Remember learning how to "skip a space" in elementary school?

[LuckyCharms]

I didn't get the hang of it.

I thought the teacher was talking about skipping a space between letters.

So we were told to take a sheet of paper and write out a paragraph about anything, and to skip a space while writing.

So instead of doing this:

Good morning, Mrs. Johnson. How are you doing today? I am writing out a

paragraph by skipping a space.

I ended up writing something like this:

G o o d M o r n i n g, M r s. J o h n s o n. H o w a r e y o u d o i n g...

I was the only one in the class who did this, and Mrs. Johnson humiliated me and made fun of me in front of the entire class.

This must have traumatized me because I'm in my 60's and I still remember it.

So...

F u c k y o u, M r s. J o h n s o n.

B u r n i n h e l l.

[rubbersole]

1. Funny!

[BigmanPigman]

2. That's poor teacher modeling.

She shouldn't have humiliated you either. My grandmom was the first one at her high school to get her hair bobbed and her teacher humiliated her in front of the entire class. She remembered it her whole life.

When I went back to college to get a 2nd degree in teaching I mentioned to a professor that a certain teacher had humiliated me like that and he said it happens all the time and get over it. I made an effort to be a kind teacher and from the feedback over the years I think I succeeded.

[cate94]

6. Mrs McCarthy

Told my parents I was stupid. To be honest, I didn’t get geography. My dad was livid and pulled all of us from that private school.

How do you get geography if you never leave IL?

Anyway, turns out I’m not stupid, just not good at memorization. I did great in college.

[LuckyCharms]

13. I was the same way with

geometry.

It made no sense to me at all, but algebra came to me easily.

It's kind of ironic that I understand geometry now 10X better than when I took the class in school, because I do a lot of carpentry an remodeling work, and constantly have to work with different angles, etc. But back then? I just couldn't grasp it.

[LuckyCharms]

12. I bet you were/are

an excellent teacher.

My older sister taught for over 40 years. It's not an easy job.

[wnylib]

3. I think a lot of us have some bad teacher memories.

I know I do.

Not everyone is cut out to be a teacher.

[Aussie105]

5. I know I wasn't.

But I'm a great observer of humanity and studied other teachers' mistakes and spend a lot of time working out how to avoid them and detune bad situations if they happened.

I lasted 40 years in the classroom . . . looking back, it was damn hard work.

Can I have a retrospective pay rise please? No? Oh well, back to polishing my halo then!

[wnylib]

15. Sounds like you cared enough to put effort into

being the best that you could be.

I remember having some good teachers like that. Fortunately for me, they were the majority of my teachers.

But, as I posted, many people have also had a teacher who left them with bad memories.

[Aussie105]

4. Two things I learnt early as a teacher:

Clear and detailed instructions.

Don't poke fun at kids who still don't get it.

Traumatizes a kid for life, right, LuckyCharms?

But Mrs Johnson probably died a lonely, miserable death. That should cheer you up!

(I remember a similar incident in school as a young non-English speaking immigrant. That was 65 years ago.)

[Ferrets are Cool]

7. I'm 67 and can look back on my elementary teachers and SMH.

Compared to today, they didn't have a clue as to how to react to intellectually gifted children OR those who were on the opposite end of that scale. I spent most of my 1st grade in the corner because I was so bored. And, it's funny how I can't remember where I put down my coffee, but I can remember her name. Thanks for nothing, Mrs. Easom.

[NJCher]

8. I picked the lock on the guidance counselor's office

because they wouldn't tell us the results of our various achievement, IQ tests, etc.

Found out where I scored and after that, I designed my own curriculum in collaboration with my teachers. They didn't have a gifted or talented program anyway, so if I was to avoid the boredom, I'd have to DIY.

[Ferrets are Cool]

9. Cool story

[LuckyCharms]

10. Excellent, NJCher!

[LuckyCharms]

11. Isn't that strange...

the way the mind works?

I'm the same way as you at age 63. Can't remember why I walked into a room, but can remember every last detail over an incident that happened over 50 years ago.

[Marthe48]

14. My 3rd grade teacher made someone a goat every year

I was her goat the year in her class. Stone cold bitch. She was an abusive woman, and not fit to teach. I am glad that no other educator was as low as she was.