44 Comments - tom73 - Tuesday, Jul 22, 08 @ 9:08 am: Mrs Hoffman. High school English, freshman and junior year, Belleville East high school, late 1980s. She was that rare teacher who could make grammar seem like a life-and-death subject (in a good, fun way), and she went above and beyond to encourage my interest in writing, even when I was putting on the typical teenage act of alienation, angst, boredom, etc. I am grateful she did not give up on me, as I make most of my income from writing and editing these days. Thank you, Mrs Hoffman. - Bill S. Preston, Esq. - Tuesday, Jul 22, 08 @ 9:14 am: Bill Wylie, a photography professor I had in undergrad. He gave me my first opportunity to travel outside the US when he let me into his summer class in Italy - where I never learned so much in such a short time. He was so cool and knowledgeable and a bit of a snob. He intimidated the crap out of me, but it made me take better photos. He’s at UVA now and I still keep in touch with him. Send him photo books that I find in used book stores. The man completely changed my life, for which I will be forever grateful. - Anonymous45 - Tuesday, Jul 22, 08 @ 9:15 am: Be Shepherd at SIU-C . He was demanding. interesting, and knew I was slacking off and gave me a B for cutting class too often the last semester of my senior year. He was a great scientist and mentor. He had a true appreciation for conservation and life in all it’s mysteries… - bored now - Tuesday, Jul 22, 08 @ 9:16 am: Larry Brock. He pushed me to be as good a student as I was a football player (et al). He always challenged his students, and I was definitely better for it. I got my second degree/major in Philosophy based on the strength of the work I did in high school, due to Mr. Brock… - the Other Anonymous - Tuesday, Jul 22, 08 @ 9:17 am: Rich, this is a nice tribute to Mr. Hemingway and to all the great teachers out there. My favorite was James O’Laughlin (”Jimmy O” to the kids). I had him for freshman English. A former minor league baseball player, he was tall, lanky, and bearded. And he had a unique teaching style. He’d spin out great stories using pop culture to make points about, of all things, the subjunctive. I remember well his discourse on cigarette ads — “Winston Tastes Good Like a Cigaratte Should” is wrong; “Winston Tastes Good As a Cigarette Should” is better. “What’s more important to you; good taste or good grammar?” he asked. And he challenged us, a bunch of scared freshmen facing tough questioning for the first time. It was completely different from any other teacher I had until that point. There are other great teachers out there, and it’s a pleasure to remember them. - Fan of the Game - Tuesday, Jul 22, 08 @ 9:26 am: Dr. Raymond Scott Rainbow, Jr., a professor of composition and medieval literature at SIU-Carbondale. Scott was an anachronism of the modern university–a teaching professor who wrote little. He encouraged his students to cut, cut, cut their writing to the core of the message. He encouraged students in their writing while being honest about their product. Scott graduated from the University of Chicago and worked with the great John Gardner on medieval “stuff’ while the author was at SIU. But he had time for a poor boy from southern Illinois. His office hours were mine. I took his courses as electives–enjoying Chaucer in the Middle English. He paid my way into theater productions and encouraged my own acting. Other people have been influential teachers for me: Ruth Hale, Jim Mulvaney, Rick Jackson, Bob Freeman, and Cliff Harbour. But Scott Rainbow was the finest teacher in the broad sense of the word. Scott died several years ago, and I miss him. - Southern Illinois Democrat - Tuesday, Jul 22, 08 @ 9:38 am: Sue Stoner was a professor at Eastern Illinois Ubiversity in the psychology department. She encouraged me as an undergraduate and convinced me to take the GRE and enter graduate school. She had high expectations and was firm but was one of those people you wanted to please and wanted to proud of you. Without her guidance and support, I would not have made it as a school psychologist (a field I have been in 20 years). She passed away a few years ago and I still think of how many students she impacted over the years. She was a great individual. - cdub - Tuesday, Jul 22, 08 @ 9:39 am: Brother James Gaffney, my English teacher at Driscoll HS in Addison, who’s now president of Lewis University. As a teacher, he was demanding, insightful, patient, droll. He guided me through “Merchant of Venice”, “Lord of the Flies”, “Of Mice and Men” and some challenging classics. I’m a better writer today because he was tough on me 40 years ago. - Steve S. - Tuesday, Jul 22, 08 @ 9:40 am: I actually have two because they both left a lasting impression. First, Doc Faries was my high school sophomore English teacher and later taught Creative Writing my junior year. She taught us to find any creativity that we might have and how it can be expressed through creative writing. Her editing of some fairly complex grammar and her insistence in “getting things right” while still being creative impact my writing to this day - something I do for a living now. Second, my trumpet professor throughout college (I was actually a music major!), Chris Jaudes, was a major factor in my transition from a goofy high school kid to a confident, determined adult. While teaching me how to play “without taking prisoners”, he instilled a perfectionist streak and practice work ethic that I didn’t know I was capable of - something that also drives me today. I lucked into having him for a teacher while he was still a free-lance player in the St. Louis area. Now, he’s a lead player on Broadway in New York. Quite the fortunate “accident” in my life. That “If it sucks, I don’t care if everyone else thinks it’s fantastic, it still sucks and it has to be better” is a standard that has been a great self-motivation tool in music and in politics. It’s amazing the power and influence teachers have. - GOP - Tuesday, Jul 22, 08 @ 9:41 am: The Other Anon…Jimmy O was certainly a classic teacher at Loyola Academy. He was one of the greats…as were Doc Aiello (US History) and Don Sprague (Latin). All three inspired us teenagers which was not easy especially in those subjects. None were easy on us but you knew they wanted the best for us. They demanded much. - VanillaMan - Tuesday, Jul 22, 08 @ 9:51 am: I was a rebel in school and felt like a guinea pig. My sweet liberal professors couldn’t understand my questions, my point of view, or my career goals. I continually pushed the envelope by being the first graduate to publish electronically and on how the WWW will change governments, and how governments needed to respond. I was their first graduate to attend university in Germany as I studied government data security and citizen’s rights regarding the Bundespersonalausweis. Consequentially, they hadn’t a clue. My Master’s Committee didn’t understand my thesis or how to even read through it since it required elemental knowledge of the Internet. A couple professors didn’t even use a computer. The Chairman told me he didn’t know how to approve my work since he didn’t have a paper version of it to sign. When I needed assistance, they failed to provide it. When confronting German bureaucracies, they couldn’t help. Faced with the 21st Century, they stared dumbfounded. So I honestly don’t have much respect for tenured professors spouting Saul Alinsky, and unable to give a balanced view of American political history. While my professors were sweet and sincere, their mindset, readings, writings, and opinions are shockingly obsolete. - Ghost - Tuesday, Jul 22, 08 @ 9:57 am: Kit Kinports, formerly U of I now at Penn State. She was a great teacher who had an incredible knack for bringing out and developing all perspectives on a point. Her class had some of the best and most thought provoking discussions about our social structure under the framework of criminal laws. I remember Kinnports having a few lively discussions with Represenative Jesse Jackson Jr as well. - ZC - Tuesday, Jul 22, 08 @ 10:01 am: I’ll cast my vote for Malcolm Villarubia, my high school English teacher in New Orleans, who was a better teacher of English than any of the profs I had at my high-ranked New England liberal arts college. Not that they were bad; Mal was just exceptional. On another day I would nominate someone else. I’ve been fortunate to have many exceptional teachers. - Rich Miller - Tuesday, Jul 22, 08 @ 10:04 am: VM, since you lived in Germany, you know - or should know - that intensely politicizing literally everything and every topic is a cherished totalitarian tactic. Lighten up a bit, dude. - Prairie Sage - Tuesday, Jul 22, 08 @ 10:07 am: Kevin Pobst, who I just googled and found out is now the principal at Hinsdale Central. I hope he still has time for the classroom, because his classes were the most intellectually challenging, free-flowing, debate-fostering discussions I’ve ever had. He challenged his students to write clearly and cogently. I went on to study with some of the world’s greatest philosophers, political scientists, historians, and economists, but he stands out as by far the best teacher. - Ghost - Tuesday, Jul 22, 08 @ 10:18 am: Nobody is going to pick Life as their favorite teacher? - wordslinger - Tuesday, Jul 22, 08 @ 10:37 am: My old man. A self-educated, well-read thinker who instilled a love of reading and an appreciation of my fortunate station in life. - Skeeter - Tuesday, Jul 22, 08 @ 10:38 am: I have two choices for completely different reasons. The first was Jean Yarborough, who taught political science/philosphy. She was one of the first teachers who really pushed me. She EXPECTED me to do well, expected me to always be prepared for class, expected me to ask the right questions and of course expected me to get an A in her classes. After breezing through HS, I needed a prof. with those skills. Her classes were very difficult, but were fascinating, and her skills as a teacher made for a great experience. I have no doubt that I walked out of college far more confident and able than I walked in, and it was due largely to her work. The second had a major impact for the opposite reason. During the last week of my first semester of LS, I made the mistake of not keeping with the reading. I had started to prepare for exams, so I let one class slip a bit. The prof. called on me and I admitted that I hadn’t read the material. The class was shocked! The prof. made some comment about how I will “NEVER” [loud emphasis] be good lawyer. It was about that point that I realized that most LS profs were complete pompous idiots and that most law students were sheep. I’ve done pretty well in my career and I hope that I’ve done it with treating most fellow counsel with respect. From that LS prof, I learned now lawyers should NOT act. I learned from that moment and I’m glad that it happened. - zatoichi - Tuesday, Jul 22, 08 @ 10:49 am: Got Two: 1. Sue Stoner at EIU as Southern Democrat said. Had her for several testing courses. Her expectations were high, but you felt like it was worth the hassle and you learned far more than you realized. 2. Don Heldman at St. Joseph in Westchester. He was the school disciplinarian and a football coach. He just had a knack for dealing with testosterone driven idiots in a very to the point, directive manner that stressed your responsibility, respect for others, and push yourself beyond what you thought you could do. You just knew he was not a guy to mess with. It was not until years later at a reunion that he explained how much he hated the disciplinarian role. He just wanted to be a good teacher (which he was), but had no fear in dealing with “troubled youth”. I still find parts of Mr. Heldman coming out of me when dealing with tough situations. I owe him, huge. - Anon - Tuesday, Jul 22, 08 @ 10:54 am: Sounds like a fascinating individual. You were very fortunate to have known him. - Six Degrees of Separation - Tuesday, Jul 22, 08 @ 11:00 am: I have 2- Mrs. Morris in 5th grade, because she was quite the looker, and was the first and only teacher who got my young hormones raging (hopefully unbeknownst to her). At least I paid attention in her class. And Professor German Gurfinkel at U of I, who was sort of a worldly renaissance man who was born in Cuba and traveled extensively, but whose teaching charge at the university was structural engineering. He would regularly ask a question to a random student in the middle of his lectures, and you would not want to embarrass yourself to his incisive wit if you were inattentive when the focus turned in your direction. Because of his keeping my mind involved the whole 50 minutes of his classes, and the attention to detail and thought processes that he instilled in us, I was able to successfully design things later in life that I had no prior experience with. - Louis G. Atsaves - Tuesday, Jul 22, 08 @ 11:06 am: Mrs. Footh. Sixth Grade. Budlong School, Chicago’s North Side. Stickler for doing things properly. Stickler for class decorum. Little 60 something year old lady that we feared and wanted to impress. Taught us that details matter no matter what subject was being taught. Made us look up all the answers and perform research. Made us read out loud and didn’t hesitate to correct us in public to the point where you concentrated on doing it correctly. Also made us use fountain pens which left all the sixth graders with permanent stains in their shirt pockets, which didn’t exactly endear her to our mothers. You have to work at learning. You have to want to learn. She drove those points home. She also taught my father and I spent the whole year listening to her lionize him. He found it very amusing. His recall of his classroom experiences with her differed from hers. - Anon - Tuesday, Jul 22, 08 @ 11:14 am: Sr. Immacula a semi retired, habit wearing, old school Dominican who loved to teach small groups of distracted middle shcool boys the reading was not so bad. - Little Egypt - Tuesday, Jul 22, 08 @ 11:18 am: My most favorite teacher is Afton Wolfe, my college prep english and literature teacher in West Frankfort. She stood before the class the very first day and said, “This is it! This is the year you must get it. You must understand everything. You must do it all correctly. All of the past years, you have hesitated to understand poetry, literature, quotation marks, etc. This is the year you must catch up and understand all of those things in previous years you have said ‘I can get that next year’. Next year is right now.” With that, our class was off and running. On the blackboard each and every day, we would find 10 words with definitions to write down and memorize for a test the next day (99% of which we didn’t know). This was a perpetual assignment. I left her class with a better understanding of grammar and literature. There are many FCHS grads who are grateful she came into our lives; however, not all hold her in high regard, as their GPA would prove. She was one tough old bird. My second choice is Mrs. Lilly, who taught 8th grade Orthography (a study of words). I’m sad that children today do not have this subject in junior high or high school. - charles in charge - Tuesday, Jul 22, 08 @ 11:29 am: How unfortunate for VanillaMan to have always been smarter than his teachers. Must be a chore having to go through life dealing with people who are beneath you all the time. Most people (even really intelligent ones) could name at least one teacher who positively influenced their intellectual and/or personal development. Mine: Joseph DeFabbio, my high school world history teacher, who understood that imparting a lesson is much easier when you take a personal interest in students. Also, A.J. Gregor, professor of political science (specifically the subject of fascism) at UC Berkeley, who in addition to being ridiculously well-read had a knowledge of the world you can’t find in any book (for example, he’s the only person I’ve ever met who’s actually visited North Korea), and did not suffer fools, gladly or otherwise. - Jake from Elwood - Tuesday, Jul 22, 08 @ 11:43 am: I’m going to cheat. My mother was a substitute teacher in my class on a handful of occasions. She taught my brother’s class for an entire year. It is not easy to teach with your sons in class. How can I cast my vote in any other direction? - montrose - Tuesday, Jul 22, 08 @ 11:51 am: Father Richter - known as Padre to all his students. Ironically, he was the best teacher I had in twelve years of catholic school at pushing me to be open to religious traditions throughout the world. He helped me figure out how to think, to analyze, to break down the wall between formal education and engagement in the world. I owe a lot to him. - 47th Ward - Tuesday, Jul 22, 08 @ 12:13 pm: Well, experience has taught me the most, but in terms of actual people, I’d say Prof. John Gueguen at Illinois State. He was a U of Chicago/Notre Dame educated arch conservative Opus Dei leader with whom I rarely agreed. He taught me more, and pushed me harder than any teacher before or since. He instilled an appreciation for the classics and their enduring relevance. He wasn’t afraid to express his religious opinions in the context of political philosophy. He was original. He could have taught at any of the elite universities. When I asked him why he chose ISU, he said that these were the kind of students most in need of his teaching. That always stuck with me. - cermak_rd - Tuesday, Jul 22, 08 @ 1:00 pm: Dr. Robert Reisel at Loyola. I took him for 3 courses, Calc I & Calc II (for math majors) and Linear Algebra. He took a personal interest in his students and could actually motivate one to think of mathematics as a vital subject and that a proof well-constructed was as valuable as any other work. He had a sense of humor and a sense of obligation to his community. For over 20 years he volunteered as a reader to get books on mathematics and logic into the hands of the blind and dyslexics. He died last year and is missed. - I'm Just Saying - Tuesday, Jul 22, 08 @ 1:00 pm: Dave Everson, Hands down, one of the most interesting teachers I ever had, and just a very decent man, Extremely intelligent, and he had that Down Home Indiana Charm. UIS became a different place when he passed, He cared about the joint #2 and #3 had to be Kent Redfield that Jack Van Der Slik for their own reasons Both great academics, and Jack as Republican as he was, and was repulican, never looked down on a student he disagreed with and teaching at SSU, I know that he enjoyed the challenge - Give Me A Break - Tuesday, Jul 22, 08 @ 1:34 pm: Dr. Larry Golden, Poly Sci prof at SSU (now UIS). He would challenge you, provoke you and tick you off but the man could teach (he is now retired). Larry taught countless lobbyist, staffers and state leg. types, to think outside the box and pushed you to the point you wanted to drop his class (he taught Const, Law). He is still active around the Springpatch area in the ACLU among other things. Thanks Larry - Huh? - Tuesday, Jul 22, 08 @ 3:26 pm: Mrs. Locker - 7th grade Science teacher at the RIver Forest Junior High School in the late 60’s and early 70’s. Very tough lady. Everybody was afraid of her. - walter sobchak - Tuesday, Jul 22, 08 @ 5:04 pm: Indeed it was another time far far from this time of diminished expectations of students and teachers, but Mrs. Bailey, my fifth grade teacher had us memorize and perform ‘Macbeth’, ‘Midsummer Night’s Dream’, and a full, with costumes, staging of ‘Showboat.’ We also read and discussed ‘Henry V’ and she taught us Latin. What a wonderful woman. My memory is that we did not think this curriculum hard, but what was expected. - Speaking At Will - Tuesday, Jul 22, 08 @ 5:15 pm: My favorite teacher was and still is Rod Blagojevich. I had him for Poly/Sci in junior college. Most of the class involved signing “checks” and handing them to others in the class during role playing exercises. It was a very enlightening experience. However when someone in the class would ask a question, he would only say “thats ridiculous, and the way you ask that question is dishonest!” To be serious, I would have to say Max Grubb for my MCMA 101 class at SIUC. He was somehow able to make an introductory Media class interesting, while at the same time keeping a lecture hall with over 200 freshman under control. - Say WHAT? - Tuesday, Jul 22, 08 @ 5:23 pm: John Kansky - all the way back in 7th and 8th grade. He had us for two hours every day, and he really made us think. Those were the fastest two hours of each day. Mr. Kansky spoke passionately and with great knowledge about the United States of America, the best country in the world. He taught me that I would one day have a privilege that many men and women had died for me to have. He taught me that when I finally was 18, it was my duty, as an American citizen NOT to vote Democrat…………..then after a long pause NOT to vote Republican. He would confuse us and make our over televisioned brains think. We were challenged, questioned. Even our parents motives for what they do in the voting booth were questioned. He encouraged us to think for ourselves. After an even longer pause he instilled in me to learn all I could about every candidate, and vote for the one who most closely holds your values. He taught me not to be a lazy voter. Not to vote just on party lines alone, to think outside the box. To Mr. Kansky it was such an honor to be a citizen, he made me understand this jewel we have in our government system (both federal and state). He also taught about the cycles that will lead a free people back to tyranny. He warned us. All he taught me still applies today. John Kansky stood out. Made fun of by many, he was different enough to mesmerize those students who would hear him. There was an urgency in his voice. It was important to him to make sure we “got it.” He wasn’t just teaching as a job. He was imparting. The things he taught me have stayed with me all these years. I am where I am today in part due to Mr. Kansky and what he taught me. I understand what I do about government because of him. I know what government should be and I am grieved when it is used in a way it was never intended to be. Mr. Kansky, you were right - Even with all her faults, she’s still the greatest country in the world! Thanks Mr. Kansky. - TaxMeMore - Tuesday, Jul 22, 08 @ 6:00 pm: Milton Friedman, Richard Epstein, and Gary Becker. They were smarter than I at the time. - Arthur Andersen - Tuesday, Jul 22, 08 @ 6:03 pm: Rich, thanks for a beautiful and inspiring tribute. Ghost, I was on the debate team in high school (insert cheap joke here: AA, were you a Master…) at a time when the teams were 90% male and females were lightly regarded. I met Kit Kinports through debate; she was brilliant and a tough competitor. I have no doubt that she became an excellent professor. AA’s favorite and most admired teacher: Gunnery Sgt.(Ret.) James L. Stellaccio, USMC. Gunny (very few students were allowed to call him that, even in private-most were too scared of him to call him anything but “sir,” which was the worst possible thing to say to an NCO.) had served 20 years in the Marines straight out of college and was using his GI Bill benefits to earn his Ph.D in Finance. He taught one of the intro level Finance courses, Money and Banking, at the U of I in the mid-70s. He came to academia not too far removed from Vietnam and was an interesting addition to the faculty ranks, to say the least. He was allowed to teach the course “out of rank” if you will, because of his extraordinary work ethic and knowledge of his area of study. Some of the most senior members of the faculty and the department head went to bat to get Gunny in the classroom. He came in the first day fully intending to run the class like a platoon of Marines. He had retained the Marine ‘do and looked as if he hadn’t skipped a day of PT. He spoke calmly, firmly, and never skipped a beat for almost 40 minutes before pausing to say, “if anyone is not up to the challenge, now is the time to transfer.” About 5-7 people took the hint. Another 3 or 4 should have. This was the most challenging intro class I had, bar none. It was also the most interesting, most relevant, and I probably retained more from this class than almost any other in my 4 years. Gunny took the flunkers and counseled them about their career plans; he took the C students and made a good chunk of them A students; he took the A students and found some way, tailored to each individual, to give them a little extra challenge or motivation. He received more votes for the Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching Award than any first-timer in recent history at that time. Following finals, a number of his students took him to the White Horse wherein he proceeded to drink each and every one of us under the table and appear perfectly sober. Semper Fi, Gunny. - Bookworm - Tuesday, Jul 22, 08 @ 6:40 pm: My favorites were: 1. High school — Fr. Bernard Horzen of St. Bede Academy in Peru, who taught lab science, ran the school bookstore and coached the Scholastic Bowl team. He made science fun and knew just how to motivate without being either too lenient or too tough. He used to collect “fines” of a dime or so (back in the 70s) from students caught chewing gum in class, which he claimed to be saving for a trip around the world. He must have collected quite a few because he did later visit China, Russia and other interesting places! 2. College — Dr. Sheila Bartle-Harrod of Eureka College (mid-1980s). I was an English major and ended up taking her journalism class because it was the only English class available that semester. I dreaded it because I was shy and didn’t think I’d be good at interviewing. But when I turned in my final project (the result of a ride-along with a sheriff’s deputy) she said it was good enough to be published! That’s when I thought, hey, I might actually like this journalism thing… and the rest, as they say, is history. - Frank Sobotka - Tuesday, Jul 22, 08 @ 6:43 pm: It should come as no surprise that a career NCO could out ‘teach’ many in academia. They have years of experience in teaching with the object of their students learning and retaining what is taught. - Bookworm - Tuesday, Jul 22, 08 @ 6:53 pm: One more honorable mention from St. Bede: Alex Hunenberg, my German teacher, whose family had emigrated from East Germany back in the 1950s (before the Berlin Wall was built). Another fun guy who made learning interesting. Since it was a Catholic school, we learned how to say the Our Father and Hail Mary in German. (”Vater unser, der du bist in Himmel, geheliget verde dein Name…”) - Arthur Andersen - Tuesday, Jul 22, 08 @ 8:12 pm: Very true, Frank. I’ve also been fortunate to have had a couple NCOs as front-line supervisors in my current and former jobs. Without exception, they are among the best I’ve had at running their areas and training their people. - AJ - Tuesday, Jul 22, 08 @ 8:50 pm: Craig Brown (Poli Sci) at SSU (UIS) many moons ago and Tim Miller (Poli Sci Junky and Management Professor) SSU (UIS). Inspiring and awesome. - kdruben - Tuesday, Jul 22, 08 @ 9:38 pm: Rich… I am a current teacher (middle school special education) and I thank you for making this post. After interning in 1996 for the House, I became a regular reader of the blog and, as much as I could get, of your regular fax. Reading these comments just now reminded me that everyone has a favorite teacher and of the things that make teachers great… My favorites… Mr. Fritz who was a teacher of mine at Stevenson High School. He taught us that it was OK to be ourselves and that we should not ever strive to be something that someone else tried to make us. In college, my grad school professor… Dr. Paula Kluth… just had a huge impact on my politics and on my practice toward working with students with autism. - Anon - Tuesday, Jul 22, 08 @ 11:12 pm: John Donnelly S.J. taught Marquette freshman western civ. in the early 80’s. He in his own way made an large survey course interesting. I was in Italy this spring and was amazed at how much I actually recalled from his course. I never was able to take him for an upper division course but wish I had. Sorry, comments for this post are now closed.