The ones who made a difference

ImmersedwarmthImmersedwarmth
edited May 2025 in General

I'm sure we all have stories about that teacher(s) who made our lives difficult and never should have set foot in a classroom, but perhaps you can take a moment to remember one that helped you along on your journey. Share a name? An anecdote?

I had many. Too many to mention in this space. I will, however, mention Ms. Ramirez. She was nice enough, and always professional, but at the time (9th grade English) she seemed like a taskmaster; the hardest teacher/class I had ever had. I couldn't tell you how many 5-paragraph essays she had us write. It was grueling.

The next year my family moved from NY to CA. My new school had me write an essay as an assessment to know which required English class to place me. Low and behold, I was exempt from the class because of my writing abilities.

Those youthful essays from 9th grade are far behind me, but the skills I learned back then have served me well. Thank you, Ms. Ramirez, wherever you might be

Comments

  • [Deleted User]MaverickLegend (deleted user)

    Back in the 5th grade I had a teacher that tied up this loud mouth obnoxious kid with jump rope and stuffed him into the closet while we went out for pe (physical education). That teacher eventually got his own day named after him at our school

  • [Deleted User]WriterGF (deleted user)

    In my freshman year of high school, on the first day, my Social Studies teacher said to us, "Where's the front of the room?" We all pointed to the chalkboard. Then he had us turn our desks around and said, "Now where's the front of the room? It's all a matter of your perspective."

  • lovingspoonfulllovingspoonfull

    One of my high school teachers was someone who first worked as a veterinarian, and was quite successful. He made his money, often dealing with rich people and their exotic pets, then retired young because what he decided to do instead was to become a biology teacher. In a public school.

    He loved teaching. He was not worn down by administration, bureaucracy, or indifferent students.

    He lived for the moments of insight and understanding. He was always pushing for students to dig in to the material, not because of a grade, but to actually understand it and be enriched by the learning itself.

    He had extremely high academic standards, and would not tolerate “good enough”. He was fair, encouraging, and a truly good man.

    I lost touch with him after I graduated college and moved away, but I never doubted that he would inspire many others.

  • applepie55applepie55

    I became a teacher precisely because of the impact my teachers had on me.
    My first grade teacher gifted my family our first Christmas tree because we couldn’t afford one. My third grade teacher took me home and fed me when my parents forgot to pick me up on time. And there were many others who were there for me.
    My only hope is that one day my students look back on their time in my classroom and remember they were loved and safe.

  • pmvinespmvines

    In 8th grade just after.my dad died and my house burned down and my mom was going through chemo and we were temporarily homeless due to dad leaving us in debt and my mom not being able to work because of cancer and I was dealing with a crippling drug habit and general thuggery, not many of my teachers wanted to deal with me. I hated life, hated people, and hated school. But one teacher, Charles Tortorici, really had a gift for dealing with troubled students with emotional issues. He was somebody who I really found I could trust. He was a musician who listened to old punk rock and loved unconventional art. I credit him for helping me decide to stay in school and not turning into a full fledged criminal. He made me want to be a better person because he made me feel accepted, and that it wasn't too late to steer myself onto a better path. That I didn't have to be a drug addict or a criminal if I didn't want to. I also credit him with being part of the reason I became a social worker.

  • ImmersedwarmthImmersedwarmth

    These are great stories. Thank you for sharing. Some unsung heroes out there.

    @applepie55 How long have you been in the profession? I know the statistics are horrendous for staying in for the long-haul (50% will leave within the first 5 years). Please stay; stick to it. We desperately need good teachers.

  • cuddlefaerycuddlefaery

    I was blessed to have some amazing teachers early on, both in school and outside of it.

    In particular, my 1st-3rd grade teacher (multiage classroom) really shaped so much of me as a person: from my love of fairies, to music, to being colorful and quirky, to embracing my natural inclination towards being a teacher myself. It is because of her intuitive, supportive, yet firm guidance that I was able to thrive in elementary school...and managed to pass under the radar as neurodivergent. She taught me to always view problems from multiple angles, to utilize my strengths to improve my weaknesses, to find the magic in everyday things. She didn't treat kids with physical/behavioral/learning disabilities as "other" or broken - she saw the uniqueness of everyone and helped us find our own path.

    She encouraged me to help teach others of all ages and abilities, and to always keep learning everything I can. I danced at her wedding, helped my mom bake cakes for her birthdays years after I left her classroom, and she was the first to hug me as I left the podium after graduating high school.

    When my mom died while I was in college, she came to the memorial and cried with my family. When I officially became a classroom teacher myself, she sent me congratulations - even though she was silently struggling with early onset dementia. Though I lost touch with her due to time, distance, and her illness, her presence was never far. When she passed away a few years ago during the pandemic, I gladly attended her virtual memorial and shared memories with so many others touched by her light. I still message her family now and then just to say hi, and they've always treated us "kids" if hers like extended family.

    I still see her in rainbows, talk about her to the trees, and pass on the many things she taught me to others. She intrinsically shaped how I view the world and myself. I will forever be grateful that I am the person and educator I am today largely because of her. I can only hope I have a sliver of the impact on the world that she does even 30+ years later.

  • PeopleLikeUsPeopleLikeUs
    edited May 2025

    Mr. Evans brought cardboard for us to cut out instruments and let us lip-sync to Beatle records in class. This led to us actually forming a band that year that played the school talent show. He did live stand-up at the same show which was bigger than life to me at the time. I have since performed stand-up, music, acting, and broadcasting. It all launched in Mr. Evans 4th grade class. During Covid, he spotted my name on a social media post and asked if it was me? We have been chumming around ever since (60 years later) telling show biz, life stories, and at times, how much we both mean to each other.

  • applepie55applepie55

    @Immersedwarmth unfortunately, I did “leave” after 3 years of teaching once covid hit.
    I still teach online but it’s not really the same! I’d love to get back to the classroom at some point though!

  • cuddlefaerycuddlefaery

    I wish my health permitted me back in the classroom 😔 I was about to get my substitute license and work on relicensing in CA when the pandemic hit. I tried going back to private teaching, but even that was too taxing. My immune system can't handle the walking petridishes 💀I miss working with the little in particular - I had so much more energy then.

  • stormydaycuddlestormydaycuddle Mod

    @cuddlefaery haha. I called my brother a Petri dish when he was in high school.

  • CSnMUS87CSnMUS87

    I have two that stand out in my mind.

    The first was a high school gym teacher named Mr. Lee. My school at the time was lucky enough to have martial arts as an option for gym class for juniors and seniors. I of course jumped on this and took it both years and he was the teacher for this. He kept it exciting and interesting for me and I always would try my best because it wasn't a traditional gym class with sports that I didn't want to do. He was also in charge of the martial arts club after school which I attended. I wasn't the best or worst in class, as there were others who clearly had more martial arts history behind them than myself, but I wasn't completely new to it either. He definitely sparked my interest to take kendo lessons years later (which I had to stop due to costs). One time we were doing sparring in class and of course I was against someone much more skilled than I was but I was doing well for the most part blocking a lot of the kicks and punches. However he did a maneuver that I'm not sure was "legal"/allowed where he did a roundhouse kick once which I blocked with an arm but he used his momentum and my arm to push off and come around with the other foot to do a second roundhouse... which caught me in the back of the head. Down I went and everything went black for a few seconds. I woke up like a minute later (I checked and I wasn't out for longer than I thought) on the ground with the teacher clearly concerned and checking on me for the rest of class, asking if I wanted to go to the nurse (I didn't want to) and walking me to my next class to make sure I was ok. He was a cool and nice guy and of course had him sign my yearbook both years. He definitely showed a lot more care for his students than most of the other gym teachers who seemed to be out of shape themselves while he clearly wasn't.

    The second was when studying for my computer science degree. Professor Porps had a reputation for being tough, but this was a little misleading. Yes she was not one to pass people if they didn't earn it (unlike some other ones that handed out As for free) and was a bit intimidating at first, but it's only because she really actually cares for her students and wants them to succeed and not just get by easily and suffer for it later. I ended up taking three courses with her (Discrete Math, Web Development, and Operating Systems) and earning As in each one, which led to her asking me to be a "Peer Leader" in a later semester which was a paid position to sort of assist professors in giving first or second semester programming students extra practice problems to reinforce topics. Basically I had a partner and we presented the problems and then helped out anyone who was struggling, then met up with their professor to discuss things and plan out the next week. Professor Porps had become the one in charge of the program and I definitely became one of her students that she was proud of. To go back a little, whenever I had was in one of her courses I would always be in her office during office hours if I didn't have to work to ask for extra help, clarify questions, go over quizzes/exams that I had missed problems, do extra practice problems, etc. I did what I needed to to make sure I understood the material and passed the classes. She also offered quite a lot of extra credit which I took advantage of (most others however did not) including "Web checker" problems that we'd write on a notecard for the next class and go over, Midterm Jeopardy review, Final Jeopardy review, and more. This was how I was able to have the highest grade in my specific class for discrete math and had a nice cushion of extra credit before the final exam in case I didn't do well on it. She was firm but fair and her care for students was very apparent. If you put forth the effort, you would do well in her classes. By the time I took operating systems though it seemed like most wanted the easy way out with her only having 8 or 7 students in her course while the other professor teaching it at the time was overloaded with 20 something or 30 students (it was more than the normal capacity for the class and people needed special permission to override that limit). This was because the other professor had a reputation for allowing people to use google during their final exam and being super super easy. I really learned a lot from Professor Porps and wish she had taught more courses so I could have really learned them better. I still keep in touch from time to time to talk about the university and job prospects. She gave a tour of the university to my 2 brothers who I was trying to convince to go to the same university (they didn't lol). If I could have taken all of my CS courses with her and 2 or 3 other professors, that would have been perfect. Unfortunately not all put this much time and effort to teach and either just fail people without explanation or give away free grades which doesn't help in the long run.

  • GryfGryf

    For me, the would have been Mr. Onderdonk. I think I took 4 different Biology classes under him in high school along with a small class trip to Belize. Apart from being an engaging teacher, he was a super nerd. He had a stuffed flying squirrel in his room named Rocky and to show natural decay, he had a time-lapse video of a fox that had died that he called the "Fox-Rot"

  • TheNewNovelistTheNewNovelist

    I can still remember lessons from elementary school; the memories surface when reading. Teachers are our great, unsung heroes.

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