My maths teacher last year.
Was absolutely lovely. Her name was Mrs Kiley and she is now officially (and has been up there for a while) up on my list of someone who I have deep respect for and really admire.
Sorry this isn't going to be funny.

Last year I had her for maths. I was a year younger then everybody else and had somehow been put into the highest set of maths there was. And it was HARD. Really, really hard. I found myself really struggling to keep up with the coursework, let alone pass anything. And it wasn't like I didn't try. I did. I studied so hard, did extra maths sheets, extra classes, tutorials, everything I could think of - and nothing helped.

Still - every single lesson Mrs K was there and she sat patiently beside me and helped me through the questions, explaining and explaining, letting me go to compose myself (read - stop crying) when I go so frustrated and angry that everybody else seemed to understand with ease what I struggled with, continually encouraging me. She never once lost patience with me, gave up on me or told me to quit the class.

I spent all year slaving my arse off - struggling to get a D for every test, while other people did no work and got A+'s with ease. And yet she still stuck by my decision to tough out the class.

Sorry give me a moment.

okay. I'm right.

I failed my end of year exam and she wasn't even mad at me. She actually congratulated me for failing as narrowly as I did (45%), and gave me a massive hug. I admit that I did cry a bit. And I'm struggling a bit to keep it together now writing this out.

So at the end of last year - I thought about how I could show her how much I appreciated everything she had done for me... and I sat down and wrote her a letter. It was long and took me a fair while to write - because - like now - I did struggle not to cry while writing it. I told her how much it meant to me that she had put so much effort into helping me and that I was sorry I let her down by failing the class despite both our efforts. I likened my crash and burn to the Quantas airbus that dropped 2000ft in 20 seconds. It was something of that spectacular nature.

She just gave me a massive hug but I know she still has that letter. And she still stops me to ask how I'm going this year (I had to retake maths and dropped down to the middle set) and we smile and talk like old buddies.

But yes. Thoroughly up there on the hero lists - quite nearly equal with my mum. And that's saying something.

No apologies for length. I have had the "hot guy" from The Footy Show come into my work but honestly - compared to my Mum and Mrs K - he's insignificant.
(Poppet some assembly required., Mon 20 Apr 2009, 8:21, 3 replies)

Sweet
That's lovely. I had some awesome teachers at school - namely Mrs Boyle (god rest her soul) for English and Mrs "Fannie" Forbes for maths. Mrs Boyle had the wisdom of the ages, and the empathy of someone who's seen it all but never become jaded. Mrs Forbes was 5' tall but intimidated you, but underneath that stern exterior was a friendly, helpful and extremely competent teacher.

After that school QOTW where so many people told stories about being dicks to teachers, I think we should have one about the good ones.
(McChinaman banned, Mon 20 Apr 2009, 9:40, closed)

Similar
maths was something I struggled with at school - I just didn't have the kind of logical mind needed for it and the way it was taught didn't help.

Then Mr Harrison came into the equation, and suddenly it all made sense. He pushed me to go for my O Level rather than CSE, which basically meant taking an additional exam. Unfortunately I flunked it, but I still maintain he was the best teacher I ever had.
( Davros' Granddad a voice of calm reason in a world of spastics., Mon 20 Apr 2009, 9:47, closed)

Wonderful
Who needs famous people?
(BearWithLittleBrain, Mon 20 Apr 2009, 12:39, closed)