and the sooner I was out of it the better, many friends received similar treatment..................anyway. Once upon a time there was a would be songwriter...........a 'KA'lypso he thought he would write...................

When I was in public school, I would have answered Mrs. Holland hands down. She was my grade 3 teacher and beautiful, which at the age of 8 was really the only thing that made an impact on me. She got married that year and I remember all the girls just being ga-ga over the photos of her bridesmaids and new husband.

When I was in highschool it would have been a toss-up between my music teacher, Mrs. Sullivan, and my art teacher, Mr. Baranchuk. Both were no-nonsense but completely knowledgable in their arts - also, they were both sympathetic to the completely insecure teenager that I was. Mrs. Sullivan gave me a key to the music room in grade 11 so that I could go there in the mornings and play the piano or practice my flute. Mainly, it was so I could hide. Mr. Baranchuk was able to bolster my self-esteem without turning it into a pity-party. He was sarcastic at times, suffered fools badly and cracked us up alot - which is a feat when teaching lithography, copper enamelling and silk screening.

In retrospect, however, I have to say it was Mr. Bell. He was one of my Grade 4 teachers. Big red-headed man - tons overweight, about 6'5", receding hairline, had bad body odour. It was so bad that one day after he'd left the class, Barbie McKenzie ran around the room spraying air freshener. He told us he had thyroid problems that accounted for his size and smell. We didn't care or appreciate the kind of teacher he really was ... at nine years old, who does? But thinking back, he encouraged us to question things, to use our brains for more than rote learning. His favourite story to us was about a philosophy exam he took once. One of the questions was, "Why?" He answered, "Why not?" and got 100%. I just thought it was another hokey story when I was nine, but I totally get it now.

Many hugs,

In high school at Cyprus High. Mr Peckham was my science teacher. He was great he would let us explore beyond the boundaries. I think that is why I majored in Physics at college.

Like Kat, the teachers i thought were awesome at the time, really weren't, and the ones i didn't appreciate are the ones i look back on now and realize how special they were.

in high school, i really liked my 11th and 12th grade chemistry teacher and majored in chemistry, probably because of him. we did a lot of really good laboratory work (back before everyone was afraid of people getting hurting and of getting sued), but when i went back to visit, he never gave me the time of day, and as i got older, i realized how chauvinistic he was.

so, looking back, the teacher i had in 6th grade was probably the best teacher. she taught us a lot, but more importantly, she had a way of believing in all of her students and letting them know, which in turn made them believe in themselves.

sue

This one is hard to answer just one

Mr Griffiths was the chemistry/physics teacher in HS, he was goofy and fun and even though I took the non-regents chemistry since I wasn't smart enough for regents (it's a NYS thing) he made class sooo much fun, everyone learned so much from him.

Mr Lussier was my art teacher, he was ok, but rode my butt EVERY single day. He was hard on me and no one else, he pushed me 10 times harder and yelled at my 10 times more. I complained to another teacher about it and he told me that he thought I had potential and was making sure I'd do well with art. I guess that's good now because I went on to major in photography and now it's a big part of my life. Although at the time I hated him! hee hee

Mr Irvin was my music teacher. I started with violin didn't like it, a few years later wanted to try the cello, didn't like it. Then I tried bass since there were only 2 players at the time. We went through the suzuki books 1-5 in a 30 minute lesson! I went to NYSMA (New York State Music Association) and played at a level 4 (out of 5) and got the second highest grade, the guy who tested me didn't believe I had only been playing for a year, Mr Irvin had to tell him it was true. I was the first female bass player in our school, and made 1st stand in three years.

Otherwise I hated school. College was much better. I just wanted to get out of there and never go back. I keep joking with my husband that we're going to our reunion, but I'd rather not see anyone again. Maybe a few of our friends, but no one else.