By Chris

September 13, 2005 11:08 PM | Link to this

Denise - Yes it is a coincidence; mostly due to all the posters here are women. Plus most teachers are women. My favorite teachers were all men (OK I’ll admit I went to an all male Catholic high school so it makes sense although I’ll also admit I had a crush on my 4th grade teacher so she must have been a favorite at some time). The teachers I liked the best challenged me to do my best at all times. They were not overly friendly but they were fair and they expected us to learn.

By Denise

September 6, 2005 2:57 PM | Link to this

Is it just coincidence that most of the teachers mentioned here are women?

By Grandma

September 1, 2005 8:23 PM | Link to this

My favorite teacher used a good technique to motivate students to write thoughtful responses to reading assignments. She would mark our response papers with parallel lines next to “inspired, good ideas” and then call everyone with marked papers to the front of the class to read their “inspiring ideas.” It made us students proud of our “good ideas” and everyone was called to the front of the class sooner or later since the line was sometimes ten deep. It was good psychology, and made us think we actually had something interesting to say.

By joannie carroll

September 1, 2005 11:25 AM | Link to this

My favorite teacher was my jr. High Social Studies teacher. She was kind, compassionate, and had the neatest Palmer Method handwriting I’ve ever seen. She made class fun and interesting. I don’t remember alot of details from her class, but I will never forget her.

By beth

September 1, 2005 10:30 AM | Link to this

Sr Mary Veronica. She taugh me that prayer was not something to be done at night time only, it was a converstion with God all day long. It helped through more classes and life situations than I can tell you.

By Stephanie

September 1, 2005 9:43 AM | Link to this

Funny how the idea of a “favorite” teacher changes with hindsight. In high school, I thought my favorite was Mr. Hatch, the social studies teacher who let us get away with anything as long as he had time to sit quietly and read the paper. In retrospect, however, I look back with more fondness at two others: a journalism teacher and a typing/office skills teacher, both of whom put up with unbelievable amounts of attitude from students because they insisted that we did not have a God-given right to waste their time and, on the contrary, were there to learn whether we liked it or not. So, here’s to you, Mrs. Peng and Miss Harris, whose lessons remain valuable even decades after they were imparted.

By Denise

September 1, 2005 9:33 AM | Link to this

My favorite teacher was Ms. Reisert, my high school theater and English teacher. She made literature fun and interesting. She had innovative and exciting ways of teaching in theater class (mimicking Kevin Kline’s actions in “My Eyes Are Fully Open” from The Pirates of Penzance to teach us movement and allowing 15 year olds to perform their own soap operas so we learn to ad-lib stand out in my mind). She made rehearsals for plays and musicals an adventure, not a chore. Although she made things fund, she also demanded the best from us at all times (which was hard to live up to when you are trying to learn 30 pages of lines from MacBeth in one night). To top it all off, and what makes her stand out in my mind to this day, she took a personal interest in each and every one of her students, serving as an informal counselor and friend to us all. I think of her when I walk by the theater in the school I work at now, or when someone mentions a play which our class happened to have performed all those years ago, or when I pass the bookcase at home and see the latest novel (she has recently become a novelist, writing fiction based on Shakespearean plays, telling the story from a different character’s point of view). The things she taught me about who I am, how to carry myself on stage, and how to make a fool of myself in front of hundreds of people so as to make them laugh are lessons I have taken with me and I still call upon today.

By Roz Suprenant

September 1, 2005 9:11 AM | Link to this

I’ve been in contact with many fine teachers over the years, as a student, parent, and in my role as a school nurse. In some cases, a teacher is the most important person in a child’s life and development. I’m currently the school nurse at Chaminnade-Julienne Catholic High School. CJ has a wonderfully collaborative staff. All the teachers and counselors at CJ are my favorites. CJ has a truely caring and compassionate staff that attempts to meet the unique needs of individual students. The teachers lead by example. The young adults who graduate from CJ are well educated, as well as prepared with the skills and committment to contribute to their communities. Thanks for the opportunity to put into words the important contributions of teachers.