During my life, I have been plagued with an issue that is familiar to a lot of people. Every year, new teachers come into our school life with the task of educating us and end up either being liked or subjected to some unfriendly thoughts. Having these teachers that you don’t like can make the class unbearable. As a young child of five, you only ever think of friends and the snacks before naptime. As you grow, it’s less about the snacks and more about friends and then later, this includes the very important teachers. They are the ones who have an undeniable influence over their students. Since the average student spends seven hours at school, they are subjected to whatever teacher they get in the classroom. Whether it is fortunate or not, all teachers are different. They have different styles of teaching and different personalities. They are just regular people with lives outside of school which is sometimes a strange notion for students to comprehend. With these differences comes the part where they are either star examples of good teaching or need to possibly rethink their career options. Good personalities are key aspects of teaching since you have to be suited to the job. Some are not cut out for that. Students will always have the disengaged teacher, the grandmotherly teachers and also those that are well balanced. These are the most basic categories of teachers that I, and I think others as well, have encountered which is why this paper exists.
The “I’m extremely nice, love sharing my personal life, and treating you like my grandchildren” teachers or “grandma” teachers for short are just what their name suggests. They are very caring and really sweet and the class is usually very easy. It’s clear that the lines between being professional and personal are extremely blurred for them. This gives the impression they want to be liked more than they want to teach the children. With this, there arise several problems. You’re not really challenged much if the class is easy so that’s a waste. Also, the student is sometimes unprepared for the vigorous curriculum of the next year and usually complains that their teacher did not teach them these things. These are the types of teachers you think you want because, well, who wants a mean teacher? Pictures of family members don’t just litter the desk but the entire classroom and even one tiny glance at them spells doom for the unfortunate student. Endless stories of the “cute things my little niece did this weekend” or how “the nice quilt I made was ruined by my cat.” A free period is a dream but one that will seem like a nightmare the next year. The older the student gets, the more they will appreciate a teacher who leaves her personal issues at home and remains professional at school. In addition to wasting class time, hearing about their kid’s recitals or the dinner they hosted or how stressed life is to them is often inappropriate. As a child I had so many of the grandma teachers partially because I was in elementary school and that’s where it was somewhat reasonable. They told stories, gave us little candies and befriended us. In high school, however, it is considered weird when become too personal with the students. Of course you can those educators can befriend students, but there are certain boundaries that shouldn’t be crossed. For example, going to the movies together or to each other’s homes is inappropriate. Sometimes, they come to school all ready with sweethearts’ and honeys’ rolling off their tongues. Classroom behavior tends to be chaotic because students realize that teacher is too nice to do anything. They are usually taken advantage of by the older kids. Being firm is not in their vocabulary. They are sweet but I feel like I’m visiting my grandparents every day. Then again, ask any student in the world if they prefer them over the “boring” ones, and 99% would say the former. The freaky 1% are just masochists.
The “Monotonously Voiced Economics Teacher from that Hilarious 80’s Movie” or the “disengaged” teacher is also another terrible torture students must go through. These dreadful teachers insist on speaking in exactly one low tone of voice that eventually numbs the ears. You always feel like your brain is slowly turning to mush from the utterly boring monologue. If it wasn’t for the breathing and occasional sneeze, it would honestly seem like they are robots sent from another planet to slowly incinerate the brains of young children. They obviously don’t seem to enjoy their work or like being around kids. Every day, they seem to have an albatross around their necks as they, along with all the students, suffer through the lesson. It’s baffling as to why they teach. I can only think that they just did not know what they wanted to be so they picked some random job. I almost felt like I was being punished for some sin I was not aware of. Somehow, it seemed like I deserved to be induced into a coma almost every day. It doesn’t help that most of these teachers are somewhat old, as if outdated by a million years of repetitively explaining the same things a million times to a million unfriendly faces. I guess after many years of explaining the same thing repeatedly, it’s entirely justifiable to no longer show enthusiasm or care about whether the students learn or not. It would explain the loss of all color and joy from their face. Even their classroom is reflective of their tired attitude. For one hour, five days a week, students sit in a room filled with nonexistent school materials and one dreary color with cracks on the walls that are infinitely more fascinating than the lesson. The scene from Ferris Bueller’s day off has got to be one of the most accurate (ok, I concede to it being slightly exaggerated) depictions of how bad teachers can just make a child want to drop dead. To add icing on the cake, the teacher would teach a boring topic like mathematics, marine biology and yes, even English. It’s like they knew of their tragic flaw and picked a topic that was thoroughly dull and mundane, that no normal child would have an interest in, which would never ever have any meaning to us in the real world, just to drag us into their lackluster worlds for just an hour.
I like to think of the “The Sinfully Sarcastic Doctor from House, No, The Other One,” or just simply, the “Dr. Wilsons” as one of my favorite teachers. They are funny and witty but very professional as well. I enjoy sarcasm very much and they make the class interesting. Students can enjoy the class but know their limits and are productive. They are authoritative which means that thankfully they can be firm and the kids who want to learn are not distracted by the disruptive students. Their sarcasm is not overly mean or rude in anyway. They just like to poke fun at students. Poor kid walks in late and the teacher has a small smirk on her face and asks why he was late, but he says he isn’t sure with a silly lost look on his face. So she casually remarks, “I would have liked to insult you, but the sad truth is that you wouldn't understand me.” I often find this hilarious unless it is directed to me, but the rest of class knows she is only joking as well. The good thing about the Dr. Wilsons of the teacher world is that they know and respect their limits and still do their jobs. This is good as sarcasm pokes fun at silliness so it would be ironic if they were being exactly what they condemned. Unfortunately I’m a very gullible person and will believe almost anything to the horror of my parents. Sometimes I’m not sure what those teachers mean with their wit but they always entertain and always teach as well. I find them to have a good balance.
Being nice is great and is recommended but being over the top is not necessary. Students can have educators who turn out to be well balanced or completely disengaged. Fortunately, there is always a silver lining to apparently bad situations which is important to realize. Regardless of the type of teacher people come across in their school life, they are all taught something by those teachers. Of course it seems that it is always better to have a teacher who is very bubbly and affectionate as opposed to someone who seems to curse your very existence. A person might learn absolutely nothing pertaining to the subject but come to realize that these types of people are in the world and have a high chance of meeting them time and time again. These classes also teach us to be more patient with others and to be understanding of differences. My parents have repeatedly told me whenever I came home complaining about my bizarre teacher that I should just wait until I’m older and those words that spitefully fell from my mouth would be taken back.. I seem to be still be growing but I’ve learned this much. Later in life, the more mature person that has hopefully emerged will look back and be thankful for all the experiences each teacher brought to them, whether it is positive or negative. That’s why all teachers are helpful. There will always be favorites but there will never be useless teachers.