[maomee]

Mrs Fentress, my 7th grade History/geography teacher. She brought history to life with so many interesting side bars about the events and people we were studying (that were not covered in those standard history books). And coloring maps! I love to color and one of the activities we did when we studied a new area was to color it. ahh, thinking about that still makes me smile.

[mich327]

My mother-in-law, who teaches high school math - I never realized how incredibly physically, mentally, and emotionally demanding that job is!

[le_junkie]

Mr. Reese... T'was so fun. Never dull.

[handbagprincess]

My Mom, she is an English teacher & even now I run into people who she taught 20 years ago who remember her and ask after her. She really cared about all the kids she taught, helping them academically as well as with emotional/family problems.

[RenataM]

Mr.Pineda, he was my Grade 8 Math teacher and he's the reason I love Mathematics the way I do now. He was a very strict teacher, but he had a great way of explaining compliated proofs and theorems. He encouraged me to not just do the minimum but go a step ahead and preparing for class as opposed to expecting to learn everything in the classroom.

[fabs04]

miss carol sutherland was my favorite lituratue teacher from o levels untill a levels, getting me through the exams with an A when no one else thought i could do it and making me appriciate the depth of every story i read!

[missypoo]

My H.S. English teacher Mr. Thompson, he made the class fun and inspiring...

[me9xjr]

The most influential teacher that I've had was Mr. Forster. I had him during my freshmen and sophomore years in high school. As a History teacher, he's a very knowledgable and intellectual teacher. After school, I always came to his class to ask him questions that I might have for either his class or any other courses. At the time, I couldn't speak English at all, I just came to America for about a year or so without learning English before hand. Though I understand that it was very difficult for him to comprehend my speaking, he took the time helping me with my English skills and tutoring me for other classes (obviously I needed help at the time b/c of my lack of English). He even gave me candies once in awhile. I To me, he was more like a grandpa, and that's why I ended up calling him "grandpa" and thus everytime "grandpa" came to class after his lunch break, all the other kids was like "Tawnee, your "grandpa" is here."

[gglvs2shop]

From my college years, Dr. A. Evans, sociology professor who made the classes fun to learn, but opened my eyes to and help me understand a variety of human issues in this world (politics, hierarchy, power, death, among others)...

[neener1978]

Mrs. Johnson, my high school teacher. She's a wonderful teacher who believes in students.

[shay86]

Mrs. Hammack, my 11th grade English teacher.

She is the one that reintroduced me to literature and brought back my love for it. I am now an english major and while I am not going to be a teacher she will always be the most influental teacher in my life.

[redney]

Mr. Wassink, my 8th grade math teacher. He was one of those adults who had a "gift" with relating to teenagers. He was "The Waz" to us. In his class, he pushed me, made me think, taught math "tricks" I still use now over 25 years later. Most importantly, he gave me confidence, which I think had a significant impact in my personal development during those turbulant teenage years. He pushed me to believe girls are good in math, and he made me believe in myself and my math aptitude. (this at a time where "conventional wisdom" said girls weren't as good in math vs. boys).

What I most value about him is what I found out later....I was a bratty teenager in high school and my mother was always worried I was acting out due to my friendship with one girl - a "bad influence" my mom called her, and mom was right! Anyway, when I was in high school by this time and my mom was substitute teaching down the hall from Mr. Wassink's classroom. She knew him from when I was in 8th grade and she said they got to talking. She confided she worried about me...and he reassured her, said he saw me in the halls and knew I was a good kid at heart and I'd turn out ok (he was right). That he was able to comfort my mom warms my heart to this day. But I never got to thank him, or show him I did turn out OK.

Tragically, he died suddenly in a farming accident when I was about 23. He was still teaching and was a basketball coach. He not only left his wife and two young sons, but also left those many future students on which he had the unique ability to positively influence.

When my mom called to tell me I just wept my heart out. He was a teacher who really cared for his students as people not only as passers-through his classroom.

[A-T-G]

Mrs. Konan, My 3rd grade teacher. She gave me a wonderful sense of myself! It's funny, I loved going to school, and the year my Mother dropped me off at her class, was the first time I cried. Mrs. K looked like a picture of a Halloween witch (she wasn't wearing the hat that day). She rushed over to me, hugged me, and told me she dressed up as a witch every year--why fight it?! It made me laugh. She sat me near her desk and was so wonderfully encouraging!

She kept up with what I was doing for the rest of my time at the school, In the 5th grade, I wanted to be a patrol, they got to wear a snazzy belt and patrol the school buses and halls, I had been eagerly waiting for my year to come up! Of course, being the shortest girl in school made it impossible for them to accept me and I was heartbroken. Mrs. Konan, the sweetie, arranged for me to do the early morning address over the intercom, instead. She encouraged me to be creative and told me I had a wonderful voice.

She gave me confidence and a belief in myself that I haven't lost to this date!

Mr. Silverman, my Social Studies teacher in Junior High did something wonderful for me that I never forgot! My family has never been very well off, we didn't live near a library and I loved to read--we lived near a book store--but, I couldn't afford to buy lots of books. Well, one year the school had a secret santa for children in need and I was on the list, Mr. Silverman was my secret santa and gave me a gift certificate for the book store for $20.00! A fortune to a little girl! I brought 4 books with that 20 bucks and kept them for years! I never forgot his kindness to a bookworm!

[dooneydiva]

Mrs. Samph, my 1st-grade teacher AND Ms. Joanna Blose, my junior high English teacher were influential in the creation of the artistic and confident person that I feel I am today. Supportive and caring teachers that encouraged my desires to express myself in unique ways, I will forever appreciate what they have done. It is because of them that I am pursuing a career in teaching as well!

[Liberté]

Hmmm this is hard.

Probably my first ballet teacher. She made me motivated and opened up oportunities for me that I wouldn't have otherwise. She also made me realise working even hard will get you there. ^_^