Who influenced you at school?

Miss Verity, 'A' level physics teacher, there for 37 years and still with a sense of humour!
She did a lot for my confidence.

My headmistress, Miss Wilkinson, at Torquay Grammar School for Girls.
She was an inspiration to all who knew her, and well known throughout Devon for her good works and kindness. Her love of literature, and her sense of fair play was memorable. There was quite a bit of snobbery in some Grammar Schools in those days, but she always regarded us less well off girls as absolutely equal to those better off or cleverer.
She made me love going to school. I have never forgotten her.

Really hard to say and to remember the names of probably hundreds of teachers I've had. My father was in the Forces , we travelled all over the world which meant I ended up going to 19 schools. The shortest time at a school was 2 weeks, the longest was my last school where I stayed for 2 years.
I love the fact that my children's best friends are the friends they went to school with, I don't really have that. Although through Facebook I have tracked down a girl I was at High School with in Canada. At last I could say my friend Kathy and I, from school you know...
As for teachers I do remember one or two. A Mrs Creighton in my school in Ottawa helped me hugely, this probably my tenth school and I was so behind. She actually helped me catch up by teaching me [unpaid] after school hours. As well as going to so many schools, there were times when weeks went by and we weren't in school as we were travelling from A to B.
A Miss Faeroe at a school in Yorkshire, she read Wind in the Willows to the class, saw my interest and steered me to various books she knew I'd enjoy. She made me the bookworm I am today.

Not one of them to be frank. It was a horrible experience.

Sad to say that isn't it but I remember the only two 'girls' who I thought were clever had decided to 'stay on' and do further exams. They had a small room of their own by the playground and they had a television. There had not been any pupil who chose to stay on for years. Everybody else couldn't wait to leave and start earning a wage. Clever kids were sent to Grammer schools, our school had a bad reputation and the teachers tried, probably, I don't remember it was the most boring time of my life.

I regret I had a bad time at school and I have to say I am not particularly pleased with the education my DGD is getting. Her school was downgraded last March and the sad thing was the parents were not surprised! I have met her teachers and to be honest they look as bored as mine did but they dress so scruffy, I don't mean untidy they look like they are wearing the clothes they wore to bed. I wouldn't care if they dressed badly but came up with goods, they don't. I have been told my DGD's new class teacher in September is well respected by parents so I am hoping things will pick up.

It's strange isn't it how things can change from one school to another. The school my son went to (on the Island) was abysmal and represented everything I remember and disliked about school. The school my two GDs went to couldn't have been more different - the teaching staff were wonderful and so supportive of every pupil and knew each pupil by name. Even on my youngest GDs first sports day they were tolerant: she's very much a girly girl (unlike her older sister) and refused to wear anything but her 'pretty dress and sandals' for sports day and not her 'ugly' PE kit but then, obviously, felt too different from the others. Her class teacher held her hand and ran the race with her. She was never made to feel naughty or difficult - next sports day, she proudly wore her PE kit.

Oh dear I wish I could say anybody influenced me, but I fear they were a pretty mediocre lot and anything I achieved was (immodestly) by my own efforts. I remember being told I "could';t" do sciences as I was bilingual ( that was the end of Pharmacy) so had to do Languages, "couldn't " do Art as it wasn't "academic" enough The one thing I regret was not that I followed their short sighted advice, which may well have been right but that that I didn't try harder to prove them wrong.
However I did get a nice mention the the TES many years ago in an article along the same lines as this thread, i.e. about teachers remembered by celebrities and Paula Radcliffe remembered me as her French teacher. I like to think my athletic example made all the difference but maybe she developed her talents running away from my classes!!!

Sister Francis Marguerite, my fifth grade teacher who had the courage to conduct a RACISM EXPERIMENT in 1963 during the start of the civil rights movement in the US South. I lived in progressive California but in an ultra-conservative county.

She classified a group of students as 'different' and treated them as though they had no rights: back of the class, back of the line, demeaned and ignored, separate restroom, lunch table. Sister played the role with vigor and emotion. Not surprisingly the class experiment was stopped when the ultra-conservative parents of the 'control' group had a fit. Test group parents had approved their child's participation. My own parents believed strongly in the lifetime value of that experiment. What better way to understand the most misunderstood political movement as it was evolving? My basic empathy for marginalized, disenfranchised groups in society took off from there.

What do you GN teachers think about this experiment?

Sister also had the audacity to bring her habit to class and describe every garment. I didn't want to be a nun anymore after the magic was unveiled.

nightowl Same experience with my head counselor.... I went on to graduate 4 year research university, BA Sociology, with summa cum laude, phi beta kappa honors . Just to spite him.
penstemon

Sorry for that long post!

That is fascinating MariClaire because that is a very similar experiment to that which Ron Jones carried out at Cubberley High School, Palo Alto, California in 1969 to teach his students about Nazism and obedience to power. It was then fictionalised in the book "The Wave" by Todd Strasser writing as Morton Rhue. Some of us will have seen the film The Wave/Die Welle which was made more recently. The film is chilling and the reactions portrayed in it, very credible.

I will definitely read the book. Even though the Palo Alto class experiment was in 1969, the issue is highly relevant today. Teachers have tremendous influence, positive and negative, as previous posters describe.

FlicketyB, thanks for a post that in many ways reflects my own experience. I empathise with others whose fathers were in some kind of uniformed/disciplined service like mine. What I learned from going to so many schools was an ability to appear calm and at ease in scary new situations. I learned to read, spell, tables, basic maths, at home with mum. There were two history teachers at the secondary school I attended longest (3 years). Miss Norris (1st year, or year 7 now) lent me a book about the various Queens called Mary, and Miss Slater (3rd year, or year 9 now) taught us about the slave trade and introduced us to the social and political aspects of history.
Miss Smart taught me how to type, along with 25 other girls at our local technical college. She was unmarried, eccentric, wore huge broaches she'd made herself, and invited us all to tea at her equally eccentric stone terrace in Hebdon Bridge. We were a group of giddy 15/16 year olds, and lthough we laughed at her clothes, her eccentricity, we loved her lessons, where she covered the typing key board and taught us to touch type, to music.
So thanks to Miss Norris, Miss Slater and Miss Smart. All great role models.

Has anyone googled their old teachers?
I've found several reminiscences of Miss Verity online - all loved her.

How old are you *Alie I am sure , if I could remember anyone who taught me would be long dead and gone.

I said reminiscences Nonu! I'm sure she is long gone...but others who she taught also remember her!

The most influencing teacher for me was my mathematics professor . Everything he used to tell was always clicked for me, He helped me so much that i will always be indebted to him , Whatever i am is because of him and he is a most important page in my book !!

My school chum still isits the French teacher. Se efal teachers were only a few years older than us (early 20s) when we were in the 6th form.

I had a teacher who used to clip us all round the earhole regularly. Mr smith, he was a big man and scary so we used to be quiet and not annoy him he taught us to do what we wanted on the sly. I used to keep a reading book on my knee under the desk. We also had a miss Stevenson who would regularly hit us to keep discipline. I used to long for home time.
Glad our kids don't have the discipline nowadays

One more thing , That i forget to tell is that everyone will influence us , but one should know when to be influenced and when to . one must keep this in mind .

A saying " it's doesn't matter what you have ,what matters is what you do with what you have .

The woods are lovely dark and deep ,
and i have promises to keep,
and miles to go before I sleep and miles to go before I sleep .

A famous quote " there are no mistakes "'

- anonymous -

which is your most hated teacher of all times ?? please don't hesitate to answer !!

Bunny, see my post on the thread "Learning Difficulties" @ 10.32.

I pose the question again!

Although I had some good, some bad teachers at school and college, the greatest influence on me came in the shape of a girl called Agnes. I was in 3rd Year when she arrived as a brand new 1st year, who was famous throughout the 600 pupil Academy within a couple of weeks. The Deputy Rector, an infamous mumbler, was taking the weekly assembly, when suddenly Agnes stuck her hand up, leapt to her feet, notebook and pencil in hand and said politely and clearly, 'Excuse me sir, but could you repeat the last bit - I didn't quite catch it'. Blinking a bit he did as asked and a smiling Agnes thanked him and sat down. Well! It was as if Oliver Twist had asked for more! No one else would have dared to do such a thing! It was the talk of the steamie for days. Was Agnes taking the p**s or was she being quite reasonable?

Other odd incidents followed. If anyone -staff, pupil or janitor looked at Agnes, she would immediately approach them, proffering her hand for shaking and announce 'Hello, I'm Agnes but you can call me Aggie...and you are?' A senior prefect was egged on to test out this phenomenon but when he approached her asking 'Are you called Aggie?' she replied 'No quite warm actually' and smiling THAT smile went on her way. A Teacher who called her out for running in the corridor (a heinous crime) was brushed off with 'I'm not running, I'm dancing. Don't you think we should all dance?'

Agnes DID wear school uniform. However there was always a twist - the tie worn as a headband or round her waist, a flower pinned to her lapel, a selection of mickey mouse badges, one long and one short sock. Her hair, which looked as if she cut it herself, was styled differently day by day. When someone pointed out that her pullover was inside out she nodded sagely and advised that garments lasted longer if turned every day. Aggie did not belong to a particular set. She would strike up a friendly conversation with whoever was standing near her, had no enemies, although at break times she was often to be found chattering away to an outsider or loner in a corner of the playground.

A new school meals supervisor decreed that we should dine 'en famille' - 8 random pupils to a table with 8 portion dishes to be shared between us. I was allocated a seat next to Agnes, who, when both the seniors at the table showed reluctance to take charge, announced 'OK then, I'll be Mum' and a very good job she made of it too, securing for us the biggest and best pies, trifles etc., producing fresh fruit or biscuits for each of us from her school bag, keeping us all in fits with a running commentary as she divvied up the food between us and of her own accord, making us say Grace before the meal. She was delighted when the prefects in charge of other tables also said Grace, thinking that we must have been ordered to do that. You would have thought that sitting beside Aggie through 4 terms worth of lunches I would have got to know her better. No so - every tentative enquiry about her background or home life was met with 'It is soooooo boring, tell me about YOU.' However, I did change profoundly under her influence, from a shy, conformist, quiet soul, happy to be invisible in the crowd, step by step to a self confident leader of delegations to the Rector, writer of outrageous pieces for the school mag, with my uniform and hair modified to proclaim that I was not a school-girl but a teenage rocker. I learnt how to pull the wool over teachers eyes and was the engineer of the puzzling great sneezing outbreaks which continually disrupted 3rd year classes.

I left school during IV year and never saw Aggie again though I heard that she won loads of Academic prizes and was a demon on the hockey field. If I meet up with old school friends every one of them remembers Aggie and has another tale to tell of her unorthodox personality. From her I learned that it is best to always be your genuine self rather than attempt to conform to a stereotype. A one off was our Agnes

It's a superb story ....really loved it !! - Granny 23

The article was quite humorous and was well written just loved it !!

Wanna meet Aggie !! quite a personality