On this National Teacher Appreciation Day, will you tell us about one of your favorite teachers?

Mr. V (not going to give his last name). Senior year in high school (so around 1971–72). The course was American Government (basically honors social studies).

What made it so good and memorable was that 1971–72 was constitutionally very interesting in the USA. We were in the end phases of the Viet Nam war, the Kent State shootings had happened, Nixon had been elected but Watergate scandal was just getting into gear.

What Mr. V did so well was to tie all the current events that were happening into the curriculum subject matter, so we could apply what we were learning about Congress, Constitution, Supreme Court, the Court system – into what was happening very day in the newspaper.

Now, 50 years later, I remember how good and relevant that class was.

Mrs. Haferland, my sixth grade homeroom teacher, was extraordinary. She was married to a man in the US Air Force and had lived in a number of foreign locations. I remember vividly her showing us items she’d brought back from Japan. That set me on a course of loving Asia and changed the trajectory of my life.

Ms Fisher was my primary school teacher when I was about eight years old. One day she invited four children from her class to her home for high tea. It was pretty tense but it was a nice gesture and I’ve never forgotten it.

It was the first day in third grade , when I got home my Mum asked me if I liked my teacher, I sighed and said she had great legs, it was the early seventies and mini skirts were very popular, my mother almost fell over laughing so hard , and said we have no worry about you.

I have several, but the cake goes to Dr. Coffman. Analog electronics instructor who believed in me and hooked me up with my first real job. I wish I had kept up with you, I am proud to say you were a real friend. Then there was Judy Errands for calc 2 who made things so hard, that everything after was easy, and to this day, I can still calculate. My sixth-grade teacher Mrs Lister recognized that this anxious, bored, distracted, and spectrumy kid who was picked on just needed a little extra stimulation and challenge to thrive. There are so many others I’d like to personally thank.

Then… there are…those. Seventh-grade pre-algebra, Mrs. Dalton, you were and probably still are a fucking bitch. How dare you.

Dennis Lindsay, High school electronics teacher. You missed so many opportunities to teach electronics but you were afraid to control the disruptors in your class. We got nothing from you, you incompetent coward.

I’ve never had her as a teacher, but my sister. She’s taught math to mostly 6–7 graders for at least 40 years. Whenever a school needed someone to assign the ‘difficult’ kids to, they chose her because she was the only one who could manage them and get decent grades out of them. Sometimes she got the gifted students and she loved challenging them. She routinely takes all of the phones before class begins. Kids love her because she doesn’t kiss their asses; she tells it like it is and will give them grief if necessary, but also praises them when they deserve it.

As for my teachers, I don’t remember her name, but we had a native American 5th grade teacher who ate the entire orange…peel and all. Most people don’t and I’d never seen that.

I still remember my first grade teacher Mrs. Davenau (sp?). On one occasion she said, “If I hear one more peep out of you kids I’m going to do a handstand!” Of course, that was a challenge, so I quietly said, “peep!”. She went to the wall and, in her skirt, tried to kick her legs up into a handstand. She couldn’t, but all of us kids laughed hard.

Mr. Fontana is probably gone by now…I sincerely hope he’s miserable wherever he is. I couldn’t learn math to save my life in 7th grade – fractions, decimals, etc. and he just gave me Ds, Fs and shame rather than trying to help me. I didn’t even know my times tables and could barely do division. But he doted on the ‘good’ students.

I hated school, but I had a lot of teachers who were great. Actually, most of my teachers were great. I didn’t have one that made some sort of huge difference in my life, I know people with stories like that, but I had plenty of teachers who taught me a lot, who had senses of humor, who confided things that I was surprised a teacher told me that were interesting and thought provoking. I could write 20 examples of teachers who I liked and taught me something that stays with me today.