12 Teachers That Left an Indelible Mark on the Memory of Their Students

School is not only a source of knowledge and skills, but also of invaluable memories. These memories can be sweet and touching, funny, or really scary.

At Bright Side, we had a fit of nostalgia when we were reading the stories about the heroes of today’s article.

• In middle school science, I had a teacher who was always so sweet. She was an older woman, and she always made sure we had materials for her class, often at her own expense. I remember she went out and bought like 20 plastic pencil cases and filled them with pencils, rulers, erasers, everything we would need for the class. One day, some of the kids decided to throw a few of the pencil cases across the room, they snapped some of the rulers and just generally broke a lot of the things she provided for us, while she stepped out for 5 minutes to talk to another teacher. When she came back, she started crying and I remember feeling so bad for her. She gave the class little pieces of candy afterward, apologizing for losing control and getting emotional. We were the ones who should have been apologetic. © elle-noelle / Reddit

• Our teacher posted pictures of her old Cocker Spaniel everywhere. Eventually, it got sick and died. She took a few days off and was devastated. The class worked with the school and each other to collect funds to get her a new Cocker Spaniel puppy. We presented it to her when she returned and she was so happy she cried. © demonardvark / Reddit

• I remember I was in the 6th grade. We were in a social science class and had to answer the questions at the end of a paragraph. There was the question, “Who will be responsible for earning money in your future family?” My classmate answered, “I will be earning money, and my wife will be at home. I don’t want her to work.” The teacher looked at him with sadness in her eyes and said, “Good. I liked your opinion. I’ll tell my husband about it...” © unknown author / Ideer

• I had to defend my thesis over Zoom and many professors came into the call to watch. My thesis was about the immune response in fish to parasites. One professor joined late and forgot to mute her mic and we got treated to this little gem: “Shhhh. Mommy is learning about fish parasites, which is what you’ll get if you don’t stop peeing in the koi pond.” © daemare / Reddit

• So a few days before the prom sign-up deadline came, I realized I wouldn’t have my money on time because my next paycheck was after the sign-up deadline. I had always adored Mrs. Maskell. She was the nicest, smartest, and coolest teacher I’d ever met. She was so caring about me too. She was responsible for running the prom with a few other teachers. I emailed her, frantic, asking if she could wait for me to get paid, and then I’d give her the ticket money, late. She didn’t answer. Later that day, in the middle of 5th period, my favorite class, history. Someone knocks on the door and Mr. McKinney says “come in.” It’s Mrs. Maskell. She waves at me and asks McKinney if she can borrow me for a minute. I shut the door behind us. I think I’m about to get chewed out for not thinking ahead and told that no, I cannot go to prom! No. What she did was hand me $50. I ask her, why is she trusting a teenage kid? Isn’t she scared I won’t pay her back? She says, “You’re a good kid. I like you. And I know you will pay me back.” And I did pay her back. I went to prom and had a great time and made awesome memories because of this teacher. © Haley Paro / Quora

“My daughter had her first vacation at school. The teacher gave them assignments to eat delicious pumpkin soup, to drink tea, to fly a kite, to build a cozy cave with blankets, etc. And she gave every student a teabag as a gift. My daughter was happy and said, ’Let’s do the first task today.’”

• Once, a phone rang in class. It was ringing for a minute until the math teacher realized it was hers. She took the phone out of her boot, poker-faced, answered the call, and then put it back. © sladkijblinchik / Twitter

• Our teacher was going through a rough time and the class could feel it. We assured her that we had done our homework and that she could just rest for the time being. She agreed and said she would switch her mic off and sleep for a while, while we did whatever. Her husband was right beside her and the mic wasn’t turned off. She said, “I am so lucky to have these students” and started sobbing to her husband. We all heard this but kept quiet to keep her from being embarrassed. She slept well during that time and we collectively sent her a thank you gift. © Unknown_user_12 / Reddit

• When I was in the 6th grade, I wasn’t really good at math. After another disgraceful answer at the board, the teacher said, “You know, a human evolved from an ape, but the reverse process is also possible.” And you know, I really began to try harder after that. © Lozbenev Pavel / “Yandex. Q”

• During every class, our biology teacher checked our phenological observations with temperature, wind, humidity, our observations of nature, animals, plants, and our notes on the topic. It was hard to do it every day, but the teacher gave bad marks for a lack of observations. So we had to do it. Years later, I realized that I had seen so many interesting things outside every day by doing it. © unknown author / Ideer

• Our teacher collected money for chalk every month because we ran out of it too fast. Once we entered her office by mistake and saw her eating our chalk!

• In college, I underwent practical training in biology on the Sea of Japan. Once we swam in the sea with our professors (3 elderly ladies) without swimsuits. There were only female students and professors. I still remember it. Biologists are special people. © BelkaUSA1983 / Pikabu

Did you have funny stories about your teachers from school? Tell us in the comments below.