if it means anything, Saz, after much confusion I decided to have acareer as an English teacher at secondary school level.
I've had some bad teachers and some brilliant ones, it's just luck of the timetable [img]smile.gif[/img]

I respect my teachers! my business studies teacher is a drummer in a band and knows my dad who is also a drummer so he's kcikass!
my englsih teacher was my fave tho, he loved all things sci-fi, fantasy and D&D, whereas most teachers wuldnt let the students see this side of themselves or even a personal side, he did and got a lot of respect for it, not the fact that he ddi like those things but cause he showed he's just an aeverage guy, and I guess thats what makes a good teacher in the eyes of a student, sure they have to be a good teacher first and upmost but also important (ive always felt anyways) i for the teacher to have a luagh with the students, make daft comments every now and then, talk about the footys and complain about the footy scores for a few mins.
If a teacher can be relaxed and humourous then they'll most definaltly get the respect of the students which will in turn get the to learn more :D (just dont let the 'cooler' kids in the class know theyre learning more lol)

Being a... um... lawyer... *ducks* I know what it is like to have your profession desparaged. :D Believe me, in my profession I had to get over it before I even got in it, if you know what I mean. ;)

I do understand, Timber Loftis! (I'm not a lawyer-hater, either, BTW! [img]smile.gif[/img] ) I guess I'm ... not quite as used to the negativity yet. ;)

-Saz

Saz I didnt know you were Dr Sazerac! [img]tongue.gif[/img] Anyway as someone earlier (Willow I think?) its always the bad/drone/jerk teachers that people mainly remember. I remember a few REALLY boring ones lol and many good ones. One teacher really surprised me in 9th grade. She was a pretty boring teacher actually but then she has us read Fellowship of the Ring [img]smile.gif[/img] . I had already read it but was more than happy to read it again! I think she should have had everyone read the whole trilogy (I did again) because she went right back to drone when we finished it. I think she was really tired of teaching. Teach on Dr Saz!!!! [img]smile.gif[/img]

Oh, LoA, i got that-my chemistry teacher who looks scarily like Adolf Hitler :$ just said "You're going to be watching a video on dinosaurs because I can't be bothered to teach you today."
*confused look* he was a weird man. VERY weird.

I think that's true unfortunately (not the bit about caring ;) ). So much you hear people talking about badly behaved kids and how kids don't know about certain things and they say teachers should be responsible for that! Stuff parents should be responsible for, like manners and morals and so on. And yet, at least in Australia, they're poorly paid and their profession disparaged by many people in the community.

Obviously there are some horror teachers. I had a music teacher in year 10 which we managed to depose she was so completely incompetent and incapable of keeping a class of 10 with otherwise well-behaved students under control. But I think it's also to do with the student. If you don't want to be there and aren't interested in learning then only the most fantastic teacher will keep your attention. Most teachers aren't fantastic, but they're good enough it the student's attitude is good as well.

I want to kind of repeat a post I just made in another thread here for the education of people who put all teacher's in the same leaky boat, so to speak.

In regard to the saying "Those who can't *do* teach":

That is one of the lamest most offensive remarks ever made without thought to people who actually do teach.
It is really not funny to put people who are willing to spend their time educating others in such a bad light.

Where would any of us be without those who taught us? No one ever thinks about that.

I've known teachers who were fantastic artist's, mechanics, landlords, and computer geniuses....these people chose teaching as their profession because eventaully it DOES pay well with great benefits upon retirement and here in the U.S. at least, it gives most teachers a three month vacation WITH PAY to do other things like travel, create, renovate, etc. etc.

I am an education major. Because I love children and I want to see something better come out of our school system and the children we will be depending on in our future.

The people who inspired me the most in my life have been teachers of all levels from the primary grades right through college. Not all of them were the best teachers, but the ones who cared about their jobs and were dedicated to their students actually learning something were, and are, absolute blessings to all they taught.

I could do other things...I am educated in electronics, plumbing, carpentry, auto mechanics and a number of other fields...not so that I could ever work at jobs which that knowledge would employ, but because it makes me capable of DOING FOR MYSELF what I would otherwise have to pay someone else to do. Call it cheap if you want but one of the lessons my dad taught me that was worth its weight in gold is that there is nothing you can't learn if you take the time to.

While I am here, I'd like to add the rest of my other post, just so it doesn't go un-noticed for people who might really believe it:
On the belief that "a lot of our would-be good teacher pool choose other higher paying professions or complete more school and teach college":

That should be the truth but the plain fact is it's not. I'm only spending my second year in college and granted, the best educators in college are well educated and dedicated but the worst ones are "well educated" and only in it for their bigger paychecks...they could give a crap who passes their courses because if the person has to take it again, it just guarantees them a job the next semester...as long as a majority of students "pass" (like with a C) their credibility is not judged and their worthlessness is not taken into consideration especially when they can blame the lower grades on "youth and their lack of responsibility"...some are even employeed to fulfill quotas for the balance of "race" and "handicapped" issues without judgement on the quality of their performance because they are needed there to fulfill a government quota which means they get continuous funding without question so long as their quotas are met.
Don't blame the teachers, blame the system that employees them. There are ways of weeding out the bad from the good but with the present state of teacher shortages in our country today the systems that employ them are forced to lower their standards in order to comply with governmental regulations.

This is a quote from an assignment I was given by my present English PROFESSOR in COLLEGE...

"Please read the following poems and selected one poem that you feel confident you can write a five-page analysis.
...
You May also selected poems from the following pages, 1145 through 1229."

A higher education and the status of a college professor doesn't mean squat. It only means that someone was able to afford to get themselves through the courses required to obtain the higher degree and that doesn't mean knowing the material.

*stepping off my soap box*

I dealt with teacher ouster once:
I must say that when I was student teaching in law school, my worst experience was working for a bad teacher. I had him as a teacher, but I also assisted him in teaching a writing class to students who were in our Masters in Environmental Law program. He knew his subject well enough, but lacked any personality or presentation in front of the class. To make things worse, the writing style he was teaching the intrepid would-be enviro-techs was centered around writing grant proposals and communications with governmental officials in environmental matters - writing tasks that, while not utterly boring or useless, nevertheless force you to adopt either an "a**hole" or "spineless" or "lying cheat" writing style. Clearly a bad combination all around.

I spent all my time trying to balance my defenses of the professor with the need to appear competent to the students (they had a point regarding some of his issues). Anyway, it was a terrible thing to be stuck in the middle of. After 2 or 3 years of students in that class complaining to the Admin, they finally pulled the guy out of it.

heh...
Some of my teachers when I was 9-14 were major disappointments. I was probably a total disruptor then, and cannot see that they were trying to help me, but hell, that's gone, and what would be the point in me bitching about them now? They were bad eggs in a casket of golden ones. I hold the highest respect for my teachers at Uni; they treat me like an equal, they encourage my imagination...I could go on and on. There were some like this in secondary school too. Thing is, you might as well say "All Forumns suck" or "All Cops suck". While there may be disappointments here and there, most teachers are just trying to get by and teach you stuff that'll help in later life. I mean, they had to train for this themselves...do you really think they put themselves through training just to make some kid's life hell?! :rolleyes:
Saz, I hold teachers among the top people in the world; while football players get payed millions for entertaining, teachers instruct the future life changers and get paid 25 thousand a year. Don't worry Saz: lots of people like teachers, so don't be discouraged by some people's views [img]graemlins/thumbsup.gif[/img]