Most Say a Teacher Made a Difference

WASHINGTON The most memorable teachers may be good at bringing a school subject to life, making the classroom fun, listening to students talk about their troubles or training them to trust their own instincts.

Or maybe all of those things.

Most people say they remember a teacher from their school days who made a difference in their lives, an AP-AOL News poll found. For many, that teacher connected with them on a personal level far beyond the class subjects.

“She took the time to listen to a student and ask questions and she really cared,” said Diana Jackson, a 57-year-old account manager from San Antonio. “She had no qualms if you wanted to stay after school and talk, it didn’t have to be about her class. The last day of school, I was crying.”

Almost two-thirds in the poll, 63 percent, said they remember a teacher who changed their lives.

Dolphie Potter, a mother of two from Jacksonville, Fla., who now works in sales, recalls being told by a school counselor that test results suggested she should go into a mechanical field.

Her world history teacher sensed this advice, on top of other pressures, had upset her. Potter, who had just lost her parents, was living with relatives, attending a new school and looking for encouragement.

“It’s only 10th grade,” the teacher told her. “Be what you want to be.”

Teachers often are remembered for lessons that have nothing to do with school subjects, said David Inaba, a 39-year-old resident of Riverside, Calif. He had a sixth-grade teacher who made one class about bullying in the classroom.

“A little girl was getting picked on,” Inaba recalled, so the teacher used the rest of the school day to talk about the damage done by picking on a classmate. “She went out of her way to show us what people were doing to this little girl, that what you do affects other people.”

Almost half of those polled pointed to a high school teacher who changed their life. Some mentioned elementary school teachers, middle school teachers and college teachers. Women were more likely than men to remember an elementary school teacher who changed their lives.

The effects of a memorable elementary school teacher were not evident until years later for Stewart Fletcher, a homemaker from Suwannee, Ga.

“She made everyone feel like they were successful and a winner. I just loved her, I grew up and wanted to be her,” said Fletcher, who for a time was an elementary school teacher herself.