Essay 2 draft/ completed work.

Paul Bradley

English 101

The Comparison of Two Phenomenal Teachers

In this world there are two types of teachers, those that are good and those that are not good. A good teacher can adapt to their students learning ability and will constantly encourage students to do better. A bad teacher will do one way of teaching and one way of teaching only, they do not care about their students at all. I have had many teachers in my journey through school. But out of all of those teachers two stick out to me, to teachers who have had great impacts in my ability to learn. They were both great teachers and I am happy that I have had them.

Enter junior year of high school in AP US history, our introduction "In my class you will learn. Those who do not like my teaching can leave now. Those who stay though... will learn more about US history than any other group in this school." This came from a short woman with a manly haircut, those who did not know that she was married to a guy would assume she was swinging for the other team based on appearance alone. If you based her off of her attitude, which only further made people believe she was lesbian, you would be greeted by a mannerism that reflected her hardened 30 years of military experience perfectly, also you would think she was a guy. My first impressions were not the greatest I believed she would only do things her way and didn't care about her student. Greatly to my surprise Mrs. Smith ended up being a very helpful and inspiring teacher. Mrs. Smith took teaching in the same manner I believe she used during her military career, to the point and very very efficient. She would put up visual aids when ever she gave a lecture, provide interesting and funny facts about history, and made sure we were always paying attention and learned. Another amazing thing about her was her ability to learn what every kid was like in her class. About two weeks in she classified me as the kid who “Asks a ton of question, most of which are good the other’s make you sound like a kindergartener learning the lies and false facts about U.S history that sound good in the books.” But she encouraged me asking worthwhile questions, after every slide in her lecture without even looking she would say, “Paul, have any questions?” and before I could answer she would say “Make sure their not stupid or ones you can answer yourself.” This would cause me to think before asking questions and it got me to the point of only asking worthwhile questions. Another great trait she had was encouraging students to come in after or before school to get help on homework or make up quizzes. I would always go in after school to get help for her tests and to get help with homework. She would not complain about it at all she would only say “Either you care a lot about your studies, or you don’t have a life.” This humor of hers would always pop up in our class and would help lighten the mood. She never complained about teaching, she treated us like adults, and at least to me she was a building block that helped me get better in my studies in general. She would never let me quit at something, she would always say “Look, you have been in this class for a semester and you want to quit now? After all you have done you just want to quit, that’s it no questions about it. Fine if you want to be stupid and wasteful with your talents and waste my time with bad work, fine just quit it would save me time anyway. Or you could stop turning in garbage, re do your old work better, do more extra credit and get the grade you deserve and have worked hard for to get.” She never let me just give up she always made me press on and continue to do good in her class. This I would assume would come from her hardened year in the military.

In school some teachers would always throw biases about what classes you should take the next year. I was told that if I took pre-calculus that I would be more wanted by colleges. The only thing is, they do not tell you that this class will only count if you can get an A or better in it. Needless to say I got suckered in by this idea and I regretted it, that is until I would meet the best math teacher of my life, that teacher is Mr. Pochop. On the first day I expected to be bombarded with work that I couldn’t possibly understand, by a teacher that was uncaring if students. To my surprise I got what appeared to be Steve Jobs walking from one side to the other of a power point and advertising his new product, pre-calculus. Mr. Pochop was a heavier set tall man that was over enthusiastic about teaching to my opinion the most boring class to teach. But despite all of my disliking towards math, I was won over by Mr. Pochops ability to come in guns blazing with the high octane sugar rush of a fifth grader, in other words he was very excited to teach math. He never spoke quietly, he always had my attention, and he never let me stay confused about a question. He was inspiring, at one point I talked to him about dropping out of pre-calculus to which he answered “You know what pre-calculus, actually math in general is not for everyone. Some people get it and some people don’t. But I think that you get it you just need another spark to ignite the fire. How’s about you come in after or before school for some help. If things don’t get any better I will let you drop out. But if things go like I believe they will, I look forward to seeing you in my class next quarter.” This speech he gave me not only inspired me to go in after class, but it also got me to like math. As confusing as it is with Mr. Pochop’s help I found math fun. I began to see massive improvements in my grade and through all of this I found out that MR. Pochop does not just like teaching math, but he likes teaching in general. Every time I would go in for help there would always be two or three other students also getting his help, and by the end of it all we all began to get math more and more. He never complained about spending more time with students after school, he never complained about sacrificing his sleep time to come to school early to help students, he only greeted us with a smile and said “Alright what do we got to do today” he was an amazing teacher, one that without I would have definitely dropped the class.

When I look back at the memories I have of both of these great effigies and models of the teaching system, I see the similarities and comparisons. Either teachers were good to students and cared about them, both never let me or other students quit, both volunteered their time to students when they could easily just go home, and bot inspired me to do better. IF not for both of these teachers I believe I would have not learned nearly as much as I did, nor would I have the same good feelings when it comes to the teaching system. When all is said and done both Mrs. Smith and Mr. Pochop are extraordinary teacher that go above and beyond the call of duty when it comes to teaching, and I am happy that I have had them in my life as a student.