traits you like/ dislike in teachers

[Bobbity]

I like teachers to have a sense of humour, know their stuff, and be willing to bend the curriculum somewhat if we find something more interesting to do.

I don't like teachers that are too laid back though. I couldn't be fucked to do my maths assignment a couple of weeks ago, and my maths teacher just said no worries. I'm happy that I got off, but seriously annoyed that she doesn't seem to take our education seriously.

 

[Custard_Angel]

Do: Be laid back

Don't: Be my friend

It's great to have a teacher who is relaxed about what they expect and how to approach teaching, but at the end of the day a teacher is supposed to teach you shit.

The best teachers I've had were ones that were friendly without ever being my friend.

It resulted in me getting the most out of the class by actually enjoying being there.

 

[IronStorm9]

My Sophomore and Senior year High School English teacher didn't do any actual teaching in class. Class was a work period and he just gave us assignments, usually papers. The only time he did speak during class was either when he was mad or giving an assignment. That is the worst kind of teacher: The one who doesn't tell you what they want you to get out of something and simply expect you to know.

 

[Betancore]

Lack of organisation/decent memory, and demanding respect from students. Sorry, you've done nothing to earn it, you don't remember to bring work to class, you don't remember what you have or haven't taught us/given us, and you're late every bloody lesson. Five minutes each lesson multiplied by four classes a week means we miss 20 minutes of class. God, I hate my Psych teacher. Fortunately the subject isn't one that really requires a teacher, but still, I hate that so many teachers at my school seem to exist only to waste our time. That being said, I have a great many good teachers as well, so it balances out to an extent.

 

[EternalFacepalm]

Well, I corrected my first grade-teacher, and she was, in lack of a better term, a complete and utter ***** as well.
I also know several teachers that don't know their subjects, and don't really seem enthusiastic at all.
Most of them were also really good at targeting certain people, and waiting for times where they did a tiny flaw, like swear because someone hit their bloody face, where the current teacher would walk up to the one that swore and spit in on them.
Also, one of 'em held the same speech twice. And that was a speech lasting half an hour. Ugh.
Also, the education system in Norway is shit.

 

[Kenbo Slice]

One of my lecturers always smells faintly of ether, claims to have done every reaction known to man and often fucks up simple tasks like folding filter paper properly without getting sulphuric acid all over it and turning all the liquid that goes through bright yellow. And yet somehow he's the best teacher I've got just because he explains things so well. Also he has a rather nice Indian accent.

I hate when teachers just stand there and lecture the whole god damn time and don't make anything fun or interesting.

Well you know you should be interested in what they have to say or you wouldn't be there in the first place...

It's not that I'm not interested in what they have to say. Imagine sitting in a class for an hour with a history teacher who talks like Ben Stein, never shows us any videos or pictures. He just stands there and talks in a very plain voice. That was my junior year history teacher. I love history! I didn't think anyone could make it boring.

 

[badgersprite]

today i spent another night through one of my least favorite classes i have ever had. the teacher does a horrible job at "teaching" the class and is constantly incorrect about basic facts

well, the teacher has done one thing well and that is to inspire me to post this topic in hopes of helping future/ current teacher see the error of their ways. i am currently in college getting my degree in mathematics in hopes of becoming a teacher myself and i wanted to ask my fellow escapists about their favorite and their worst teachers and why they hold that special place in your heart. i want to know what i can do in my field to instruct my future students while not remaining such a stiff; so please, tell me the traits you like/ dislike in teachers

First and foremost are teachers who are self-confident and don't read out of a book for lesson plans. You walk into class and they tell you how it fuckin' is.

That's how my english teacher was last year and he was a boss. You never saw kids who made fun of him during class because he was smarter and more arrogant than all of us combined, and if you didn't do your work he would humiliate you verbally. One quote was "If you fall asleep on your desk again I will wrap it around your head! Not that I would need to, since you WILL follow this order."


Too bad he's getting fired this year, which pissed me off a LOT since they're keeping teachers who are clearly worse than him...

Oh man these sort of teachers are fucking awesome. My teacher in History of Law was such a badass. We all called him "House". He knew everything, he would freely call certain writers we were made to read out on their bullshit, and sometimes he would say controversial things just to spark an argument. It was great.

That man turned a subject everyone called the most boring and awful Law unit we've had to do so far into one I absolutely loved.

 

[Simple Bluff]

I love it when teachers are enthusiastic about what they're teaching. My first year analysis teacher was like this - cheery, open-minded, glowing. His spirit enkindled my love for analysis, a subject i probobly would not have had second thoughts for years on if I had a regular teacher.

Actually, I find it easier to do analysis when I imagine it in his Spanish accent ("A func-shun ees continuous at c eef and only eef the lim-eet is defiiiiined... hombre")

 

[flagship]

I like teachers who haven't taken a drink of the special Cool-aid and decided they were God's gift to mankind.

 

[Gaz6231]

Huge boobs. End of.

 

[DaJoW]

I'll agree with what a lot of other people have said and say that a genuine interest/love for the subject, and in social studies/history etc. teachers who will entertain any notion. My social studies/history teacher year 10-11 was like this and it was just great - we had a task of writing a paper outlining a utopia (not necessarily what we ourselves considered utopian, just how we could see one work) in year 10 and from the comments on the papers, the discussions in class and the speed she corrected them - 30 papers no less than 5 pages, most well over double that - you could tell that she was really interested in our ideas, only giving constructive criticism in all but one case I know of (the prison of the country was a mud pit which was hosed down with water twice daily to give the prisoners water and make sure it stayed a mud pit). When we later wrote a paper on the fall of Rome for history she would gladly accept any nuance or idea not covered in the textbook as long as it had some foundation in fact, or clearly marked as speculation.

Our maths teacher year 10-12 was similar, with the added bonus of being really funny. He got a lot of respect not because of threats or anything but because everyone, and I do mean everyone, in the class wanted to be liked by him. He was very kind, which made him all the more terrifying when he got angry. Once a teacher scheduled a test during maths class, and when our maths teacher found out about it he stormed out saying "If you hear a noise, don't worry. It's just Eric begging me not to drop him off the roof."

 

[Togs]

1. Straight talking- yes $10 words may be important to the field of study but please try and keep their use to a minimum, many of us cant keep up with all them.

2. You are both smarter and more learned than us, whilst your faith in our abilities is very nice do remember we dont have the benefit of 15 years in the field.

3. Sometimes we cant make it to lectures, we're sorry about this but its often unavoidable, so please make your slides with that in mind.

4. If we're interested and engaged we'll learn far better thne if we're not, if you've lost the room to boredom you've failed as a teacher.

5. Most people can't focus for more then 45 minutes at a stretch, so a 5 minute break at that point is better for everyone.

6. We're not here to be mates, you may be a funny and interesting person who'd be a great drinking buddy, but if we're in lecture you need either our respect or our fear to do your job.

 

[RedEyesBlackGamer]

I hate when teachers just stand there and lecture the whole god damn time and don't make anything fun or interesting.

It isn't their job to make class fun.
OP: A teacher with a sense of humor always helps.

 

[CrustyOatmeal]

3. Sometimes we cant make it to lectures, we're sorry about this but its often unavoidable, so please make your slides with that in mind.

here is where i understand where you are coming from and both agree and disagree with you. i think a teacher doesnt have to create power points that can also be understood if you miss the previous lesson (especially if its math, which i intend on teaching) but rather i believe that if you use power points you should be open to emailing them to students or creating a place for students to download them

i have a current teacher who is teaching off a power point she herself did not create and so she is constantly flustered and, since the power points were not created by her, she is not allowed to post them or send them to students and so if you miss out on taking notes for the slides your screwed come test time. if it werent for the fact that this class is based on a combination of other classes (which i have all taken) i dont think i would be doing very well

 

[Micalas]

I hate when my professors try to convince the class that their bullshit has anything to do with my major. I want to do CyberSecurity and no, sir, were it not for the fact that I couldn't get that fucking piece of paper saying I'm qualified in my field without taking your irrelevant bullshit, I wouldn't be here.

 

[ServebotFrank]

today i spent another night through one of my least favorite classes i have ever had. the teacher does a horrible job at "teaching" the class and is constantly incorrect about basic facts

well, the teacher has done one thing well and that is to inspire me to post this topic in hopes of helping future/ current teacher see the error of their ways. i am currently in college getting my degree in mathematics in hopes of becoming a teacher myself and i wanted to ask my fellow escapists about their favorite and their worst teachers and why they hold that special place in your heart. i want to know what i can do in my field to instruct my future students while not remaining such a stiff; so please, tell me the traits you like/ dislike in teachers

First and foremost are teachers who are self-confident and don't read out of a book for lesson plans. You walk into class and they tell you how it fuckin' is.

That's how my english teacher was last year and he was a boss. You never saw kids who made fun of him during class because he was smarter and more arrogant than all of us combined, and if you didn't do your work he would humiliate you verbally. One quote was "If you fall asleep on your desk again I will wrap it around your head! Not that I would need to, since you WILL follow this order."


Too bad he's getting fired this year, which pissed me off a LOT since they're keeping teachers who are clearly worse than him...

Oh man these sort of teachers are fucking awesome. My teacher in History of Law was such a badass. We all called him "House". He knew everything, he would freely call certain writers we were made to read out on their bullshit, and sometimes he would say controversial things just to spark an argument. It was great.

That man turned a subject everyone called the most boring and awful Law unit we've had to do so far into one I absolutely loved.

My 8th grade History teacher was the greatest thing ever put in a school. I loved how at the beginning of the year he had us take a quiz on things around the world and America itself. He asked, "Where is Iraq on the world map? Where is D.C. on the map? Who did we secede from? How many States can you name on this map?" After we took it he put together a slide show consisting of EVERY SINGLE ANSWER.

What country did we secede from: Europe (Seriously?) England, English, Britain, Where the Brits live, Spain (Come on we spent three years on this.)

Where is Iraq on the World Map (I'll say the locations marked): Eastern Europe(Honest mistake), Middle East somewhere(Close enough), Canada (Excuse me?), China. Here's a good one. Some dumbass marked the middle of the Atlantic how sad is that?

Where is D.C.?: Maryland (Understandable) Virginia (Understandable) Between ML and VR (Right!) Georgia (No) Florida (No) Washington State (No) Hawaii (Jesus no!)

I remember how if we were being idiots in class he would call us out and publicly embarrassed who ever he called out. It was awesome! I remember when he called on me once mistaking me for someone else, "Ian! Are you acing this class?" "Yes actually and it's the person behind me you want." "Oh thank you *Fake smile* Hey Miss can you point out where in Canada is the ST. Lawrence located?" This took a good ten minutes for her to figure out. She also broke the electronic board at the same time.

 

[Tdc2182]

I like the no bullshit teachers. "This is what you have to learn, fucking learn it."

"I don't care about ipods or gum, if you don't pay attention, to damn bad"

But sill willing to help in spare time.

Dislikes; The teachers who give lecture that have the "Jigglypuff song" monologue voice. I can't get sleepy anywhere else in the world besides class.

 

[darkfire613]

My chemistry teacher isn't the greatest. She gives us all these sheets of work we're supposed to do, but she tells us right from the beginning she will never check them, and says she knows most kids will just blow them off and not do them. Not that you miss much by not doing them, or by not reading the textbook, most material in the class is repeated so many times there is no way to not learn it no matter how stubbornly you're ignoring the work. Also we'll have review days in class where we go over the answers to the worksheets, and the teacher then gets pissed off no one did them, despite admitting when she gave us the sheets that she knew most students wouldn't do them. She'll then spend 10 to 15 minutes ranting about our work habits, and practically nothing will get done.

EDIT: But my world history teacher is far worse. While we still learn the material in chem, and it's overall a pretty fun class, my world history teacher is the epitome of incompetence. He does not give the impression he knows the materials at all, giving lectures where he just reads the textbook out loud in a bored, monotone voice. He expects us to take notes on these lectures, but he never actually reads the notes. To test his boundaries, one time I just wrote song lyrics down, no actual notes, and I still got full credit. He will also give us packets on sections from the textbook. These packets can range from 5 to 20 pages, but they're always worth the same number of points. He also never notices if people tear one or two pages out of the packets, which of course almost everyone does. These packets will also often have extra credit in them. The value of this extra credit is often more than half the packet's worth, sometimes equal to the packet's worth, and you still get extra credit even if you don't do the packet. What are most people going to do in this situation, do the 20 page packet for 50 points, or do the one page of extra credit for 50 points? For late work, if you don't write the word "late" on the sheet when you turn it in, he'll almost never notice it was turned in late. The punishment for turning something in late is you lose half the worth of the packet, but he doesn't remove points from the extra credit. Say you have a 50 point packet with 30 points extra credit, and you turn it in late. You still get more than 100%, because half the 50 is 25, plus the 30 extra credit, gives you 55/50, or 110% credit. If you're smart, do all the work and all the extra credit, you can basically skip the final and still have an A.

 

[Aetera]

I hate professors that just lecture AT the class instead of engaging the students. I also hate professors that see their own interpretation of the text as the only correct response, and also professors that teach from their own books/academic journals. I'm in(well, taking a currently taking a break from) college, and the number of professors that are geniuses in their field and yet can't effectively convey said information is really frustrating.