O/T- give me your school/teacher stories please!

Oldernotwiser

katy1987 wrote: »

Definitely I keep coming across the same opinions on this, that the best kind of teacher is fun but know where to draw the line, and doesn't lose his/her temper but motivates the pupils in a positive way and brings in ideas/props not necessarily stipulated by the curriculum.

I certainly don't think that teachers should have to be "fun", or make their lessons so at secondary level. Interesting and challenging, yes, but I don't think that "fun" needs to come into it.

Personally, I think that any teacher who sticks totally to the curriculum, much less teaches to the test, should be a candidate for being debarred from the profession, although I expect that's a minority viewpoint!

bestpud

Oldernotwiser wrote: »

I certainly don't think that teachers should have to be "fun", or make their lessons so at secondary level. Interesting and challenging, yes, but I don't think that "fun" needs to come into it.

Personally, I think that any teacher who sticks totally to the curriculum, much less teaches to the test, should be a candidate for being debarred from the profession, although I expect that's a minority viewpoint!

That will be most of them now then!

At the primary my older two attended, they stopped anything like PE for several weeks before the SATS! And tried to tell parents we needed to do this and that to get them through this 'important' test! :mad:

And their secondary education, particularly in the last two years, was 100% about the exams.

I said, at the time, they'd have to be fools to fail them as the teacher was giving it to them on a plate - all they needed to do was listen and follow! It was actually painful to watch how they were primed.

My friend talks of a secondary teacher who encouraged her love of reading and showed them how to think 'outside the box' and never limit themselves. It was a 'rough' school and she recalls that being one of the highlights of her time there.

I think fun is definitely a good thing at primary level. There has to be a balance, of course, but dd(7) has fun at school and I think that's a positive thing. It's great when she comes home gushing about a topic they have learnt.

starsinmycrown

My favourite primary school teachers really shaped the way i am today, but i think you have to be careful about this, because it cuts both ways. I had some great teachers whom i felt knew me very well as a person and this helped to get the best out of me. KS1 is where you start to form an academic identity i always think, although for some people this is a double edged sword. From being in what was then known as the infants, I had already established an identity as somebody who is good at art, English, and drama, and somebody who is not so good at maths and science and I think that's stayed with me, even up to MA level. I'm very aware of what my capabilities are!

I had some very good teachers who allowed me, mainly before the advent of the national curriculum, to spend more time doing things like art or creative writing and handwriting in order to foster that talent in me. Yet by the time I'd got into year seven i knew very well i was weak in other subjects and didn't like being forced to do them, so I think in many ways my teachers did me a disservice whilst trying to help me. If it was a better all round education I was looking at, I should have been perhaps forced to do more technical subjects, instead of this happening at gcse- maths- G, Science- F, English lit- A*, English lang- A*, media studies- A...:)

I used to work in a primary school and something interesting happened once in KS1. The teacher had setted the tables, in a way which was supposed to seem subtle to the children. He had special reading tables: green group, blue group, red group, etc. He said that he was going to give each of the children a colour and get them to sit at their new table. One of the more observant, albeit weaker children in literacy was told to "join the orange table". He said to me "Aw, Miss i knew i'd be in the thicko group!" I said "What do you mean, there's no thicko group, these are colour groups!" he said "oh come on Miss, its me, and Sam, and Mike, and Rikesh in this group, so it must be the thick group. The green group is the bof group because Harvinder and bilaal and lisa are in it. Its just groups in order of thickness, isn't it?"

They're canny, kids, aren't they?

starsinmycrown

In secondary, i think that's where the relationships part becomes really crucial. Primary school children are generally more accepting of "a teacher", rather than 16 year olds, where they start to pick fault with people and develop personality clashes. If ididn't like my primary school teachers and had a bad relationship, i still did as i was told. i loathed my physics teacher, hated him, and he hated us. result was, a very strong student in physics (not me) ended up with an E at gcse, just because of a personality clash. i loved my english teachers, and as a result was happy to spend time around them and listen to what they had to say. In my mind, my science teachers were idiots, so if they'd told me grass is green, i wouldn't have believed it!

I had a very good headteacher who looking back, handled very delicate situations remarkably well, and was experienced enough to see the bigger picture. Obviously, once you get to about 14 the word "relationship" when associated with certain teachers becomes very appealing....

I once handed in (by mistake!!) in with my exercise book a note that me and my friend had been writing in class. I CRINGE to think of it. We fancied our teachers and i was 16, and we had been passing notes on this piece of paper.

"Mr Smith is well fit. i want to s**** him. wld u?"
"No, he is a minger, but I wld do Mr johnston all day..."

You get the picture. VERY foul, very graphic, including illustrations. and this was handed into my headteacher....

He held the note up in class and said " i think you handed in some very interesting work.... see me after!"

i'll always remember what he said. After keeping me sweating outside the class for ages, he sent me into his office. He sat there in this big leather chair in silence for about five minutes, just to scare me, then he said in his plummy voiced way:

" i understand that young girls have fantasies, is this fair to say?"
"yes sir."
" and i understand that these fantasies are sometimes..sexual fantasies...?"
"yes sir"
"But is that all they are? are they just a way of exploring your sexuality?"
(cringing!) "yes sir"
"well that's all i need to know as a headteacher"

i asked him, begged him not to tell my parents, or the teachers involved, or my friend whom he never asked the name of, but i suspect he knew...and he never did. But i ALWAYS trusted him after that and did exactly what he said to do and he let it be our little secret:) although he did used to smirk whenever this teacher crossed our paths and asked once if anybody would like to take the swimming money to mr smith, and made a point of asking me if i would like to "take this opportunity!" i declined.

Though interestingly, and at the time this BAFFLED me- when my grades started to slip, this headteacher TOOK ME to this man and asked if he would like to take me on as a student because he wanted me to swap groups. i was obviously delighted and my grades shot up as i never missed a lesson and listened eagerly and attended his after school revision classes, giggling. But of course, that was what he KNEW was going to happen. A very wise man who is now the head of a educational research organisation. I'm so glad he did what he did for me, as i knew others in school who got into BIG trouble about fancying teachers etc, esp with this culture now of accusing teachers. somebody i knew even had the police involved to warn them for sexual harrassment over a silly little "dear sir i love you, letter." with the better safe than sorry culture. Glad my head was so wise...

katy1987

thanks very much to all that have replied- i haven't been on in a while but i got through this assessment and am off for the next stage of interviews on tuesday! so thanks everybody!