How very wise!!How do you define "favourite" and does it vary with time and experience? To give an idea,
- there could have been a teacher whoi let you get away with everything, who was warm and friendly - but from whom you learned nothing.
- another teacher insisted on good quality work and at the end of the academic year you realised that, for all the hard work she put you through, you had actually acheived a lot.
- another teacher you hated but, looking back 10 years you realised that she was doing and acheiving everything possible to ensure that you ended up a well rounded individal.
It my time, my favourite was Miss Hann who taught English, although I don't remember her being there for very long; she was a tiny woman who carried an enormous briefcase around with her and had a shock of grey hair in a pudding basin cut! She encouraged me to read books that were well outside the remit of the syllabus, she encouraged 'exploratory reading' and was unconcerned about what I read as long as my main stream work was done successfully - she knew the power of the carrot and the stick, do my work well, read anything, not do work and see book but can't read book!Still have a house full of books and very fond memories of her.
Although Miss Morrison and I had, (as I though t at the time although I am more reassured now that I've been reading all the posts!!), our own private mutual loathing society, she imbued me with enough grammatical knowledge to laugh like a drain all the way through 'Eats, shoots and leaves'. How irritating!
Scariest teacher was Mr Watson, amazing nasal hair and taught German or Maths, (bizarrely can't remember, did he do both?), remember 3 things about him; his looks - aforementioned amazing nasal hair, Napoleon Solo glasses and a smelly tweed jacket but suspect that that was pipe smell; his habit of keeping time metronome style with a ruler (although God knows what we chanting, times tables? Satanic incatations?) and finally when he approached me at the end of term after exams and said well done for my results, nearly pooped myself as I thought I'd blown it!! But can still do mental maths and when teaching was staggered at the number of graduates who couldn't! Also can still shop in German so I'm guessing he was pretty good too!!
I guess the only 'learned nothing' one I recall was Geogo and RE, was it Mrs Woods? Only remember 'bunking off' one of her classes and realising too late that at boarding school there's nowhere to go so spent the whole lesson reading a book locked in the outside loos in 2's!!