Attitude+Toward+Subject+Matter

Think about a teacher you had in middle or high school that you feel was an effective teacher. What was this teacher's attutude about the subject matter he/she taught and how did they show it? Be brief in your comments and include your name with your post.

My art teacher was in love with art. She lived it. She showed us her artwork and explained how it made an impact on her life. Personal experience was key in this class. I think that when a teacher is that passionate about a subject it makes the student want to learn and builds a desire. -Jacqueline Kim

I had a teacher in high school who was very effective. He had a passion for English literature and knew a lot about the background behind books and their authors. He taught my 20th Century Literature class and he knew how to get the novels to relate to the students' lives. - Allyson Simonton

My 8th grade life science teacher truly had a passion for his subject, and reflected that in an effective way. He applied the subject matter to relevant everyday life activities and circumstances, allowing each individual to understand further and become interested. He taught with great enthusiasm and attempted to get all of the students excited about projects and other subject matter that was being taught as well. ---Jeff Prickett

In 9th grade I had a Spanish teacher that was extremely energetic about the language. You would be approached by him right as you stepped through the door and asked a question in Spanish. He helped everyone learn more about the culture while learning a great deal of the Spanish language.-- Ryan Rybicki

My 8th grade Math teacher was an amazing teacher! He had such an enthusiasm and a passion for teaching math. This resulted in his students catching this same enthusiasm, as he took what for some would've been a difficult and boring subject, and made it fun and easy. -Micah Booth

My 12th grade AP calculus was extremely passionate about the subject. Although he was old, he showed great energy and enthusiasm towards the subject he taught. He's appreciation and love for the subject is shown by him being the department chair and the only calculus teacher at our school. He loved working with the bright young kids and always had us thinking hard about the subject so that we may appreciate it as he does. --Sarah Yang--

My high school Band Director was very passionate and showed a lot of enthusiasm for his program/class. He went out of his way to ensure the band was successful. He devoted many hours out of his evening to conduct rehearsals. Many of his weekends were planned with us (his students) at competitions. He would do all this after having 5 periods of daily classes. -Xavier Diaz

In the 12th grade, I took an AP Calculus class and it was taught by two teacher, a mother and daughter combo. And I had these two for my other math classes, but separately. I knew that they both liked math greatly and equally, but it was my AP Calculus that really showed me how much they loved teaching math. They would take turns during class teaching the class and each one would have a different strategy of teaching it. But when there were two solutions to the problem they both came together and explained everything perfectly. It was magical when they both worked together; it was like I learned everything faster when they worked together. They made Calculus easy and fun! -- Kim Tiongco

I cannot recall the name of my world civilizations teacher, but she was awesome! When discussing the black plague she went into horrible detail about the illness the people experienced, as well as how it was contracted. There was no stopping her from jumping up and down when talking about the French Revolution or from moving desks to have us reenact various scenes from history. We once divided the class into two groups one defending a tyrant on trial for charges of tyranny, and the other group prosecuting him. There was no shortage of excitement in this class. it was easy to see that she really loved teaching the subject. -- Dana Detterich

My high school physics teacher was honored three of the four years as a teacher of the year, and there was reasons for that. Mr G. would make this class fun, even when many would not want to take it. He often made the lectures easy to understand by using hands on demonstrations and fun class activities to get the students to understand the most complex theories of physics. To make a classroom interactive and fun during the learning process was key for many of us students to fully understand and comprehend the complex world of physics. Harold Sloat

Core subjects such as English can sometimes be really dull. Ms. Croix, one of my english teacher in high school use to have the class mesmerized. One of the things that really shined through was how much she loved the subject. She told us that in high school she was the kind of student that barely passed, Right before graduation her counselor was frantically calculating to see if she would even walk for gradution. This is because Ms. Croix ditched class a lot to go to the library and just read. She told us before she was a teacher she had a lucrative job that made tons of money but she left it when she realized that her heart wanted to teach English. We never questioned the story once because of the passion that she showed for the subject. She would critically challenge us to dissect and interpret literary works in ways we never imagined. She sparked debates that even intrigued the most listless student to participate. She demanded a lot from each student and treated us like intellectual adults and I happily took on the role. She opened up our minds and the creativity that we are capable of. Ms. Croix taught us the power of words and writing. Her passion for english made me pay attention and take note that it was crucial to learn. -Phoithien Duong

Although I never got along with him Mr. Dimundo absolutely loved his subject: mathematics. It came through in everything he did, be it an example, a frustration over a student not getting it, or simply talking to him about it. Unfortunately he had very little interest in students who learned differently than he enjoyed teaching, or for students who didn't care much for the subject, so he and I did not get along and I have ever since (with help from a few poor math teachers before him) had a foul taste in my mouth regarding math. Regardless his enthusiasm for math fostered a love of the subject in many of my friends. - Ryan Boughter

Mrs. Boulus loved Chemistry. She is the reason that I enjoy science so much. She would give us real life examples of how what we were learning could be seen at home or outside the classroom. She would also tell us about the classes that she took and the experiments that she had to do in school. The lessons all inluded models and memory learning techniques. When we were working on experiments she would be excited and walk around making sure we all were on point and that we were doing it right.---Kristina Goltz

When I think of a teacher who truly had a passion for the subject matter, I always remember my high school math analysis teacher. If memory serves, I believe it was Mr. Orduña. He was one of those guys that would practically scream with excitement when he would go through his explanations to solve a problem. Once he got to the point he was trying to make or the solution, he would blurt out "BOOM! PALO!" Palo means stick in Spanish, but we still didn't quite understand what he meant by saying it while excited. Either way, his excitement and passion was evident, and not only did it keep us awake, but it was also contagious. We often found ourselves saying boom or palo, even if occasionally it was to poke fun. Whenever I had questions concerning math, this was the math teacher I would pick to help me out, because I knew he knew his stuff, and I knew he'd be happy to help my get what he was so excited about. -Alejandro Torres

Mr. Victorson was my AP psychology teacher. It was one of the only classes I looked forward to. While I enjoyed other classes and teachers, it seemed that some days would be more interesting than others such as the various times in English class when we would just watch the movie version of the book we just read. There was never a dull day in psychology. Not many people too psychology in high school so it was limited to one class a day, while Mr. V taught European history and economics the rest of the time. The guy was a great teacher, but you could tell his favorite subject to teach was psychology. We had block scheduling at our school, so we had longer classes, but fewer periods meaning we only went to the same class every other day. The degree to which I looked forward to days when I had psychology show how much his enthusiasm for the subject rubbed off on his students. - Danny Chiang

My junior high band teacher had such passion about teaching us to read music and really excel in music. In 8th grade, he encouraged me to change instruments, in order to gain versatility and also because I would have more opportunity with a less popular instrument. The amazing thing was that he stayed after school many days to teach me individually to get me "caught up" and playing as well as my peers on my new instrument, the very difficult french horn!- Lisa Gaetje

My AP European Civilization teacher was in love with history and was so energetic when he taught. He always expressed his love for his subject matter from his stories of traveling to the places he would teach us about as well as being so incredibly knowledgeable.***Stephanie Zamora

At some point we have all come across the teacher who absolutely loves what they are teaching and for me that point was crossed when I was in high school biology. Mrs. Jarmon is/was without a doubt the most enthusiastic teacher I have ever had the pleasure to meet and I benefited greatly from her class. The material was nothing out of the ordinary but it was the way she went about passing the information along to us. The tone of her voice, her body language, the expressions on her face, the fervor and the passion she conveyed while explaining concepts was unsurpassed in my educational experience. I wish all my teachers shared her enthusiasm. (Christopher Duncan)

One teacher who I know enjoyed their subject matter was my Senior Year Government teacher Mrs. Thompson. Our high school had a diversity amongst out political beliefs and often that was a source of conflict among the student body. She welcomed political arguements (civilized ones of courses) in her class room and promoted an understanding of political party beliefs. She attempted to keep her political views concealed at first but it was obvious sooner or later that she was a die hard conservative. I on the other hand was (and still am) an ardent liberal who was often the odd on out when it came to political discussions. The vast majority of the student population at my school was conservative coming from a predominantly republican area. So I often found myself in heated debates with my fellow class mates about policy issues like the Patriot Act and the War on Terror. She welcomed these debates with great enthusiasm and never once stepped on my toes because of my beliefs. If any student in the class had some problem understanding a Supreme Court case or political process should would take her time explaining it to its fullest. Even though we were on opposite sides of the political spectrum she was one of my favorite teachers. -Eric Ortega

Mr. Davis my high school Bible teacher had a passion for his subject. He taught with energy and was happy to come to work each day. Because he enjoyed teaching about the Bible, he was able to keep the students attention and they were interested in what he had to say. He had his PhD. and I remember that being impressive; he was very knowledgeable. -Kelly Norris

My chemistry teacher was one of the few teachers who actually got me to like science. It usually goes right over my head and I end up feeling very frustrated. But she knew her subject matter so well that she was able to explain it in such a way that I was able to understand it. Her influence meant so much to me. She also made it fun for us. On our last day of the semester we learned one of the best chemical reactions: making ice cream :) Amy Hill

I had an English teacher who was so passionate about world literature and Shakespeare. She had the students act out the Shakespearean plays in class and recite stories such as Beowulf with an accent. She was encouraging to the students who didn't quite understand the Old English but patiently taught us the meaning. -Brad Willis

When I was in junior high, I thought my social studies/history teacher was the final authority on all matters historical/political. He was completely engrossed in his lectures; he spoke as if he had been a participant in each event. He had full conviction when he spoke because he really loved his subject. We always paid rapt attention. - Melodee deLeon

I had a very interesting biology teacher during my junior year of high school. I probably couldn't have cared less about the class, and just wanted it to be over, but his endless enthusiasm for the subject made it a little more interesting to me. He was always telling us stories about his biology-related experiences and bug collections, and they actually made me want to pay attention in class. -Danielle Hughes