I was chatting to my mum on the phone and she posed the question:
“Do you think your love of Geography had anything to do with your first Geography teacher at secondary school, Miss Kavanagh?”
Well, that took me right back to my first year in ‘big school’ and my class, 1K, the K denoting Kavanagh as the Geography teacher was also my form tutor.
How to describe this woman? Pretty much a carbon copy of Barbara Cartland – rather ancient with vivid red lippy which was never expertly applied. Her bouffant pink/orange hair never moved: I remember one girl sharpened her pencil over the top of her head during registration one day and Miss Kavanagh left the room oblivious to the decorative shavings. She had a shuffling gait: poor woman was probably suffering from early Parkinsons or something similar, but as young girls we just thought she was inordinately slow, always arriving in the classroom a good ten minutes after the bell had sounded and leaving early to make her way to the next class.
As for Geography, her method was to play ‘The Geography Game’ every Friday afternoon. She would choose a letter and we all had to think of a country, county, city, river, mountain and animal beginning with that letter. Any girl who wrote down a correct answer which was different to everyone else’s would win a prize – 20p. That’s right, she doled out money, often a great deal of it, delving into her little red purse for the shiny coins.
If you had any savvy you would swot up on lesser-known examples, hoping to win the jackpot if you could slip in ‘Ouagadougou’. We used to have many arguments with Miss K, as, understandably, she had often never heard of many of the places we had unearthed. I remember my friend Colette was furious when Miss Kavanagh called her a ‘stupid girl’ and refused to pay up for ‘Dingo’ as an animal. Of course we were also adept at fibbing, shouting out spurious answers and swearing blind we’d climbed it just the other week.
Towards Easter term Miss Kavanagh announced to the class that the Headmistress would no longer allow her to play ‘The Geography Game’. She was most upset and so were we, as we’d been used to spending our winnings on flying saucers and sherbert dibdabs at the corner shop. She could not understand why she had been chastised but she accepted the decision and said that in place of ‘The Geography Game’ we were to have a weekly ‘Geography Quiz’ instead. Prize money up to 50p!
If that’s got you thinking about your own favourite or most memorable teacher then get posting and link back here.
I am sure I've thought about doing this…if I haven't I must. Mine was Kenny Lee- taught me German. The man is a legend.
Misssy m – he sounds like a member of a 70s pop band! Can't wait to hear more about him.
My favourite teacher was Mr Simms our art teacher. I think we had a Tuesday afternoon lesson with him and he'd let us listen to Radio 1 chart countdown, although I can't remember why it was on on a Tuesday afternoon. We got to listen to it all providing we got on with our work as he'd asked. One week one of the lads misbehaved and we didn't get to listen to the radio.. we were gutted. Mr Simms was the only teacher who treated us as people rather than kids, and we could laugh and joke with him and he'd even let us get away with the odd swear word lol.. I passed my Art O' Level because of him.
Annie – what a gem! Getting down with the kids!
My favourite teacher at school was Dr Bell – she had very long hair, almost native American looking, and wore incredibly big DMs. She was a very inspiring English teacher though and I think my love of writing definitely stems from her.
Steve – Pocahontas in DMs – I have a good picture of her now!
My favourite was Mr Smith my Physics teacher, he must have been good as I hated Physics! My best teacher at school was Miss Oates though – I didn't think so at the time as she was so critical and really pushed me in English lessons. I think she was the only teacher who realised I was coasting.After GCSE English with her, I found A Level easy! At college it was Alan Hobday my History teacher, a big reason why I ended up being a History teacher. Such a love for and knowledge of his subject.
Kath – Isn't it amazing how these names stay with us and how influential these good teachers were. My Physics teacher in Third Year (year 9 equivalent) wasn't up to much and I think I used to mess around in his lessons. At Parents Evening that year my mum couldn't believe it when he called me a 'fly by night' and she asked him to check his list to see if he had the right student (I was such a girly swot in other lessons)!
Miss Kavanagh – mad as a bloody hatter. She would not be employable in this day and age. I'll never forget her one parents' evening, telling one of my friend's parents how crap and badly behaved she was in class. The silly woman had her mixed up with someone else and my friend was frantically dragging her parents around the library getting us all to convince them that she wasn't, in fact, the delinquent that Kavanagh had made her out to be.
We once put a blue bulb in the light above the teacher's desk and she never even noticed!
PS. My fave teacher was Mrs. Lovell, my A level English teacher. She really brought out the critical thinker in me.
For me it was Peter. We didn't do surnames at our school. Mad as a hatter and brilliant with it. I was a disappointment to him…he suggested that I might be allowed to go to University…my mom, through no fault of her own and not unkindly, ignored this idea and my dad got me a job instead.
Expat Mum – I was wondering if you'd had Miss Kavanagh too! As you can see the title of my post was a bit of a misnomer as she was completely bonkers.
Can't remember Mrs Lovell, yet the name rings a bell.
If I'm really being truthful the teacher that inspired me with Geography was Mrs Singleton – she helped me take an S level in the subject in sixth form and gave me lots of extra help with my Cambridge application.
Libby – first names only, that's pretty novel! You sound sad that you were a disappointment to him, was that because you didn't follow his advice?
A strange chap called Mr Bissell at Wakefield Cathedral School inspired the philosopher in me… He ended up working on a boat out of Bridlington harbour!
The Dotterel – how funny! Did you ever see him in his new workplace?
Trish: I had Miss Kavanagh too. Did we both go to Sacred Heart as EPMUM did? (Have we already made that connection??) I was there late 60's. She was my Geography teacher, a mad NUFC fan as I recall. She once gave me 9 out of 100 on a geog. test and she said 5 was for spelling my name and putting the date in the right place and the other 4 was for neat handwriting.
Same Kavanagh?
🙂
Clippy Mat – YES! Same Kavanagh! I'd forgotten she was nuts about Newcastle United – you've brought that back to me now, how girls would get her into conversation about the last match so she would go off topic haha!
So another Sacred Heart Grammar girl then? I was there from 1975 to 1982. Oh, we could reminisce for hours – and get Toni to join in too.
Regrets are pointless Trish, but I was certainly at a crossroads in my life and did take the wrong turn. The school was new, radical, no uniform and first names only…suited some and not others.
I posted about my teachers, and linked back here. 🙂
Sarah – Have just been over to read it – you've captured the spirit of the "favourite" teacher perfectly – classic examples, it's a wonder you got through the education system intact!
Being the misery-guts that I am, I didn't like any of my teachers! I hated school from start to finish.
Amy has a teacher she really likes though, and I hope she will have another one when she goes to her next school.
CJ xx
Hi,
I've just performed a google search for one of my ex-teachers and it seems that he also appears here in Kath's comment. If we're talking about the same Alan Hobday (Halesowen College, although I know he worked in Liverpool and America, too), he was the most phenomenal teacher I have ever come across. His lessons were like stories that he told and he was always interested in us as individuals. He turned my interest in History to a passion, so, like Kath, he also inspired me to become a History teacher and I have just begun my NQT year. Sadly, I received the devasting news yesterday that he is no longer with us, so I'm currently grieving the loss of the most incredible teacher I have ever known. I never had the opportunity to say it before, but I did it Alan! Thank you for setting me off on the journey!
Jenny
Hi Jenny,
We are talking about the very same Alan, lovely to know that he was still inspiring a new generation of teachers and History enthusiasts. I heard the same news recently, it's so sad.
Lots of luck with your NQT year,, hope you enjoy teaching as much as I do. We can both do our bit to pass on the enthusiasm that Alan instilled in us!