When I think of an influential teacher, I think of a teacher who is willing to go the extra mile with their students; making sure they set them up for success and most importantly that they treat students equally. Throughout school, I had my share of successes and failures with different subjects. I started to realize that what made me succeed in subjects was both passion for the topic and the help from the teacher or professor. But what happens when you do not have a connection with a teacher, and you feel as though you are not learning?
In school, I always struggled with math. Math is such a foreign concept to me because of the complex equations. I tried everything including after-school help with tutors and study groups. I was feeling so lost with math until one teacher made it all click. This math teacher went above and beyond and let us know “the secrets to success” when it came to studying for math. She taught us the importance of exposures, and this applied not only to math, but for studying any subject. Exposures were meant to help a subject stick in your mind and help you apply the current concept you are learning. The idea of multiple exposures was a simple concept, but we never knew how successful we could be by doing this, and having a teacher let the secret out was everything. This teacher made herself completely approachable to all her students no matter how little or much help we needed; she was always there to make sure we were successful.
When you have a teacher that makes a negative impact on your education, it can stick in the worst way possible. I had another math teacher who used the “figure it out yourself” approach. I had to depend on him lecturing every day over a PowerPoint presentation that was word-for-word what the textbook book said, and if anyone had any questions, we would have to look it up in the textbook or figure it out for ourselves. Were we learning? Yes, learning to fail. I attempted to ask questions in class and he would call me out and make me feel uncomfortable for asking them. The professor was unapproachable and he never gave guidance. I felt defeated and just as lost as I was a year before.
