The Most Influential Educators in Your Life

[Chebass88]

Hey TB,

I hope this finds all of you well. My HS chemistry teacher passed away this past week (aged 86). She was, by far, the most influential educator I've ever had (including college professors and graduate professors). She made chemistry fun, and the knowledge gained in her class helped me through college. As a direct result of her class, I knew I wanted to do something in the chemical field, and selected chemical engineering as my area of study in college. and am currently pursuing a masters in the same and working full-time in that field. She taught at the HS for 35 years (and only missed 2 days during that entire time!), and retired in 1996 (I was in her final class). I was fortunate enough to see her last year at the local farmers' market, and she was very happy about the impact she had.

So, who were (are) the most influential educators in your life? How did they impact you? Did you ever tell them about their influence?

My father and wife are both teachers - this makes their day, especially when the daily drudgery can occasionally overwhelm the importance of being an excellent educator.

So, share away!

ian

[Selta]

I've had a few that I would call big influences. My high school AP Physics and AP Chem teachers were huge, along with some of the math teachers as well (laying a solid foundation of understanding, which set me up for success down the line). I'm not sure I could pick any one of them over the others.
I hope to some day be able to go back there and tell them of the influence that they had on me. I should really make it a point to do that sooner than later...

[sloasdaylight]

I've had a couple teachers who I would consider influential on me throughout my educational career, but by far the single most was my Senior year in HS IB History teacher. He did a very good job of making something which could be taught very dryly seem, to me at least, to be absurdly fascinating, and I've stayed in touch with him over the years as a result of that, and have had many good discussions with him about politics, current events, sports, pretty much you name it since I've graduated. He even had me "Guest teach" a small portion of his class one time about WWII while he had to run down to the administration to handle something. Turned into me teaching a class of high schoolers for nearly 20 minutes, and I think that's kind of what set me down my path of wanting to teach in some fashion, most likely music.

[P. Aaron]

Burley Hendricks: Graphic Arts Teacher Huron H.S. Ann Arbor
John Lawrence: Jazz Guitar Teacher Washtenaw C.C. Ann Arbor
Dan Pliskow: Bass Instructor Royal Oak, MI
A couple former employers were pretty damn helpful too.

[bassman1987]

Myself (I teach middle school social studies)

In all seriousness though, I'd have to say three AP teachers I had in high school (Mr. Craven -U.S. History, Mr. Thomure - European History, and Ms. Kissler - Statistics) and two professors I had in college (Susan Schulten and Caleb McDaniel) for various U.S. history subjects. All these folks made their subjects interesting and relevant to my own life, but perhaps more than anything else they also taught me about the importance of hard work, respect, honesty, and integrity.

If you're still in school thank your teachers, and if you have kids in school encourage them to thank their teachers. Being one myself I can say it's so nice to hear that our a**-busting is appreciated. Thanks for this thread!!

[Unrepresented]

Oline Floe.

She was my English teacher in 8th grade and she was without a doubt the most influential instructor I've had throughout my life.

She was intimidating. She was demanding. She used unorthodox instruction techniques, and did it all while dealing with MS that had her reduced to using an electric scooter during my time with her.

She was notorious in our district for delivering overly qualified students into their respective high schools. "Oh, you had Ms. Floe? This should be a review for you then." National Acclaim apparently followed after I'd left.

She died in 2009.

Here's the article a local paper published:

Oline Floe dies - nationally acclaimed teacher
March 27, 2009|By Meredith May, Chronicle Staff Write

Oline Floe, a middle-school teacher who drew national acclaim for teaching inner-city kids to love Robert Frost, Shakespeare and Dr. Seuss, died in her Richmond home after a 25-year battle with multiple sclerosis. She was 63.

A graduate of and 35-year teacher in the West Contra Costa Unified School District, Ms. Floe used the force of her personality - and a gavel - to emphasize the importance of literature in her classroom at Adams Middle School in Richmond.

She spiced up her lessons with disco line-dancing, getting her students to shake off their preteen inhibitions while subconsciously absorbing the rules of lyrical rhythm found in the Bee Gees, Paul Simon and ZZ Top.

http://articles.sfgate.com/2009-03-2...ublic-defender

[jp58]

My favorite professor is a DR. Brooks. If not for his class, I would've never dove into the world of microbiology (I was a pre-law and had to have his class). I have him twice as a teacher, and now he is my adviser. From what I hear, a stories like mine are very common with his classes. He is also notorious on campus for having a very dry sense of humor and using Quotes from "The Waterboy" in class.