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Education

In reply to the discussion: Favorite Teachers [View all]

TlalocW

(15,632 posts)
5. In high school
Fri Oct 4, 2013, 11:14 PM
Oct 2013

It would have to be Mr. Meeker who taught biology. Not my favorite science, but I got an A in it. He had a Colbert-esque sense of humor. He would describe DNA as imagining his taking a large, metal ladder and hitting it against a telephone pole at an angle so it would wrap it in a spiral. And then he would crush the pole in his hands just leaving the ladder. He would be happy to demonstrate, but he forgot to put his ladder in his beloved truck, "Trigger." When I was a freshman in college, I ran into some former classmates still in high school in a mall, and they told me that Trigger had finally given up the ghost. We were right next to a Hallmark store so we went in and bought a Sympathy card and told him how sorry we were for his loss. They later told me he thought it was great.

He would buy a piranha every year and have small goldfish in a smaller tank and every day it was a different class' turn to feed "Dr. Death." When we were working on in-class assignments, he would be working as well, and often, he would rip out a sheet of paper from a notebook, crumple it up, and throw it at the trash can on the other side of the room. Whether he made it or not, he would then start taking bets of Snickers on making the next shot. I was never fast enough to be the kid who bet him, but inevitably he would play on the greed of the kid he was betting on, constantly doing double or nothing until he finally made it, rarely having to pay out. One time I went up to ask him a question, and as a joke, I picked up three very breakable items on his desk - two small glass globes (one with a spider in it, the other with a cobra head in it) and a calculator - and said, "And now for my next juggling trick. He looked at me, smiled, reached into his desk and came out with a package of eight full-sized Snickers bar and said, "Those are yours if you can do it." I left that desk rich in Snickers (juggling was a hobby - could do six in high school). I know he became vice-principal and possibly principal after I had graduated.

He and the principal at the time loved to play practical jokes on each other. One day, Mr. Meeker was talking about going to a sporting store to get a new rifle for hunting so the principal left early and got there before him and just walked around the store browsing. When Mr. Meeker walked in he exclaimed, "Steven Meeker! When did you get out of jail! Great to see you again!" and left the store.

TlalocW

Recommendations

0 members have recommended this reply (displayed in chronological order):

Favorite Teachers [View all] jeffrey_pdx Oct 2013 OP
I have two gejohnston Oct 2013 #1
Great teachers stay with you forever jeffrey_pdx Oct 2013 #3
Both would be rated "ineffective" according to the Danielson teacher observation rubric. Smarmie Doofus Oct 2013 #2
I don't know what to say jeffrey_pdx Oct 2013 #4
Sorry. I'm all thumbs when it comes to acronyms. Smarmie Doofus Oct 2013 #6
This calls for a round of LWolf Oct 2013 #8
" I became a '1', when I met Danielson." Smarmie Doofus Oct 2013 #9
When I first found it LWolf Oct 2013 #10
In high school TlalocW Oct 2013 #5
I actually heard this comment from an administrator the other day: mbperrin Oct 2013 #7
Favorite teacher petson Oct 2013 #11
Welcome to DU gopiscrap Oct 2013 #12
Hey I know you've got a 100+ posts already but welcome to DU gopiscrap Oct 2013 #13
Latest Discussions»Issue Forums»Education»Favorite Teachers»Reply #5