hey do any of you guys have sweet stories about teachers who made a difference in your life?? i'm an education major and the more i hear about my classmates and their cute teacher and school memories, the more i wonder what others have to say!

In high school I had this incredible chemistry teacher. He was super funny, always had a great vibe about him and was just plain adorable. There were a few things I struggled with in the class and I remember he would always sit down one-on-one with me to make sure I understood what he was teaching! but he never made me feel unintelligent or bad about not grasping the material.

He was just great at his job. He made the entire class feel like they actually mattered, he always listened to all that we had to say & his class was just plain fun, too. lol I remember once we had a balloon party for no particular reason.

My senior year he left me a super long paragraph in my yearbook too. just loved that guy tbh.

i have.......... so many great teacher stories lmao

one was my art teacher in my second year of high school keep in mind i had only started drawing 2 years ago at the time, and was really unhappy with my art and didn't even know how to improve and just kept on comparing my ugly animu to other artists and would constantly beat myself down BUT THIS GUY was like, hey about you try practising every day and use real people as references instead of mediocre manga (i mean those weren't his exact words but that was the gist of it lmao) and i think the best part was he never really taught me actual technique? he just taught me how to improve and not compare myself to others and would always encourage me to keep on trying and was just so fun to be around in general tbh

that same year i also had a really great english teacher she taught super well and i genuinely enjoyed her classes and also, for as lame as it sounds, i didn't have any friends so i used to hang out with her during break and we would just talk and she was always really sweet not to mentioned her life stories were wild and i respected her a lot. whenever i dropped by her office she always offered to make me tea and i could never bring myself to refuse so for two years i drank tea almost daily. and i really, really hate tea

in my first and second years of middle school i also had a great religion teacher (it was an italian school where religion is an actual class okay) who would just sit there and talk to us and listen to our problems and it was just?? really different for us?? since in the italian school system actually asking students for feedback or even just doing something that is not lecturing is not common at all she was kinda like a class grandma tbh we all really liked her

not really one of my teachers but in my second year of middle school one time we had a sub who gave up trying to control the kids (we had one of the school's worst classes) so just sat there and did nothing. she noticed that instead of throwing things or messing around i was writing quietly it was edgy pokemon fanfiction but she did not know that okay and she got really excited and was all like, oh it's so great to see someone so young writing i bet you're going to become a great writer someday and being 12 i thought that was the absolute nicest thing anyone ever told me |D

on that same note still in my second year of middle school i had a spanish teacher who was always really excited to read my stories lmao............. and they were really atrocious and she probably didn't understand most of it but idk she was also the only person i knew who would read them so i thought it was crazy flattering and was always excited to get her to read them

tl;dr bless adults who encourage kids to do what they are passionate about

(sorry this is so long lmao)

There are 2 teachers that have influenced me greatly during my college years (still there too haa).

In my first year of college, I've met a wonderful teacher that made me apply in social work instead of staying in humane science. I wasn't motivated at the time but he was such a leader with strong belief about how our society needs to be changed so everyone can find their place etc. I've seen him over the years and we always politely chat about what's going on in our lives and in the world. He's a refreshing old man and I look up to him a lot. His motivation to change the world has gotten into me. He encouraged me to pursue my dream and to give the best of me. I've also been blessed by meeting one of my favourite teacher ever. She's a fantastic teacher, caring, gentle and seriously hilarious! She almost taught me all my intervention classes, helped get confidence in myself and made me evolve. I'll always be grateful to her. I hope I'll get to see her again before graduating.

There may be a few during highschool but I can't recall and I'm too lazy to get my yearbook stored away.

Sooo many.

He wasn't my teacher per se, but he was a teacher. He helped the kids who struggled with anxiety and various other personality disorders. When I was in high school, my friend and I were eating lunch in this really empty hallway, and we were just chatting as we did, and suddenly he came out and made conversation and said he could over-hear some of what we were talking about (which looking back is mortifying because we were cringy af), and that he thought we were really funny.

We sat outside of his classroom for like, two years and he would always come out and say hi. He was just always one that I felt I could turn to if I ever had problems. The three of us just got along really well, which was really nice.

I got along with 95% of my teachers though, so I had a lot of good ones, and a lot of good memories with them.

My chemistry teacher was so awesome. She was generally really funny and nice, especially to me since I liked chemistry a lot. And she really helped me through my natural sciences A Level. Like, a few days before, we had extra lessons in physics and chemistry to prepare for them, and it was, like, 4 hours after our regular classes, so we were pretty exhausted. On top of it, I was having problems with migraines, and near the end of the lessons I ended up having to leave because I had such a bad migraine. I came back just after everyone else had left, and ended up explaining what was wrong to her, and that I was really worried I would have a migraine during my A Level. She reassured me about it, and gave me some tips from her friend who also has migraines. The day of my A Level, I was fine, but everyone seemed to be looking out for me, so I guess she told them I might have problems. Then I ended up picking a physics topic, which absolutely sucked because I don't understand physics at all, and even when I tried to study it, none of it stuck because I just didn't understand it, but she had some related chemistry questions so I got one of those, which was great.

There was also my homeroom teacher/English teacher, who was super nice to me the year I came into her class. I failed second year, partially because of panic attacks, and I think I explained it to her because she asked me what had happened. She was really helpful with it, and did things like sending an email to the teachers we had to excuse me for it (with my permission), and making sure I was doing okay if something happened during the lessons.

In general, the teachers at my high school were super nice, though. Like, I think it's somewhat different here than in America, since our teachers are really only strict the first two years or so, and then they really start treating us like adults, so the last few years we were there (it was a 5-year-school) were pretty nice, teacher-wise.

I went into college as a math major. Then I took one poli sci class with a highly recommended professor and I completely changed my plans. His name is Luke Charles Harris and I admire this man so much. He completely changed the way I think about things and I realized what I was passionate about thanks to him. But there was no like one event that made me go AHA! He was just teaching and the way he explained things just made so much sense. The things he was saying and stuff. I don't know. I credit him for teaching me how to be a critical thinker for sure. I was always a straight A student, but it wasn't until him that I realized that doesn't mean much. You can get perfect grades and still not know how to think for yourself and think about things in a meaningful way.

I sounds so lame lol. I graduated 6 years ago though and I still hold him to such a high regard. I've never met someone so smart, but so down to earth. And so committed to social justice. I just love that man lol

I had some really strong teacher experiences from middle school. My mom was also a science teacher, and a popular one among the students. Her classes were really hands-on, and had a ton of labs. She also taught her students how to study, which is something none of my teachers have ever taught me.

My art teacher was really supportive of me, and taught me things that I use to this day. She helped me out of school too. My math teacher of eighth grade was just as supportive of me too, and even helped me when I burnt my hands during finals-- by having me visit her home after school so she could give me aloe. She was also the first teacher that made it easy to understand the content.

I don't know if it was because my mother was also a teacher at the school, but overall my experiences with teachers in middle school was just an overall great experience.

When I was in year 5 (or to you Americans, that's 4th grade) my actual teacher got cancer (fortunately she survived and is very healthy nowadays) and we had a supply teacher for two thirds of the year. And he was awesome. He has a real talent for making every subject and every lesson enjoyable by making all the tasks really fun and original. He was also very musical; he'd bring his guitar into class and taught us rock and roll songs from the '60s, and once he even wrote a song that we all performed in assembly as a class!

I gained a lot of confidence in my own creative abilities that year. One day, we all had to write a poem about friendship and he told us that he would choose one to frame and display next to our classroom door (so people would see it before entering the classroom). Not only did he choose mine, but he also said it was the best poem written by a kid that he'd ever read! Another time, we all wrote a story (well, we planned out the story as a class but then had to put it into our own words and flesh it out independently) and got a few of us to read ours to the class at the end of the day. When I read mine, he said it was the best story written by a kid that he'd ever heard! For my last year of primary school (after this teacher had left) I became well known for writing stories and poems, and I think it was my time with that teacher that boosted my confidence in this area and helped me to realise my capabilities. So that was awesome too.

He also collaborated with my mum (who is also a musician) to begin a "singing club" at our school. After he left at the end of the academic year, my mum continued to run the club herself for many years. I was a member for the rest of my time at primary school, then my brother joined when he was old enough, and she even ran it for a year or two after we'd both left!

So yeah. Cool teacher. Now that I work in education myself, I sort of see him as a role model; I want to encourage kids to realise and reach their potential the way he did with me all those years ago.

I always hated math, but I had a math teacher my freshman year who was absolutely incredible. He was so patient and kind and really energetic as well; he'd always make an effort to create relationships with students, and as an educator myself, I know how important that is now! Back then, though, I didn't think much of it, and I think that's the best part. He made everything seem completely effortless. Math always stressed me out, which made me hate it, but he made me like it for at least the duration of his class. He's definitely an inspiration.

I believe he just won a big teaching award this past year, and it made me so proud to have been his student at one point :') He even came to my graduation party which is basically unheard of.

Anyway, this thread makes me so happy to see everyone talking about great teachers. It definitely makes me feel like the work we do is worth it!