those days that teachers annoy the fuck out of you

[Tenlaius]

you all had them...now mention them if you so choose.

I had one of those moments today at 2nd period(High School)
I came to class feeling a bit sleepy, I tried to stay awake. After about 20 minutes of managin to stay awake and feeling mroe sleepy...I dozed off..for 1 minute before the teacher came by my desk and woke me up.
After class he askes me what is with my atitude..what the hell?? He says I feel asleep in class(i know this) and I have been coming up-prepared, especially today(I had a pencil with me,but it broke...so ya that is un-prepared and irresponsible he says). I barely resisted the urge to scream at him before I left...not much to say expect he was a ass.

[LJustus]

Gotta side with the teacher on this one bud.

[Aria]

Er, I agree w/ LJustus. I have to say that being "prepared" does consist of a little more than just bring a pencil to class. And the attitude that you have that think having a pencil is being prepared for class is probably the attitude to which your teacher refers. I use attitude only because your teacher used attitude.

[akitaka]

Turn off the computer/television, and do some soul-searching.

I've known people who wanted to teach; and chances are, the teachers in your very class have had the same aspiration, only before the first few semesters of the job (especially if it's highschool).
When you and a bunch of others screw up, and refuse to take visible responsibility, you kill their hopes, and take their tolerance level a step lower.

Aria is about right, but I'd say that the sleeping is also apart of the impression. In the next time that you're tired, at least be decent, and either call in, or let the teacher know. Heck, a good 5 min fresh-air break is sometimes negotiable. If you don't have a good reason for your sleepiness (staying up late for recreational reasons, etc), then it's better if you just bite your tongue.

[Frankey-eh]

I agree with everyone else, but then, they've all explained pretty well why, so I don't need to add anymore.

As for my experience... I have one. I started writing about it. Then I realized I couldn't possibly write this in a fair way, so I've simplified it down to questions.

To English/History/any subjective subject teachers:
Do you play favorites?
If yes, how much influence does it have on your assessment of the student? Is there anything a student can do to become a favorite, or at least, get off your black list? Or are your favorites engraved on stone and nothing can change your mind? What are signs that a student is NOT on your favorites list? (in terms of action/speech/movements).

My problem should be pretty clear, I believe.

[Komachi Angel]

I had one teacher who listened to the horse races during class. Serious, he would stand up the front, explain some problems (maths) to us, and then tell us to do textbook work in utter silence. Then, in this silent room, he's sitting up the front looking at papers, and...

*click!*

'And they're off!...'

This happened a few times, but the most memorable time was when he decided he didn't want to teach us. A few people were talking in class, which he interpreted to be that the entire class were uninterested in learning, so he said to us 'I refuse to teach you' and sat up the front and ignored us. I, not the best of maths students, went up and asked how to do some problems and without even looking at me he waves his hands and says 'go talk to your friends' as in 'they forced me to do this'.

So after a short talk with the principal, he went off on a couple of months of timely holidays.

Another time, I had been struggling for most of the semester on what the hell was going on with some of the work. I listened to all the explanations and such, but it just wasn't working. At the end of the semester, near tests, one of my friends starts asking about people in the class. He comes to me and says 'hey, he's smart - why isn't he doing well?' and the teacher calmly explains (not to me) that I am consistently making some mistakes in logic regarding some of the work.

WTF!??!?!? Couldn't you tell me this a little earlier?

So, we never really got along well.

[Lea]

Oh geez, teachers. I've had some I really liked and those I just can't help but dislike. I currently have a math teacher that is really nice but enjoys just giving us work to do instead of explaining how to do the problems in the first place. I also have a European history teacher that is bias when she grades. I worked on a paper for her class for several hours. I thought I did great but when I got it back, she wrote tons of comments concerning my ideas. I put out my theory about why so many different languages evolved (we weren't supposed to do outside research) which was completely logical and she said, "Not really..." I also added in some statistics I memorized from years of discussions with my father and then she says, “Where did you get this information?” It just made me so angry because she doesn’t trust what I’m writing is true (it is) and wants me to give sources when she said we were just supposed to use the knowledge we had in our own minds.

Overall, she didn’t like my topic and slammed all the other students in her class on the same things. I just HATE it when teachers do that. We’re not idiots, sometimes we can actually know things that maybe you just never thought of. I don't make up shit for my papers! I guess all my time to make the paper creative, unique, and true doesn't matter at all if she hates your topic and ideas. It doesn't help to soothe my anger when the girl next to me got one point higher than me when she didn't do an entire section and I did everything.

[Aria]

Er, well, if she were biased (your Euro-hist teacher), then she wouldn't have "slammed all the other students on the same things". Maybe she's just a hard grader. And usually when you use numbers in a paper, you always site your source. Even if it's something a simple as "my father always said blah blah blah", at least it doesn't sound like you pulled numbers out of your butt and called it statistics. And even though we don't like to face it, sometimes dad's memory may be a bit rusty. Who knows if those numbers are accurate?

But either way, I can see from the point of view with your teacher. When a teacher puts a comment like "not really...", then you obviously haven't proven your theory well enough. And it's not always good to say that a theory is completely logical in a paper, because I'm told that readers don't like to be told what to think and teachers grade with that in mind. Be persuasive, but don't force your ideas. It sounds like your teacher grades something like a college professor. Get used to it if you plan on going to university.

[Lea]

I won't go into the details of what the paper was about or her instructions about what was required and what was supposed to be ommited. I will say that everyone was to pick a current world issue and write your opinion. I still don't think we can talk about it if the topic is unknown though. ^.^;;

I still disagree with her but I understand your points.

[Aria]

Yeah, the teachers grade like that because they want to "prepare you for college". And even though you don't really see a lot of writing in college if you're a science major like me, I guess all you can do is just humor them. And feed them chocolate. I feed my AP Brit Lit teacher chocolate and got a nice A. :p

[Collapse]

If you think teachers are annoying, try getting a boss. Lot much harder.

That said, my teachers are often weird but they're pretty reasonable.

[rameek]

As a teacher in HS you kind tend to play a little favoritism in the sense of who you call on and actually expect to participate and do the class/home work.
In regards to a black list its easier to get on there hard to come off but its depends on the offense.
As a teacher you try to reach all students but if that takes away from the students who wants to learn can you expect a teacher to focus on the negative? I am not saying that I have done this but some young people dont want to be reached.
When teachers stop getting on you in regards to your work and participation its pretty much a rap for ya...
Can good students get on the bad side of course there are many offenses that can be done at school or personally towards teachers...
Can a black listed student get on the good side...???
well if you found out your significant other cheated on you once and you forgave you will always have doubts... if that same significant other cheated again and you forgave it gets even more difficult to trust...

[PopCulturePooka]

Redgarding the OP: If I was your teacher and you slept in my class after fronting with only a broken pencil, you'd get more than a stern talking too.

Disrespectful little arse.

[rameek]

Also most students like me because I am still familiar with the things they like... I still play sports, know about hip hop to metal, and car audio...

[Overkongen]

I'm studying to be a teacher myself, and man, a kid who showes up with a broke pencil, who then goes to sleep? You're heading straight for a smacked bottom, you are.

I also remember some teachers that I hated. Actually, they weren't too bad until I went to high school. Of course, good solid "test subject teachers" were alright, but some of the others... Like, take danish (The first language of my country). First two years of high-school, I get fairly good grades, and once, the teacher reads my essay aloud for the other students, because she thought I make the best one. Then, on third year, we get a new teacher, and suddenly, I start failing. I'm not 100% sure on how to translate grades, but I think I went from about B to E, thanks to me changing teachers...

And then there was my religions teacher. Religion is a subject in our highschool, where you are only judged by what you say in class, and you don't hand in anything written. Now, usually, she'd ask us question that kindergarteners could answer, and I rarely bothered answering these questions. However, sometimes I would think up something unique to say (like the part where she said that all religions had gods created in the images of man, and I brought up native americans and aboriginals, who usually use myths with animal figures in them. She didn't take too kindly to me asking about that).

Come grading time, one of my good friends asked her a bit abou her grading. It went something like this:

Him: I heard that Signe got a B. Still, she's to most quiet person in class. You are only supposed to judge us according to what we say during class. How does saying nothing earn her a B, when other people have been getting C's and D's?
Her: Signe seems well prepared.
Him: Also, I've noticed that the boys in our class are better at thinking beyond the book, and asking relevant questions. A lot of the girls excel only at repeating what is written in the texts you have given us. How come the girls get better grades, then?
Her: Boys have an easier time thinking in abstract terms.

Yes, we all hated her.

I'm now studying maths, P.E., physics, and english. Not counting english, those are subjects where it is easy to test the students' skills, and not judge due to whatever random things made those two teachers give out the grades that they did.

[CrazyAce86]

My one current professor is severely pissing me off.

At the beginning of the semester everyone had to get into a group. Well, unlike most, I didn't know anybody. There were four of us like that, so we were thrown together. The group was supposed to do a presentation at a later date based on assigned chapters. Since we were the last group, we were assigned the last chapter. So I wasn't worried about it immediately.

Fast forward two months. I missed class one day because of an appointment, and the next class I come to find out that my group had presented-- WITHOUT ME. No phone call or E-mail to say that they were doing it, they just did it. (We had each other's names, so they could have looked me up in the directory.) I didn't even know they were planning to do it so soon, but apparently the other three decided to go ahead and do it on a whim and not include me.

So why does this make me mad at my professor? Well, it gets better.

I ask him and explain the situation to him. He shrugs and says, "Not my problem. It's all your fault." No matter what I ask, he keeps repeating that. Finally, I ask if there was some way I could make it up. He says no, because it was a group thing and I can't do it on my own. He does say that I could do whichever section they didn't cover, which gives a brief moment of hope. Then I remember that they did *all* of the chapter themselves-- there's nothing leftover for me. I asked if there was someway I could do a chapter by myself, and he says I could, but he wouldn't count anyway.

So... Yeah. Not doing it. But, of course, it gets even better-- the group presentation? He changed his grading scale at the last minute and now it's 20% of our grade.

I am up shit crick and not only without a paddle, but with a leaky boat, too.

Gah, I hate college professors. They're so convinced they're gods sometimes...

[Frankey-eh]

As a teacher in HS you kind tend to play a little favoritism in the sense of who you call on and actually expect to participate and do the class/home work.
In regards to a black list its easier to get on there hard to come off but its depends on the offense.
As a teacher you try to reach all students but if that takes away from the students who wants to learn can you expect a teacher to focus on the negative? I am not saying that I have done this but some young people dont want to be reached.
When teachers stop getting on you in regards to your work and participation its pretty much a rap for ya...
Can good students get on the bad side of course there are many offenses that can be done at school or personally towards teachers...
Can a black listed student get on the good side...???
well if you found out your significant other cheated on you once and you forgave you will always have doubts... if that same significant other cheated again and you forgave it gets even more difficult to trust...

OkayI'm having trouble with my English teacher. I think I got on her black list because everything I contribute to class discussion turns out wrong. Is that even possible? Like, when we are analyzing a book, and if I disagreed with her too many times, can I land myself on the black list? Also, is it a good idea to talk about favoritism directly with her? Can I just go up to her and ask "do you like me? What can I do to get you to like me?" This is so stressful, I just want to confront it directly. Sometimes I feel like she doesn't want to see me. When other people greet her, she smiles. When I greet her, she just says "oh hey". When I raise my hand, I'm always the last one to get called on. Sometimes she doesn't even call on me, and just move on to the next discussion. What do you think? Is this favoritism, or am I just assuming too much?

P.S. Please don't think badly about her though. She's a really good teacher. Lots of people like her. Just... not me.

[ellie]

words

Ouch dude, that sucks hardcore. That's exactly why I thought high school was better than college: because all the classes are smaller, you get to know the teachers better. And because you know the teachers better, you're more likely to be able to reschedule things or talk to them if you need help with something. A couple of my classes at college this year have more than 300 kids in them, which is just ridiculous! It's impossible to get to know the teachers in a class that big, and the professors just don't care about the students, it seems like. I like my smaller classes soo much better mainly just because I feel like the teacher at least knows who I am a little bit!

I hope you can try to talk to your prof again, maybe some new arrangement can be made. Those other kids in your group suck balls, that's shitty that they would do that to you!

[CrazyAce86]

Yeah, well, shit happens. Worst that could happen is that I would have to take the class again, but I'm definitely requesting a different prof.

For the class we have to write a 10+ page term paper on anything. I'm like, "Anything, huh? Alright-y then [/Jim Carrey], serial killers it is!"

Muahaha, I can at least scare the shit out of him *and* write a really good paper in retribution, can't I?

...Of course, he may be expecting it. After all, I am the only in the entire class who know who the BTK Killer was and just what "BTK" stood for... *evil smirk*

[Komachi Angel]

You hear a lot of crazy stories about university and classes there. I remember taking an english subject (it was a requisite for the degree) and our first class being mostly questions such as 'so, who can tell me what a verb is?'. In a way, it wasn't so bad, because I felt very nostalgic about primary school...

In other classes, the teacher would simply read off notes that were posted on the internet. The class was so early I had to get up when even birds are still sleeping, so I stayed at home and worked from the textbook instead.

Then you have all sorts of things, from assignments being downright ambiguous and silly, to having no criteria at all.

Thank god I ended up with language classes - best I ever had from university, and something I will never regret. Sometimes in class sizes of 6 people - it was a pretty tight group.

[Exclamatio]

rofl

grow up child

get more sleep!
show more respectt o your teacher!

[Rapid_89]

Well, I have this professor that everyone seems like and respect, but I can’t stand him. He has this annoying tendency to laugh at everything. Someone could sneeze in the back of the class and he’ll bust out laughing. At the beginning of class he stands by the door and greets everyone whose coming in with his smug little grin, damn that annoys the hell out me.

[Loc]

I've had some pretty awful teachers...two of which practically destroyed the classes grades for leaving high school.

One was insane and told us that everyone's coursework was at A grade, he'd told us all specifically what to do and we did it better. We ended up getting C grades and him saying "Well you could have done more"...the whole class went crazy and started shouting at him (he changed his mind a lot and work set for next week would suddenly have to be in today). He was probably the worst teacher I ever had.

Another did nearly the same thing, telling us to do something for coursework, we did it (the coursework takes two years) and at the end he said "oops made a mistake" so the whole class got C grades again, maximum, a lot of people failed.

Of course there are always great teachers...my English teacher taught us in a weird way...she was like a mother to us cause she liked me and my friends, even though we used to be a little too relaxed with our work...got A's with her.

Falling asleep in class is a big nono though dude, it's like just going to sleep while someone is talking to you, obviously disrespectful. It's tough trying to stay awake sometimes but I'd never do that...unless I passed out.

[Idlethought]

Hmm I can't say teachers annoy the fuck out of me, they just BORE the fuck outta me/ Like Loc said its tough trying to stay awake lol. Usually i keep awake by doin other work while in class

[mamba]

cant say iv had any bad teachers, hell we usually met some of our teachers when we were out drinking, and they would usually buy us a drink SCORE, Best teacher however let me take three stools and lie across them and sleep after i had been up all night, now thats how to become popular.

[Exclamatio]

rofl he hasnt replied

cry

[rameek]

I would suggest you dont be as confrontational with the teacher in class... That can be a way of showing up a teacher and even if you are right she may not give you credit for it...
I would definitely wait until after class or school to have a discussion about your grades and how you can understand the literature better. I would never suggest a student approach a teacher concerning whether they like them or not because that would seem like you are on the same level or there is a friendship of a sort if that makes sense. Stay humble but your opinions are yours and may not be off base. IMHO even if your opinion may be off base as long its on topic I would continue to contribute. I prefer creative and thinking students than for someone to regurtate the information that I know already unless its science or math which is more exact...

[Frankey-eh]

I would suggest you dont be as confrontational with the teacher in class... That can be a way of showing up a teacher and even if you are right she may not give you credit for it...
I would definitely wait until after class or school to have a discussion about your grades and how you can understand the literature better. I would never suggest a student approach a teacher concerning whether they like them or not because that would seem like you are on the same level or there is a friendship of a sort if that makes sense. Stay humble but your opinions are yours and may not be off base. IMHO even if your opinion may be off base as long its on topic I would continue to contribute. I prefer creative and thinking students than for someone to regurtate the information that I know already unless its science or math which is more exact...

thanks. you are so helpful. ^_^ I guess I'll keep participating and hopefully she'll see me in a different light. Thank you so much.

===

As for stupid teachers... I did have one, and it just so happens to be an English teacher too. But she was really, really incompetent. She could never control the class, and she gave confusing directions. But what made her really detestable is that, during class, she'd leave us to discuss some prompts, and then she goes off to check her email. She was a new teacher, so when administrators came and observed her work, they could clearly see what a bad job she was doing. On top of that, a bunch of us went to complain to the vice principal many times. And YET they waited three months before firing her.

Then we got a substitute for a month, until the end of the first semester. He wasn't bad at all, since we just transitioned from a teacher who couldn't even teach, but I suppose in English-teacher term, he wasn't very good. He practically taught us Lord of the Flies through Sparknotes. Our LotF test was exactly the same one on Sparknotes.

The next semester, we got a proper English teacher. He was like a gift from god. Not only did he save our English class, he helped us improve our writing significantly. But then, since we did nothing in the first semester, he had to push us twice as fast to accomplish everything in the curriculum in half a year.

Our school, dispite being one of the best public HS in the nation, has limited number of certified English/History teachers. All the good ones choose to teach the upper-level classes, and so the lower, 9th and 10th grade classes gets filled by incompetent teachers.

[rameek]

Not easy being a teacher...

[Frankey-eh]

Not easy being a teacher...

I know. I once had a JET-like position in a rich Chinese private school. some were motivated to learn, but most (esp guys) weren't. I usually ended up grading their essays, and I swear, I read a total of four unique ones out of a class of 80. Everyone else's were just copied from the one girl who actually took the effort. That's why I'm never becoming an English teacher.

[Bob]

Not easy being a teacher...

Nobody made them be the mans bitch, they bent over all by themselves

[Jon885]

"He says I feel asleep in class.." Tenlaius

Was he that guy in Metal Gear? heh. Most of my teachers were annoying in highschool but I liked a few. I can't think of any good stories.