Genesys Casual

 View Only

Discussion Thread View
Back to discussions
Expand all | Collapse all

QOTM - O Captain! My Captain! Who's Your Favorite Teacher?

  • 1.  QOTM - O Captain! My Captain! Who's Your Favorite Teacher?

    GENESYS
    Posted 06-05-2024 11:32

    Graduation is upon us, teacher appreciation month is just behind us, and before we know it, a new school year will be here.

    We thought now is as good a time as any to ask: Who was your favorite teacher and why? 

    What is a teacher: 

    • Could be someone from grade school
    • Collegiate/graduate
    • Tutor
    • Trainer
    • Personal Mentor

    Anyone who answers the QOTM gets this badge on their profile to certify their participation:

    For our graduates, congratulations! We hope your celebration is epic and your summer memorable. For the teachers who get to enjoy a break, may your sleep be glorious, your travel flawless, and your meals perfect. For the parents whose kids are home for summer, we extend our sympathies. ;)

    Cheers to the end of the school year! 

    Matt & Team


    #CommunityQuestions(Contest,Community,etc.)

    ------------------------------
    Matt Lawson
    Genesys - Employees
    Online Community Manager
    ------------------------------


  • 2.  RE: QOTM - O Captain! My Captain! Who's Your Favorite Teacher?

    Posted 06-06-2024 07:49

    I had a math teacher in high school that was a certified clown. No really, he actually went to clown school and performed for many years with Barnum & Bailey. One of the things that I'll always remember him for was that he would use a yo-yo(which he picked up how to use while in the circus) to explain angles and concepts in class.

    He made learning a lot of fun in classes which are not known to be fun whatsoever. That will always stick with me.



    ------------------------------
    Seean Weaver
    MAPFRE USA - Telecom Analyst
    ------------------------------

    Original Message


  • 3.  RE: QOTM - O Captain! My Captain! Who's Your Favorite Teacher?

    GENESYS
    Posted 06-07-2024 08:03

    That's really cool! All I had like this was a teacher who would sing "Green Acres" to our school name "Town Acres".



    ------------------------------
    Matt Lawson
    Genesys - Employees
    Online Community Manager
    ------------------------------

    Original Message


  • 4.  RE: QOTM - O Captain! My Captain! Who's Your Favorite Teacher?

    Posted 06-06-2024 07:58

    I had a teacher in high school, Mr. Richardson, who taught 11th-grade English Lit. He was one of those "cool" teachers that everyone adored because he could talk to you - and I mean real talk. He would tell us how being an adult was not all that we saw in the movies - doing what we wanted when we wanted to - and he gave honest life advice. I also grew up in the deep south (Mobile, Alabama) and we, unfortunately, had banned books. Mr. Richardson made sure that our assignments were as many banned books as he could which was amazing. He would discuss them with such passion that even The Grapes of Wrath was a barn burner! 

    Mr. Richardson taught me to always be unapologetically authentic because if I end up rubbing people the wrong way, they aren't my people anyway... those were powerful words to a yet-to-be-diagnosed neurospicy kid. I still live by that mindset to this day and I have been out of his class for 35 years.



    ------------------------------
    Amy Sessions
    City of Clearwater - Cutomer Service Manager
    ------------------------------

    Original Message


  • 5.  RE: QOTM - O Captain! My Captain! Who's Your Favorite Teacher?

    Posted 06-06-2024 08:29

    @Amy Sessions why do English teachers seem to always get it? My first English teacher in high school had a radical, at least to me back in 1997, way of doing tests.... Everything is open book. Jaw dropping as a high school freshman. His philosophy was, "who cares what you are able to memorize, that will come in time if you use it enough, but you should be able to know how to FIND information". 



    ------------------------------
    Seean Weaver
    MAPFRE USA - Telecom Analyst
    ------------------------------

    Original Message


  • 6.  RE: QOTM - O Captain! My Captain! Who's Your Favorite Teacher?

    Posted 06-07-2024 07:52
    Edited by Brian Jones 06-07-2024 07:53

    Hands down it would be my 5th grade teacher Ms. Hughes. She was in her late 30s/early 40s at the time, and would call us her little lambs. My parents also shared that during their last parent-teacher meeting with her, she made it quite clear to my parents that if they were okay with it she would adopt me so I could stay with her family & study abroad, haha

    You see, our family was stationed in Germany at the time, precisely when the Berlin Wall was torn down. Not only was she an informative, passionate, caring, and fun teacher, but instead of keeping her students on the Air Force Base the entire school year, she got approval to schedule and personally partially fund monthly field trips to various German castles & markets so we could learn about the culture & people we were surrounded by. 

    She would also encourage healthy competition, community, and class culture by implementing a quarterly rewards system for her students for everything from random acts of kindness, being a good person/friend to others, and high/improved performance. She had this gift for finding something to honor about each of her students, and would then take the top performers from each of her categories (typically 4 students) out to dinner in a German village. That was when she also taught us about (and I have never again tried) escargot, haha

    What I find most endearing about Ms. Hughes though is after her students left Germany she kept in touch for decades through an annual newsletter with a personalized letter on the back. We have had the opportunity to reunite one-time when she returned stateside, and she's still as amazing now as she was overseas.

    Thank you, Ms. Hughes, for shepherding the herds so well!



    ------------------------------
    Brian T. Jones | Ascension | Senior Specialist - Technology
    ------------------------------

    Original Message


  • 7.  RE: QOTM - O Captain! My Captain! Who's Your Favorite Teacher?

    GENESYS
    Posted 06-07-2024 08:13

    When I think of favorite teachers, I am lucky to have a flood of ideas. 

    My frist go-to response is Mr Jolley. I mean, how can a teacher named Mr Jolley not be everyone's favorite. He was an english teacher my senior year, and he had just learned of LARPing with foam weapons and found a student who had an armory of these hand-made foam swords, axes, shields, and even a mace. All of those weapons came to class one day as we were reading Beowulf for a battle. 

    Beyond making school fun, he was incredibly supportive of everyone's interests. He would host clubs, go to plays/sporting events, find ways to showcase students' talents. He may be most remembered for two things:

    1) He had a cafe station in his room with coffee, tea, and hot chocolate. Students could leave money to fund the operation. Probably highly illegal.

    2) He would let students pick the music for the day. Anyone could bring a school-appropriate CD and that would be the music he played between classes. 

    Great guy! 

    I also had some incredible college students and to go participate in two independent studies at the University of TN. A true honor for me. One on short story adaptations in film and another on modern poetry. I valued the time Michael Knight and Art Smith spent with (both great teacher names).

    Post grad, my favorite mentors were when I was in sales. I had two leaders that blend together, they worked in tandem, but what I remember them telling me that I'll never forget is "chaos becomes normal". The first time you do something it can be scary, but the more you do it the more comfortable and eventually "normal" it will become. My pickleball skills are definitely a testament to that concept.

    Thank you teachers!



    ------------------------------
    Matt Lawson
    Genesys - Employees
    Online Community Manager
    ------------------------------

    Original Message