All Ages Who was your favorite history teacher and why?

H.C. Heartland

H.C. Heartland

Legacy Member
I had a history teacher who did a lot of interactive activities. For example, when learning about the old west, he did a 'mail order bride' activity where we had to letter write to anonymous people and then make a decision whether or not we would want to marry them. It was really fun, and the outcome was hilarious! You never ended up with the person who you would have thought you would have chosen. What about you? Who was your favorite history teacher and why?
 
Oh man, I remember back in my high school days, my history teacher was loved by every single student because she'd give us more trips than every other teacher. But on a more academic-related note, she taught us empathy by assigning many plays. We'd have to act out, present, or dramatize everything we learned. I thought that was a very effective method as it gave an emotional value to historical phenomenon such as residential school.
 
sevvy said:
Oh man, I remember back in my high school days, my history teacher was loved by every single student because she'd give us more trips than every other teacher. But on a more academic-related note, she taught us empathy by assigning many plays. We'd have to act out, present, or dramatize everything we learned. I thought that was a very effective method as it gave an emotional value to historical phenomenon such as residential school.
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Good Idea! I have a lot of deaf students and I am thinking of incorporating that idea with them. Sign Language is very visual and so acting out the things we learn might be a way to help them retain the new concepts. Thanks for the help!
 
The best history teacher I ever had -- besides my graduate advisor who I admire above all historians -- was my freshmen high school teacher, Mrs. Whipple. She was a diminutive sixty or seventy year old women when I took her class. She had taught most students' parents and some students' grandparents. She had been at the school forever. She also knew all of the local connections to the major events of colonials and revolutionary American history. I grew up in eastern Massachusetts and so we were literally surrounded by the landmarks of that era. Mrs. Whipple always helped us see. Taking us on long field trips to see grist mills and colonial architecture, and connecting families to their past activities.
 
My favorite history teacher taught the freshman year of my high school career. He was very enthusiastic and bold about teaching AP Human Geography. For all the lessons, he would find some way to dress up in wild fashions and speak with different accents. Many of our lessons were skits - fun yet also informative, as he routinely called on us to explain what he had just lectured. He also provided us with interactive online sites to encourage learning outside of the classroom. When it came to the AP exam, I received a 5, the highest score available, which gained my credit for college!
 
My favorite history teacher was Mrs. Calhoun. I am 41 years old and she is still teaching in 2014!!!! I had her in middle school and she loved to teach her students! She was so funny and I can remember how she could keep our attention and make us laugh! Those are the things that we remember- the times that make you happy and put a smile on your face! She was and is a wonderful lady. I learned many wonderful things from her. She was a gem and loved her job. It's been almost 30 years and she is still going strong and doing what she loves!!!!!
 
Mr. Easton. I will never forget the day he walked into the class room. He was African American, his hair was down to his shoulders, he was wearing hippie type clothing, and was carrying a guitar. He taught us through reenactment in the classroom. He would bring in props and we would read the events and then act them out. It was so much fun and I remembered more of the information than I had in other History classes.
 
My favorite history teacher was Mr. Snow. I had finally learned real history in the final year of my high school career. What made him different from other history teachers, and teachers in general, was that he was passionate about history. You could tell in the way that he talked about it. But he also was not one of those teachers that kept going on and on. He communicated well with his students and truly catered to our needs. He was also realistic about people our age, but on that same note, pushed as to go as far as we could because he knew that all of us had the potential to succeed in whatever it was that we wanted to succeed in. He had a way of looking at things objectively which you cannot find in other people. And while many revered (well, revere) him as being one of the most intelligent people they have ever met, he was also one of the most humble and wisest person they had ever encountered. He not only changed how his students looked at history, but how they looked at the world and their own role in it.
 
Brionne said:
My favorite history teacher was Mr. Snow. I had finally learned real history in the final year of my high school career. What made him different from other history teachers, and teachers in general, was that he was passionate about history. You could tell in the way that he talked about it. But he also was not one of those teachers that kept going on and on. He communicated well with his students and truly catered to our needs. He was also realistic about people our age, but on that same note, pushed as to go as far as we could because he knew that all of us had the potential to succeed in whatever it was that we wanted to succeed in. He had a way of looking at things objectively which you cannot find in other people. And while many revered (well, revere) him as being one of the most intelligent people they have ever met, he was also one of the most humble and wisest person they had ever encountered. He not only changed how his students looked at history, but how they looked at the world and their own role in it.
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That makes all the difference in the world. Most teachers either sound like they are there only because they have to be or like they are tired. That makes their lectures boring and puts you to sleep or blocks you from wanting to learn the information.
 
toradrake said:
That makes all the difference in the world. Most teachers either sound like they are there only because they have to be or like they are tired. That makes their lectures boring and puts you to sleep or blocks you from wanting to learn the information.
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Exactly! He was practical. I love practical people. Do not give your students a bunch of pointless worksheets. Teach them! They are capable of so much more.
 
My favourite history teacher was the one in grade 9 and 10. She had such passion when talking about historic events and it made us pay attention. She also kept newspaper clippings that we could look at and I remember everything that she taught us because she made history interesting and exciting.
 
History was my major in college. I loved all of my history teachers. However, Mrs. Lane was the first high school teacher who taught European colonialism from the non-European perspective. She taught us to think of India, China, Nigeria, Australia, and Kenya form the perspective of someone whose country has been occupied.
 
Well, this is a difficult question. My primary school teacher was very interesting. His classes were always fun and he made almost every lesson look like a soap opera, which was, to a nine year old, very interesting and engaging. My high school teacher was more of a ''controller'' teacher type - the one who did things the traditional way, just by writing on the blackboard and then lecturing on and on, without innovations and such, but he was fairly laid-back. His classes were never stressful and you could use notes. It was a plus. That was when I really started liking history. My university teachers were true gems though: my history of Britain teacher was one of the best teachers I'd ever had. She was just... special. Same can be said for my American history teacher - her classes were very stressful, but she was excellent at her subject. I still admire her.
 
I really enjoyed my 7th grade history/social studies teacher. He was young, friendly, and made learning fun. He didn't try to degrade or embarrass kids that didn't know the answers, like some teachers would do. The subject was really different. It was Russian history. But I remember most of the information 25 years later, so he must have done something right.
 
My favorite history teacher was Mr. Mooney from my 7th grade history class. It was very apparent that he cared about his students and that he had a genuine passion for history. It was his LIFE! Our class was so enthusiastic about the subject purely because he was. We had to figure out why this stuff made him so excited. He won many awards for teacher of the year.
 
I never liked history as a subject, and especially early history because it was somehow so uncertain to me. It looked like guessing and believing in some rare things we found. Like we decided to create it even though we were not so sure about anything. Nevertheless, my teacher in high school was a dynamic person and a great enthusiast in teaching business. He was so engaged in class that he actually acted and impersonated some people. He was Hitler, Stalin, Gingis Kan, etc.. He was running around the classroom and all of that was very interesting so I was lucky to have him teaching me about a subject I never preferred.
 
My favourite history teacher was when I was in primary school. His name is the late Mr. Moko. He was always bubbling with enthusiasm and we always looked forward to the history lesson. He was more of a friend than a teacher and his lessons were in laissez faire mode. His punishment was light. Unfortunately, he passed on.
 
I had a few history teachers who've made an impact on me. My most favorite is my high school teacher who taught a class on the Third Reich. I love her for many reasons. Firstly, the way she taught the class made it obvious how passionate and knowledgeable she was about European history. Secondly, she was also a politics and government teacher and was (still is, I think?) the adviser for our Model United Nations team. Thirdly, she was incredibly understanding of me and often I would spend afternoons after class with her. I'd be doing my homework and she'd be grading class assessments. I learned a lot from her and also found a teacher who could be a pillar of support for me through the tougher times of high school.
 
I must have to say that my favorite History teacher was my teacher in 4th grade. She was a very strict teacher but when it comes to teaching the subject, she was very passionate about it and she would always make sure that everyone in the class has understood her lecture before the end of every class.
 
My favorite history teacher was a Mr Isaac. He made history lessons fun because he'd loved history, had read lots of history books and more. He had details about events which happened a long time ago. Details which weren't in the books. Yeah at times he did make up stories but that didn't really matter. It's what made us like him. History wasn't just about what happened. It was also about how it happened.
 
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