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People Share Times Teachers Did Something That Automatically Earned Their Respect (40 Stories)
We all have our favorite teachers. We all have teachers whose guts we hated. And then, regardless of our own stance, many of us have teachers who we simply respected—like, dislike, it didn’t matter. We respected them for whatever they did.
AskReddit has been answering this very question not too long ago: Redditors were sharing stories, whether wholesome or just plain badass, with internauts about the things teachers did that made students respect them.
In particular, user u/ApacheAirCover asked people to share their stories of their respect for teachers in a now-viral Reddit thread that has gained over 57,000 upvotes with 10,000+ comments and 300 Reddit awards.
Check out the best stories in Bored Panda’s curated list below. While you’re there, why not vote and comment on the stories you loved the most, and share your experiences with teachers you respect in the comment section below!
More Info: Reddit
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#1
When I was in the 1st grade my mother gave me one of MANY really awful haircuts. The first day back at school afterward the kids picked on me horribly. So much that I ran out and hid. The principal found me and we went back to the classroom and he asked me to wait outside for a minute while he talked to the class. He then walked me to his office and bought me a Coke. The next day - first thing in the morning - we had an assembly with the entire school and he walked up on stage with his head shaved completely bald and talked about bullying and the like. Some twenty years down the road he had retired and I ran into him at the local college. SHook his hand and said: - "You probably don't remember me, but," - "Yes I do," he interrupted and said my name and the event. The man was and is a hero in my eyes.
Tsunade 4 years ago
We need to normalize awful haircuts 👏 it always happens one time or another 🤣🤣 when I had a pixie haircut in kindergarten everyone laughed at me and even the teacher giggled
Mary Rose Kent 4 years ago
Pixie cuts are cute! I have no idea why anyone would laugh—other than...you know...people can be so cruel.
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Bettie-Jean Neal 4 years ago
I wanted my blond highlights gone and my hair black, like my heart, in 11th grade. My mom had the bright idea of using a home dye to cover gray hair. She chose a super dark ASH brown. Yeah, I ended up with black hair and green highlights. I got called Green for MONTHS!
FlitterBug 4 years ago
Okay you can't make fun of someone because their mom isn't the best hairdresser. Everyone has something they're bad at, mine for example is being positive and also running....idk how I passed PE lol
RELATED:
#2
When I was a kid we had to purchase these red punch cards to get lunch at school. Unfortunately we didn't have that much money so there were times where my punch card would run out and I wasn't able to eat for a while until we got enough money to repurchase another one (why nobody in my family applied for assistance was beyond me). I had one teacher who noticed I wasn't eating every day and she would bring an extra sandwich and offer it to me whenever she saw that. I really didn't understand how kind that was when I was a kid but obviously as an adult That was such an amazing gesture of kindness.
Lola 4 years ago
My classroom closet is full of snacks for the kids who cannot bring one. You never want to see the face of a child who doesn’t have snack, watch the other children have one.
Tracy Sellars 4 years ago
You are a legend. Thank you for your kindness to our future generations. Your impact on them will be amazing.
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Tuyết Hắc 4 years ago
And then who pay for the food when the school don't even have enough money to pay well for the teacher and stuffs?
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Mirribelle 4 years ago
And so sad that the school let a child go hungry because they couldn't afford a pass :(
Load More Replies... #3
I had a sociology professor who gave us a Do Not Fail Checklist. Complete and you were guaranteed to pass. I also had a high school Chem teacher who bet us all $100 that if we passed his class we would pass our first college chem class. He was just really awesome all around- he told stories about travelling the world over breaks, got absurdly off topic to teach us random stuff, had a physics lab where we got to throw eggs at him, and occassionally we had a class where absolutely nothing got done because we were having a discussion. He used to give out quarters for correcting him, or for anything done really well. He put up posters about his trips and gave us extra credit quizes about them because he said being observant was really important in chemistry. Actually there were a few really weird activities in that class- I will never forget the time he ate chalk to prove to us that it was the same stuff as in milk. He was brilliant, hilarious, and just a really incredible human being.
Clara Knaub 4 years ago
My current science teacher is like that. I absolutely love him and he really is funny and cares about every student. Amazing teacher.
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Mr. Derpy Dino 4 years ago
yeah, it's just calcium and some other stuff. so sorta like milk.
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FlitterBug 4 years ago
Imagine just having a harder-to-pronounce name and getting a quarter every time the teacher says it wrong, by the end of the year id have some pizza money for the class :D
Cath Homer 4 years ago
I had a biology teacher who suddenly ran out of the classroom halfway through a lesson, only to return with a live chicken so that he could demonstrate the physiology of the wing and how it operates during flight. Turned out he'd pinched it from a next-door garden 😂
CatWoman312 4 years ago
My chemistry teacher was interesting too. She once blew up a helium balloon and it caused other teachers to run into the room thinking there was a bomb, she used liquid nitrogen on a lot of different things to give us a idea of how it would impact the body, and we got to make homemade ice cream. I learned a lot and aced the final with an A
Erica Lemieux 4 years ago
I had a teacher who would eat chalk also. Would say it was just really compressed tums
#4
Junior year of high school, English class. We were discussing a story we had read. One student (let's call him Carl,) made a point. The teacher was dismissive and basically said Carl was wrong. The next day, after we took our seats the teacher said, "Before we begin, I was thinking about what Carl said yesterday. I was wrong to dismiss it so quickly. Let's take a look at that again." He then went on to repeat Carl's point and initiate a conversation with the entire class. After the conversation, it became apparent Carl's point was indeed off base, but I was impressed the teacher publicly owned his mistake and went down the path he should have.
XIMENA SALAZAR-LONDONO 4 years ago
my teacher did the same to me and told me that i was wrong ifront of the class and iwas about to cry because he sounded like he was yelling but the next day he said sorry because i was right
Premislaus de Colo 4 years ago
As an ex-teacher I couldn't agree more. Admitting that you were wrong if you indeed were is essential to gain your student's trust
#5
My astronomy teacher in high school was a textbook nerd. Glasses, bow tie, mustache, pocket protector, the whole deal. There was a group of senior girls that would mock him mercilessly. One day, he noticed a pack of cigarettes hanging out of one of their purses. As he walked by during his lecture, he reached down and pulled one cigarette out of the box. He proceeded to insert the tip of the cigarette into his nose and continued the lesson like nothing was wrong. This dude must’ve kept that cigarette hanging in his nose for 30 minutes without mentioning it once. At the end of class, he casually walked back to the girl’s desk, grabbed the pack out of her purse, inserted the nose cigarette, then shook the pack and handed it back to the girl without a word. It was such a baller move. Rock on, Mr. Keith.
#6
i told my english teacher about my unfortunate experience at my last school (just stupid people treating me like crap) and he approached me after class and said "hey, i'm sorry that happened to you. y'know there is a phrase in the english language that i think you ought to know. f*ck them".
ME! 4 years ago
YASSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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#7
I had a business studies teacher who used to be a mental health professional. So she knew the signs when my depression was particularly bad (for example submitting work at 3am) and would always make sure I had eaten and offered me coffee and generally made her classroom a safe space for anyone. Sesstein if you're reading this you're amazing!!
Clara Knaub 4 years ago
One of my teachers rn is, he can tell whenever something is wrong even with virtual school. If he even notices one thing such as someone not responding to his question, he makes sure to check up after class. He’s amazing.
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#8
My highschool science teacher paused class to rip a student apart for bullying another student. Called it out as soon as it happened, infront of everyone, and that bully never went near that other kid again. Will always remember that.
Janet Sturgess 3 years ago (edited)
How do you know it was a "she"?....Never mind I get it now
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John Carson Shearouse 4 years ago
Man, I wished my teacher did that. She was still nice though.
Sarah Grape 4 years ago
my cousin told me about a time when a kid in her class called someone else a name- and immediately was held after school for 20 minutes. no warning. nothing. they're 10.
#9
Math teacher : "I don't care if you have good grades or bad grades, if you work hard, I will work harder to make you pass". He worked hard for me; I passed...
Clara Knaub 4 years ago
I have an amazing teacher rn who literally just said that he would never let any of us fail and would do anything to help us pass
Jackie Nettleton 4 years ago
Loved my maths teacher, I am bad at maths and taking exams in general so it took me a few tries to get a passing grade that would be useful for further education—university/college and she never made me feel bad for it, one time I missed the grade by 1 mark and all she said was I know what to work on with you for next time. By far the best way to do as I felt pretty bad about failing again
CatWoman312 4 years ago
I had an awesome math teacher too. She hated exams but knew they were necessary to test your knowledge. She would let us retake them for a higher grade and would always go above and beyond to make sure everyone understood the material. One of the best teachers I’ve ever had and I don’t really like math
The Deez 4 years ago
I had an amazing Algebra 2 teacher who, when I was sick on finals day, didn't make me reschedule the final. I had been going in before school and at lunch to get help and I think that he knew that if I tried to take the final, it would lower my grade from a C to a D. Thank you so much, Mr. Jones!!
#10
Treated kids with autism + aspergers like actual human beings. In my school I was in a special needs unit for kids with aspergers and autism called the CDU (communication disorder unit). The kids in there ranged from having mild aspergers to full on severe autism, and as such most teachers treated everyone from there like they had severe mental health problems just because they were labelled as having autism or aspergers even if it was very mild. But there was one support teacher in the cdu who was genuinely just a nice dude, whether he was talking to kids who had severe autism or just some mild social anxiety he wouldn’t talk extra slowly or call you “bud” or “pal” at the end of a sentence, he would talk to everyone like they were real human beings. It might seem like a small thing but when that’s how pretty much all teachers talked to you and treated you in every class it was very refreshing to talk to someone who would talk to you based on who you were as a person rather than treating someone differently for being labelled as autistic.
Carol Emory 4 years ago
My autistic son was bullied in school. This got him in trouble on many occasions because he would respond physically. When his math teacher, who also happened to be the football coach, explained this to the class, the football team rallied around my son and made sure he was protected from the bullies between classes. He just wanted to belong. And, although it's been stigmatized over the years, they made him waterboy for the team. Whenever there was a time out.."Danny..time for water!" My son would respond "WATER!!" and rush out to the field like he was putting out a fire! The QB for the team even took him out for movies from time to time. I really appreciate all of them for making him feel like just one of the guys.
Bettie-Jean Neal 4 years ago
I have Aspergers, I'm 50 years old and my own mother talks very slowly to me. Like she's explaining something to a mentally challenged 3 year old. It's so insulting. My own mother!
Mary Rose Kent 4 years ago
I’m so sorry! That sounds incredibly demoralizing.
Load More Replies... Owen Little 4 years ago
I have ADHD which I know is not as bad as autism but I have a few teachers that are really helpful in 6th-grade time in 7th now but I had a really great math teacher who was so good at teaching so thanks to him
*insert funny name* 4 years ago
There was a disabled kid in my old class and the teacher would treat her like a baby that was incapable at doing anything. She was actually really smart and insightful and got annoyed when the teacher treated her like that. To sum it up, most kids that have a disability are still capable of being smart, athletic, or funny.
Shalini Pabreja 4 years ago
My borderline aspergers, but generally brilliant son was bullied mercilessly in his Catholic school for being brown and socially awkward. I know how it feels and I wish a teacher had come to his defence. He was labelled a “savage” for being of a different faith. We are Hindus from India and I would have loved to inform them just how “savage” a thousands of years old civilisation is exactly.
Chaotic_pansexual 4 years ago
This is something I have wondered about. I am diagnosed with aspergers and Tourette syndrome and yet I was never put in any special needs classes during my education. I had a very high iq when I was younger but I suppose since I was able to communicate well enough, they saw it as no big deal even though I did still have trouble sharing my ideas and talking to people (and still do but it has gotten better).
Nichola Drigout 4 years ago
What a terrible name for a part of the school, my son has high functioning autism and would never had gone in a section called communication disorder unit, he would have refused.
#11
This will probably get lost, but I want to shout out this teacher of mine. She was our AP English Language teacher for our senior year of high school. On one of the first days in her class, she explained how she went from being a kindergarten teacher to a high school senior teacher. She always saw off her cute and happy kindergarten kids, but as they grew up and they came back to visit her, a lot of them came to her troubled and dissatisfied with their lives. It made her real emotional about how people had treated these kids she loved so much, how she couldn't afford to see kids so disconnected with life, and how she didn't want them to suffer as they headed out towards college and their adult lives. So she changed curriculums and started teaching seniors. If I remember right, it always came down to sending her kids off with a smile, prepping them for the real world. I respect the hell out of her and she'll always be one of my favorites. Truly like a mother to all her students.
Athenalikesowls 4 years ago
KiKi Do you love me? *Sorry Couldn't help it*
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Carol Emory 4 years ago
Must be an English teacher thing. My English teacher in high school was so awesome, I'm still friends with her on Fb over 30 years later.
#12
I remember my 5th grade teacher had every student circle one book from the Scholastic book fair flyer. When the day came for the fair if you didn't go to the library to purchase that book for yourself, she would buy it with her own money to make sure every student got to take a book home. I wouldn't have had any books of my own if it weren't for her.
Whawhawhatsis 4 years ago
Books are so important to kids! One of my kids loved to read, and one year in elementary school she was reading well enough that instead of making her go through the regular curriculum, her teacher just put her in the corner with a stack of old National Geographics. What a brilliant idea to encourage a child's love of reaching while also teaching them so much more than would come out of a textbook!
SoozeeQ 4 years ago
This is brilliant! So educational too. Learning about places and people from all over the world. A great way to broaden a child's horizons.
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#13
Instead of shouting at my loud class for not shutting up before the lesson began, my history teacher decided to quietly tell the story of a pink elephant that wanted to be an astronaut. After a few seconds, people started to shut up and listen about the pink elephant. When everyone was quiet and listening, he stopped mid-story. As much as it made me respect him.. WHY DIDN'T YOU FINISH THE STORY FFS! THAT CLIFFHANGER!
Tsunade 4 years ago
How interesting the story must be to catch at least 30 people’s attention 😅I’d like to hear it
SykesDaMan 4 years ago
Probably a made-up story with a weird beginning but not end. Like the punchlines you hear in the movies, but there is no actual joke. A guy: "... And then I said "You don't know what you're missing!"" All his friends "HAHAHAH!!" :)
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AG 4 years ago
When I was in elementary school we would be asked to go to the kindergarten class and be reading buddies for the kindergarteners. I remember we got there and the kids were WILD! Bouncing off every available surface, screaming at the tops of their lungs, swinging from chandeliers, the whole nine yards. The teacher stood in the front of the room and very quietly said "I would really appreciate it if you all sat down and were quiet so our new friends can join us." 26 little bottoms hit 26 little chairs and 26 little mouths clamped shut. It was like she flipped an off switch. That was 20 odd years ago and I still think about it.
Radhika Ghose 4 years ago
now I want to know about the pink elephant.. did he become an astronaut?
#14
I had a teacher in elementary school who was prone to outbursts. He had a short fuse, at least compared to every other adult I knew at the time. For instance, when several of us in class weren't listening he'd throw a piece of chalk against the wall to get our attention. Honestly, we just thought he was crazy. A year or maybe two years later, the school had a talent show. Like a big one, in the gym, in front of everyone. One my classmates was really into music and wanted to play a drum solo. Our teacher had mentioned off-hand that he used to be in a band and played drums, so my classmate asked him (sort of dared, like kids often do with adults) to play a solo in front of the school And he did. He f!@#$%^ rocked it. But that's not what made me respect him. Turns out the band he played for was a very successful, and at the time quite popular rock band. He left just before they became popular, because he wanted to be a teacher. He chose teaching kids over the chance at fame and fortune, and didn't regret it. Decided to look him up and he's still a teacher, and doing very well. Made me smile.
good day 4 years ago
Nothing more frustrating for a teacher with a passion for sharing what she/he knows with students who ignore her/him, so I get the outbursts. Maybe not the best reaction, but understandable. And yeah, all students just think of teachers as "old" and don't have a clue how cool so many of their teachers actually are.
#15
It was small but he told us he was going to be in a bad mood that day because someone stole his bike. Just treating us like people was something that was rare in that school.
Mary Rose Kent 4 years ago
It’s great that he was upfront with you, and it probably also helped him keep on as even a keel as he could.
Baby Panda 4 years ago
my teacher does this too! she tells us when she's not feeling as calm as she is usually, and frequently checks with us while she's talking to make sure everyone is understanding what she's saying, she's super nice but scary whenever she's mad so she says for us to let her know if she starts getting scary so she can calm down and pull her demon horns back into her head lols love u ms taylor! <3
#16
A math teacher went to the hospital several times to visit a student who had been seriously injured in an accident. The teacher offered companionship, free tutoring, and genuine encouragement.
Tsunade 4 years ago
This is actually very valuable. I know a classmate of mine who got COVID around the beginning of 2021; and none of the teachers seemed to care that much. I hadn’t even noticed he was back till probably weeks later! I really wish one of my teachers at least tried to have us make a virtual card for him; especially since he paid attention and was pretty active,
Pamela Blue 3 years ago
You must remember that during the pandemic, no-one was allowed in to visit. Even if a teacher did want to visit, they wouldn't have been able to.
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Mary Rose Kent 4 years ago
When teachers love what they do, they want to see their students thrive
Whawhawhatsis 4 years ago
That's a very generous move indeed. My daughter was out of school for a month in 3rd grade for surgery, and although the hospital, being military, provided an in-hospital teacher, she could only give each student a few hours a week. But my daughter's regular teacher came to visit her -- even though I knew she had a real fear of hospitals -- and really brightened her spirits and I believe speeded up her recovery as a result. It really can make a difference when a teacher cares.
JustAWeirdoGirlChild 4 years ago
i had a teacher in 1st grade, the first time i fainted, jump over me, run to the nurses office (no one had seen her run) then ride with me on the ambulance and gave me a stuffed car that i could color then wash... i havent seen her in a while bc i moved schools a couple years ago but i will forever remember her.
#17
I had a professor that made it crystal clear that if we ever made an appointment and didn’t show up, he’d take 5 points off of our final grade. I tried to find him during office hours and he wasn’t available. I told him that I deserved an extra 5 points because he wasn’t available when he said he would be and he gave it to me in the interest of fairness
Gary Geracci 11 months ago
Sounds like my engineering Drawing and Drafting Professor, A student of Frank lloyd Wright's-No Nonsense! But fair as the day is long. May he R.I.P.
#18
My teacher was asking a student in the hallway to quiet down, as they were disrupting her class. The student proceeds to not quiet down and begins bombarding the teacher with teenage insults, the teacher who if you can imagine is a short-ish hippy lady in her late 50's, one of the nicest people I know and would always have time to help you with an assignment regardless what she was currently doing. Anyway, the student, who is still raging starts walking away from my teacher, and the first words my teacher says to him after asking him to quiet down is "I'm sorry, have a good rest of your day." It took me some time to understand what she did that day, she knew that the student wasn't angry at her for asking him to be quiet he was angry due to personal reasons and he was just lashing out. And she let the student release some of that anger towards her, and when it was done she responded with only kindness after hearing hate for minutes. I have a solid amount of respect for almost all teachers but for her I have the most. She taught me that kindness can only be spread through kindness.
IttyBittyPrettyKitty 4 years ago
wow, this makes my amazing past teachers seem like crapadoodles
#19
I had a physical education teacher who organised basketball, volleyball, handball and football tournaments, organised 'olympic games' for the local kids and taught us dancing on weekends. On his own. Just for us kids, because we lived in a remote place without many activities and things going on. He was more than a simple teacher.
Tsunade 4 years ago
Pretty sure he enjoyed organizing all those events too! It is quite enjoyable to see kids have fun while being active!
Mr. Derpy Dino 4 years ago
I remember I had this PE teacher that a few hours after school he would have me and my friends go over to the school for Parkour lessons. and HE is the only reason that I love parkour so much now.
Load More Replies... Whawhawhatsis 4 years ago
Phys ed teachers can make such a difference! I knew one who would believe a child's parents, even if they were wearing some type of a brace, that the child was permitted to try any activity they wanted to, and one kid in a body brace was the class champion at climbing rope, of all things! He was a terrific teacher and an even better human being, just like the teacher in this story.
Amy Cohen 4 years ago
My dad was my soccer and basketball coach in elementary school. Once a season, he would create this elaborate olympics with various competitions. Winners would get trophies and chocolate (much to parent’s chagrin.) He loved it and I remember him taking hours and hours and weeks to organize it. He was so excited. After we got older, he started coaching an inner city, under privileged boy’s basketball team whose players didn’t have the luxury of their parents being home by 4:30. My dad was a really special guy. He died almost 9 years ago and I miss him terribly.
#20
I went to a small charter school for middle school. Our English/literature teacher was brand new to teaching, if I remember correctly she was only 22 which seemed old at the time. She always did her best to be so cheerful and make learning fun. But the thing that truly solidified her spot as my favorite teacher was that for every student’s birthday she would give you a personalized mini notebook. It was just a simple small composition notebook but she had filled the first couple pages telling me how much she loved having me as a student, how far she knew I would go, and other affirmations. It seems small but as a 13 year old who had a crappy home life it made all the difference in how I acted the rest of the year.
Tsunade 4 years ago
;( sucks having birthdays in the summer tho ; can’t recall when teachers would give me birthday presents
Melanie King 4 years ago
lol i dont have a summer birthday but mine always lands on spring break -_-
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Mary Rose Kent 4 years ago
Knowing that at least one person cares can have such a profound impact on a person’s life!
#21
One of my high school math teachers had a policy that you could retake any test as many times as you needed to. No penalties. And she would help tutor you during any study hall or before or after school or during lunch. Must’ve been a huge pain in the ass time wise to write new tests and tutor and grade. But her stance was that she was there to teach. And if you didn’t grasp it enough for the test, you didn’t gain anything by failing and moving on. But if you cared and wanted to learn how to do it, then she was responsible to support you the entire way there.
Niall Mac Iomera 4 years ago
I've always offered students the opportunity to resubmit any assignment if they are not happy with the grade they received. I make a point of telling them this as I hand out the assignment, and make sure they know that I will tell them exactly what they need to do to get a higher mark. I've had zero students resubmit.
#22
Told us a joke about his name (before we could) and allowed us to eat during his classes "because kids your age can't help being hungry all the time", as long as we did it quietly. Great guy. His whole attitude made all of us actually pay attention and do our best.
HoOmAn BeAn 4 years ago
My teacher is kinda like this, she lets us eat whenever, and she makes lots of jokes and has lots of fun sayings like its all good my friends, and make it work for you.
Chaotic_pansexual 4 years ago
That’s like a couple of my teachers. My English teacher tells jokes and goes off on stories all the time, a lot of the time not even pertaining to the lesson, just because he has such great stories to tell. Kids in my class playfully tease each other all the time and when the teasing was turned to him, rather than getting upset like some would, he just laughed with us. And he knows that his class falls in the middle of all the lunch bells so he lets us eat and several students will buy snacks from the vending machine across the hall before coming in
IttyBittyPrettyKitty 4 years ago
My social studies teacher is like that too! All-around great person!
#23
I had a principal in a new school i hadn't met yet because the first day of school at my new high school was my dad's funeral. He had no idea what I looked like, but he sought me out in the really crowded hallways and gave me a hug and his condolences. Never felt creepy, only cared about. He went on to local politics and became our mayor. Only time I have truly voted for the best person for the job and not the least objectionable.
#24
In my first year of high school, my class decided to play a simple prank on our English/SOSE teacher, by all laughing when he faced the board, and then stopping every time he turned around to face us. After a few minutes of this, he just left the classroom without a word. We all sat there, confused, until a few minutes later the assistant principal comes in and explains that we've really upset our teacher; he made us believe we'd seriously f!@#$% up... Then our teacher walked in and pretty much went "gotcha!" That son of a bitch had our respect from then on.
#25
Had an extremely zany teacher who taught Psychology, and had the last name Ward. Psycho personality (in the best way possible) to fit her name and job. Never met someone who fit their name and job description so well. (Worse, she taught driver's ed too, on the side.) She was the type whose zany personality was a big plus; most of her kids loved her, but if you effed around in her class, she'd eject you from it, with extreme prejudice. She still teaches, and she teaches very well. As an aside, there was also this middle-aged woman who was basically a hall monitor and filled in any other position she could think of, as well as handing out dententions or suspensions if she caught you effing around instead of being where you were supposed to be. Small lady, absolutely no-nonsense and tough as nails. She wouldn't take s!@# from you, but also incredibly fair overall. I realized she knew when to bend. My older two siblings hated her because she always caught them skipping class, smoking, or worse. I got along with her very well and never caused her any trouble. I asked her once about my little brother, and she said he was a good kid and while she'd had to give him detention a few times, she was also proud of him because when he got into a fight, he did it for the right reasons. My little bro's a very tall, hulking guy and never hesitated to defend someone from a bully. It got him a few detentions for fighting but apparently she made it clear she was proud of him for standing up for others nonetheless. I repeated this later to my brother, and he said she was a very good woman, very fair, and that he'd liked her for that fairness, and her sheer guts.
good day 4 years ago
One of the most important lessons we learn growing up is that people are complex, not all one way or another, but nuanced, not easily reduced to stereotypes. Glad you had this experience.
Midoribird Aoi 1 year ago
I've never met anyone totally 'stereotypical', I don't believe. BTW, I am the OP of this comment on Reddit. XD Psychology-teaching Ward Lady just retired this past summer, but she shows up all the time where I work, so I get to laugh and joke around with her a lot!
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Kiss Army 4 years ago (edited)
My Psychology teacher was a bit of a nut too! We loved him, he was one of the best. He is Melissa Ethridge's father and I remember one day in class her came in and asked "Who watched my daughter on Arsinio last night?" We all raised our hands and he yelled "Extra credit for everyone!!"
#26
We had a pretty cool and badass teacher in 5th grade. He was cool, made jokes, made lessons fun but at the same time, didn't take s!@#. We had these REALLY naughty boys in our class, like they pulled pranks, skipped class, bullied other kids, never turned in assignments or projects. One day they did something really bad (don't remember what it was) and it made our teacher REALLY REALLY MAD. I was like, this is it, we all about to be a bunch of witnesses. I thought he was about to put hands on these kids. This man was livid. He called the main instigator to the front of the class, and just stared at him for what seemed like forever. And this kid was just like, not bothered, had an attitude. This teacher then starts talking, cool and calm, lecturing this kid about all the bad choices his making, about how he needs to think about if those choices are going to get him anywhere in life, stuff like that. He brought that kid to tears. This kid, who thought he was the s!@#, oh so cool, untouchable, will never have to face the music kind of kid. He stood there in tears. The teacher wasn't rude or disrespect, didn't like hit the kid or scream and shout at the kid. Simply spoke to him about making better choices. Teacher said the "lecture" we a lesson to all of us. I just think it was so cool the way the teacher handled it. Spoke to him (all of us) in a way that made us think about our future for the 1st time. Make good choices.
Zophra 4 years ago
I would like to point out if a teacher did that in our school (s)he would have headache with a parent saying "you embarrassed my child in front of the class" and administration getting involved in the fall -out. Confontations are better in private anyway - without an audience.
McPanda 4 years ago
This is terrible teaching practice actually... these conversations 100% should be one-on-one or with a parent only.
MyCatsTheRealPanda 4 years ago
I think it depends on the kid. Most of the time you are right but to some kids this would make all the difference. Not in an embarrassment type of way, just the fact that someone is willing to show not just you but everyone else they care. I'd bet this kid had been spoken to more than once privately so the teacher tried another tactic.
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#27
I had been put in a lower set due to class capacity issues. He started off with a speech around what we would be learning this year and then assigned work to the class. After that he walked up to me and gave me a big book with the syllabus and told me he knew I’m too smart for this class and instead of following what the class does he wants me to work through the syllabus at my pace (faster than others being implied) and he would come and check on me after assigning work to everyone else. He said I could do lots or as little each class but I needed to finish the book by the end of the year. Super duper motivated me to smash his class.
Parmeisan 4 years ago
I had a wonderful, amazing computer science teacher in my last year of high school. I had been programming in my spare time since grade 6, and went into that year already familiar with the programming language we were going to be learning. She got me set up with the tests and told me to go through them at my own pace. When I was done with that, she set me up with a different teacher who needed an actual, real application made which would calculate some things for the school. I got to do the requirements gathering, then design, write, test, and iterate on the application, and all communication with the end user. For someone who would then go on to software development as a career, it was *amazing* experience. She truly went above and beyond for me. Mad respect.
#28
I had a professor in college who was 5 minutes late to the start of an 8am lecture and clearly distraught. She started by apologizing for the delay and explaining that she just got off the phone with her sister telling her that her mother just died of cancer. The remainder of her lectures for the day were cancelled, but she was going to try to keep it together enough to do ours since we were already there so early in the morning. I respected that she decided to give us the lecture we had come for despite being in the immediate shock of mourning a loved one and being vulnerable enough to tell us.
Whawhawhatsis 4 years ago
That is a teacher who really respects her students. I bet she was a terrific teacher!
#29
I moved out of home during high school. It was stressful, to say the least. I started to fall behind in assignments, I would be absent for days at time, I missed tests etc. I ended up explaining the bare minimum of my situation to my English teacher, and their response always stuck with me. "Just do what you can." It may not seem like much, but right then and there, for sixteen year old kid who felt like simply living was a burden... it was everything.
IttyBittyPrettyKitty 4 years ago
aw... I feel you. That hits me very hard even though it's not me
#30
It was a professor, but she said she wasn't going to have a textbook for the class. Basically, she didn't respect the textbook representatives trying to take the pharma approach to force kids to buy an $170 access code. Instant respect. You just had to show up to the lectures and she'd teach you what you needed to know.
Parmeisan 4 years ago (edited)
Sadly, post-secondary education (which I suspect is the case from the "professor" part) is far from free, at least in Canada and in the US. And textbooks are a not-insignificant part of that cost.
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Tracy Wallick 3 years ago
I had a professor with a similar attitude, what he did was print off his textbook at a Kinko's or something, just a stack of green paper with a plastic spiral, and charged us like $10-20; just the amount to cover the cost of producing the books. Green paper was cheaper than white, and the plastic spiral was sturdier than just 3-hole punching it to ensure we wouldn't lose any of the pages.
#31
A supply teacher spend the day recovering my lost sticker collection. I'm sure its done in other countries but in uk primary/junior schools. Playtime becomes a trading hub on the playground for stickers. Anyway, one particular day i made a massive haul of stickers which I misplaced for a split second and it was gone. I was devastated and my teacher saw me in distress when i got back from class, my teacher promised she would get them all back for me. True to her word she did. In fact it turned out several people had made off with my stash of stickers and she spent her lunch time tracking down every one of the children who had them, claimed them back and grilling the kids in turn to who else had my cards and getting them to see her. By the end of lunch she returned them to me all accounted for. For a supply teacher to do this, it was a seriously kind gesture as most teachers would shrugged their shoulders and carry on as if nothing happened.
Charles Emery Tooke III 4 years ago
In the US, a Substitute Teacher. Googled it.
Load More Replies... #32
I was in college and my teacher ran in about 10 minutes late. His excuse went something like this: Him: “Sorry I’m late guys, I was...it’s not really important ahh...yeah just that...” Me, a smartass: “...Godzilla?” Him without missing a beat: “Nope, Mothra.” A small thing like a sense of humor is nice.
Mary Rose Kent 4 years ago
This will always be true; a sense of humor will make everyone’s lives better!
#33
My 4th grade teacher would have a "classroom yard sale" every year after she did her annual Spring cleaning. Her daughter was about 13, so the things she'd recently outgrown would be age-appropriate for us. (I'm aware this wouldn't work out every year, and I'm not sure how long she taught at our school but she told us it was a regular thing.) We didn't have to pay for them. If we needed or wanted something, we could have it. There was some sort of lesson incorporated into the yard sale...how to trade or value money or something like that...so we didn't feel embarrassed if we needed a few more things than the other kids did. I wish I could remember exactly how it worked, but this happened in 1994. She was an all-around great teacher. Thanks, Miss Ferrell, whose name I've probably misspelled. Your class was fun.
Ruth Peacock 4 years ago
I have to wonder if she maybe purchased some things just to make sure there was something for everyone. Sounds like a great person anyway
#34
I had a teacher in the 6th grade who gave me a C+ on a poster project that I turned in. When he saw my disappointment he asked, "What grade do you think you should have gotten?" I thought for a second and said "a B+". He immediately scratched out the grade and gave me a B+. (Tragically, I saw in the news a few years later that he drowned while on a fishing trip. That got to me.)
Parmeisan 4 years ago
At my graduation ceremony I was seated next to a teacher who I had never really known. But we talked a fair bit during the lengthy ceremony, and he recommended to me a fantasy series that I had never read but was very much my type of book (the Fionavar Tapestry). A few months later his bike was hit by a car and he died. :( Whenever I think about that series, I think of him.
Whawhawhatsis 4 years ago
Thanks for passing along the book reference. I just got the first volume in the story, and I'll think of your teacher when I read it, too.
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#35
I'm epileptic and had a large set of seizures not long before finals in high school chemistry. My seizures tend to mess with my memory, and those multiple seizures had devastated my memory of everything I'd learned in class that semester. I was doing reasonably well in class but absolutely bombed the test. After the failed test I ended up just shy of passing the class and he decided to give me a bonus question that passed me. I didn't expect that, but the empathy was nice to see from a teacher. Even still, the whole situation sucked. My math teacher told me I should have studied better. He then offered for me to retake the test which seems reasonable enough but there was no point as it was just all gone. I've only had one since that was worse than that, but fortunately I've got an understanding employer. It doesn't hurt that I've got a union rep as well...
Tsunade 4 years ago
Ouch that must really shake you up! Imagine studying all year hard and then boom it’s all gone! Would taking detailed notes maybe help kick back in some memories? 🤔
Charlotte Rohrer 4 years ago
Sometimes you'll recognize information that you forgot, like, you know you knew it, but for me, it's harder to retain the second time.
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Forty Seven Pandas 4 years ago
I didn't know that regarding epilepsy and seizures. Thank you for teaching me and others.
Jackie Nettleton 4 years ago
What a terrible maths teacher. I remember being in a science class with a substitute teacher and one of the guys in the class, who was a wise ass most of the time, had his very first epileptic seizure and the teacher refused to believe it was real kept telling him to get back on his seat. The class had to make enough noise to get a regular teacher to get him the help needed
Charlotte Rohrer 4 years ago
I can relate to this! A mack daddy seizure put a hurting on my semester too, my teacher was really cool about it.
Karen Webb 4 years ago
BLESS YOUR HEART- PROUD YOU'VE GOTTEN SUPPORT AND PROUD YOU ARE A UNION MEMBER. GOD BLESS YOU !
#36
I remember my first math class in college. I didn't take any math my senior year of high school because I finished my math requirements my junior year. Anyway, the first math test hit me like a truck after never having to try in high school and I scored in the low 60's. The next three tests, I learned to study and got 3 98's in a row. The last week of class, the professor (who was a hard ass by the way and would kick you out for having your phone out) called me up to her desk after class and said clearly you were having a bad day that first exam, so don't worry about that grade because I won't count it. It really changed my view of that professor.
Tsunade 4 years ago
Wait teachers in college care if you do your phone or not? I thought some cared about attendance but never about phones..
Xenon 4 years ago
Yes, having your phone out and staring at it is kind of insulting to the professor. Means you aren't paying attention to the class.
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MyCatsTheRealPanda 4 years ago
Yes , honestly it's disrespectful. If the teacher or professor is speaking that's what you should be paying attention to. In my experience most professors in college don't care if you need to step out to take a call or place a call, at least in community college because they know a lot of us have other priorities as well like Kids, family, and other important things but Facebook and Instagram are not priorities. The professors want to see you succeed but would rather you just not show up than sit in class and not pay attention anyhow because then you're possibly distracting other besides yourself.
#37
My band director - he laughed with us, he talked to us like people instead of lowly teenage students. And he read to us - The Power of Positive Thinking. He saw a need for it - some of the kids were bored out of their skulls and thought it was stupid, but some of us listened. Personally, I love that he recognized a problem and took action. I've been out of high school for wow..30 years this year...I'm still in touch with him. He's THE most influential person in my life that is not related to me, and it's because he chose to invest and do more than bare minimum as a teacher.
Sleazy Weaver 4 years ago
Helping those who wish to be helped is the greatest gift one can give. It may be lost on some, but it can mean the world to others.
ARandomPerson 4 years ago
im a band kid lol i have always had a great band teacher. Shoutout to mrs. k
real._.izuku 4 years ago
i don't know why you got a downvote 'cause that's what I thought at first too
Load More Replies... #38
I had a professor once state that she doesn't believe in trick questions. Students trick themselves up enough without the professor helping that along. She never did put trick questions.
ARandomPerson 4 years ago
i love how these people are so nice. I have had nice teachers before, but never this nice. this really gets to me
#39
English teacher in high school asked where my homework was. Responded “I forgot to do it” and he said to the rest of the class “Why can’t you guys be like Scratch_That_? He doesn’t come up with some excuse he just tells me he didn’t do it”
#40
I had a principal in high school that was extremely strict and was ALWAYS looking to get people in trouble. It got to the point where everyone knew that even the teachers hated him, but none of them ever said anything about it because they didn’t want to lose their jobs. Well, there was this one kid that was being accused of something he didn’t actually do, and one teacher decided she’d had enough of the principal’s bulls!@# and stood up for the kid. She was an amazing teacher and of course he fired her at the end of the school year. That didn’t stop her from coming to my class’s graduation the next year though! There was one other teacher that would make comments about the principal in class and insinuated his hatred toward him. Nobody snitched, and at the end of the school year on his last day of teaching, he wrote a note saying he quits because of the principal and left it on his desk and never returned. Love that man.
What do you think ?
Donkey boi 4 years ago
Our Drama teachers was doing a few lessons on rage and violence, at the start of the last one he walked in, looked at us, 'FOR F***S SAKE! NOT YOU LOT AGAIN!...' Started going postal annd continued to rant at us, all the while trashing the place, sending bits of set and props flying everywhere. We've never seen someone so angry. A few people started to get really scared and upset. Then... he just... turned it off! Spoke to us so softly and calmly saying 'Explosive rage is what we're going to cover today....' The whole thing was a performance, beautifully done. He instantly became our favourite teacher.
Carol Emory 4 years ago (edited)
Our history teacher, Mr Bruno, would come to school on a motorcycle and wear a three piece suit and flip-flops. While we took exams, he'd play rock and roll music. His lectures were basically 4 days of "This countries economy was sucking swamp water" or "Then the war went to heck in a hand basket." If we did real well in lectures, on Friday we played Jeopardy dividing the room in half with him as Alex Trebek. None of us realized we were still learning history on that day...we were having too much fun. Not surprisingly, most of his class passed with high grades.
Among Us 4 years ago (edited)
And there's just our Algebra teacher. This kid was making fun of her Russian accent, so she walked behind him and said "You make fun of my accent, I make fun of your grade". The kid shut up so fast I swear... Honestly that was all I needed to respect this teacher.
brokenapollo 4 years ago
These are great. I have one I will remember forever too, my junior high school English teacher had a running bet that if everyone in class got 100% on any test of quiz, she'd bake cookies for the whole class. (We never pulled it off..) Before school dances, she would call up kids to "practice," and show girls how to ask guys to dance by just coming up to them and saying "you're so lucky, you get to dance with me!" Just all around sweet, kind soul. She passed away suddenly halfway through the year and the entire school was heartbroken.
Whawhawhatsis 4 years ago
My favorite teacher was my English teacher in 8th and 9th grade. He would make you rewrite an essay until it was the best you could do -- he knew somehow! -- and so I learned not only to edit but to really try my best, since every person was also graded on their own ability. Plus he was just fun! We spent a month, after reading "The Once and Future King" (about King Arthur) putting Merlin on trial for miseducating Arthur, and got so into it we wore costumes, and one day went on strike against him as an unfair judge and paraded with signs, and just had a blast! As well as reading a very long book, I might add, and actually learning it. And at the end of the year we had a class picnic on the beach and he let us throw him into the ocean! He just asked us to stop while he took out his wallet, and then a bunch of us picked up up and gave him the old heave-ho! I learned he'd left teaching after a few years, which always made me sad; he was just a wonderful teacher.
Natasha Romanoff 4 years ago
Every year at the book fair, my teacher would let each of us pick out a book under $10 from the shelves and paid out of her own pocket for every single one. Some kids would get the totally ridiculous books like 'fortnite game hacks' and other kids would get survival books or diaries or 'how to stand up to bullies' and she would talk to each and every kid about the book that they got and then would have a one-hour session in class where she'd bring popcorn and let us all read our books. Miss you Ms. Zullo.
Benji Fleenor 4 years ago
I had an English teacher in 10th grade, incredibly wonderful woman. She truly cared about all of us. Every day she would start class with "Good morning class!" And we were asked to say back "Good morning Mrs. Barnes" and after she would always say "Today is going to be a great day!" She always had such a sunny disposition and never got upset, even some of the absolute worst kids never crossed her because she was just genuinely caring about us.
Nicholas Yu 4 years ago (edited)
I'm Chinese (Americanized as sh*t) and during my senior year of high school we got Chinese exchange student (also a senior). I offered to show him the ropes but the guy kept to himself. One day I round the corner and he's being harassed...by freshman the same size as him. So I snuck up on this bully from behind, tackled him into a wall, turned him around, and lifted him off the ground. Just then, my history teacher walked past the 3 of us, looked at me, and turned around as if he saw nothing. I told this freshman if he ever picked on the foreign exchange student again I wouldn't be so nice next time. Teachers know that sometimes, it's best to let a little violence solve violence.
Donkey boi 4 years ago
Our Drama teachers was doing a few lessons on rage and violence, at the start of the last one he walked in, looked at us, 'FOR F***S SAKE! NOT YOU LOT AGAIN!...' Started going postal annd continued to rant at us, all the while trashing the place, sending bits of set and props flying everywhere. We've never seen someone so angry. A few people started to get really scared and upset. Then... he just... turned it off! Spoke to us so softly and calmly saying 'Explosive rage is what we're going to cover today....' The whole thing was a performance, beautifully done. He instantly became our favourite teacher.
Carol Emory 4 years ago (edited)
Our history teacher, Mr Bruno, would come to school on a motorcycle and wear a three piece suit and flip-flops. While we took exams, he'd play rock and roll music. His lectures were basically 4 days of "This countries economy was sucking swamp water" or "Then the war went to heck in a hand basket." If we did real well in lectures, on Friday we played Jeopardy dividing the room in half with him as Alex Trebek. None of us realized we were still learning history on that day...we were having too much fun. Not surprisingly, most of his class passed with high grades.
Among Us 4 years ago (edited)
And there's just our Algebra teacher. This kid was making fun of her Russian accent, so she walked behind him and said "You make fun of my accent, I make fun of your grade". The kid shut up so fast I swear... Honestly that was all I needed to respect this teacher.
brokenapollo 4 years ago
These are great. I have one I will remember forever too, my junior high school English teacher had a running bet that if everyone in class got 100% on any test of quiz, she'd bake cookies for the whole class. (We never pulled it off..) Before school dances, she would call up kids to "practice," and show girls how to ask guys to dance by just coming up to them and saying "you're so lucky, you get to dance with me!" Just all around sweet, kind soul. She passed away suddenly halfway through the year and the entire school was heartbroken.
Whawhawhatsis 4 years ago
My favorite teacher was my English teacher in 8th and 9th grade. He would make you rewrite an essay until it was the best you could do -- he knew somehow! -- and so I learned not only to edit but to really try my best, since every person was also graded on their own ability. Plus he was just fun! We spent a month, after reading "The Once and Future King" (about King Arthur) putting Merlin on trial for miseducating Arthur, and got so into it we wore costumes, and one day went on strike against him as an unfair judge and paraded with signs, and just had a blast! As well as reading a very long book, I might add, and actually learning it. And at the end of the year we had a class picnic on the beach and he let us throw him into the ocean! He just asked us to stop while he took out his wallet, and then a bunch of us picked up up and gave him the old heave-ho! I learned he'd left teaching after a few years, which always made me sad; he was just a wonderful teacher.
Natasha Romanoff 4 years ago
Every year at the book fair, my teacher would let each of us pick out a book under $10 from the shelves and paid out of her own pocket for every single one. Some kids would get the totally ridiculous books like 'fortnite game hacks' and other kids would get survival books or diaries or 'how to stand up to bullies' and she would talk to each and every kid about the book that they got and then would have a one-hour session in class where she'd bring popcorn and let us all read our books. Miss you Ms. Zullo.
Benji Fleenor 4 years ago
I had an English teacher in 10th grade, incredibly wonderful woman. She truly cared about all of us. Every day she would start class with "Good morning class!" And we were asked to say back "Good morning Mrs. Barnes" and after she would always say "Today is going to be a great day!" She always had such a sunny disposition and never got upset, even some of the absolute worst kids never crossed her because she was just genuinely caring about us.
Nicholas Yu 4 years ago (edited)
I'm Chinese (Americanized as sh*t) and during my senior year of high school we got Chinese exchange student (also a senior). I offered to show him the ropes but the guy kept to himself. One day I round the corner and he's being harassed...by freshman the same size as him. So I snuck up on this bully from behind, tackled him into a wall, turned him around, and lifted him off the ground. Just then, my history teacher walked past the 3 of us, looked at me, and turned around as if he saw nothing. I told this freshman if he ever picked on the foreign exchange student again I wouldn't be so nice next time. Teachers know that sometimes, it's best to let a little violence solve violence.
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