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Good professors

post #1 of 15
4/29/05 at 10:42am
Thread Starter 
Okay, we've been through all the shitheels that have taught us in school/college/roadside carnival stands, what about the professors that somehow made it all worthwhile?

I had a professor in college, who taught several of the construction drawing courses (anatomy, perspective, etcetera). First off, the guy's a genius. He knows everything there is to know about drawing, but most importantly, he knows how to -teach- that. He also knows, even more importantly, that his techniques aren't the be-all and end-all of drawing. His goal in his classes was to see his students improve from the first day to the last. I really have to admire that. He was an extremely tough grader, but it was worth it. If you got a B on one of his assignments, you felt like you'd accomplished something. If you got an A, you know it's because you really nailed it.

He was also an extremely likeable guy, and really knew how to work with his students. Our classes had the best models and props (including his complete ARMORY of medieval weaponry and armor), and we became an elite, organized drawing force. The proudest of myself I think I ever was in college was when we were doing a skeletal structure study (we had a live model, and we were drawing the shapes of the skeleton based on the model's pose), and Paul was walking around the class with a piece of charcoal. He'd go up to each desk, lean down, look at the model with them, and then draw what he was seeing next to what they were drawing. He came to my desk, looked at my newsprint, leaned down, looked at the model, and then just nodded to me and moved on. Made me feel like I was accomplishing what I needed to in that class.

Anybody else have some GOOD professor stories to share?
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post #2 of 15
4/29/05 at 10:57am
My gcse history teacher (who was also my form tutor) was fantasitc. He was a part time Archologist, and also had a collection of armour/weapons/fosseils etc in his room. The difference being he actullay found all this stuff. He was also involved in reinactment socities so could talk about the tactics of a battle with gusto. He loved his subject and could make even the most mundane parts (like the industrial revolution) seem fun.

One of his best tricks was to find historical films (Jack the Ripper was one we saw a couple of times) and get us to dismatle them stating why they were historically inacurate. I kinda wish i was still at school and in his class when Braveheart came out - he would have had a field day.
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post #3 of 15
4/29/05 at 11:00am
Thread Starter 
We watched a bunch of movies in Paul's conceptual design class, and one of them happened to be Dungeons & Dragons. I'd asked him if he'd ever seen it, and he said no. About fifteen minutes into the class, it had devolved into an MST3K style session, with everyone cracking wise about the movie. About an hour into it, Paul said that anyone who could stomach the rest of the movie was welcome to stay, otherwise we could go and try to recuperate from the experience.
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post #4 of 15
4/29/05 at 11:49am
My first screenwriting professor at NYU was this guy named Sam Dann and he is probably the single best teacher I've ever had. He was really uncompromising and stuck to his Aristotelian principles when he evaluated your work. But everything he did was geared to make you a good writer, not just a marketable writer. One thing that made him different than most screenwriting teachers I've encountered was that he had worked in lots of areas: screenwriter, novelist, playwright, etc. So, his breadth of knowledge was much broader than the usual writing teacher. In any case, he was a really great guy and he's probably had more influence on me and my work than anyone else, including my personal hero writers. (A close second would be Don Bedichek, who taught my freshman year English class. Good teacher and his encouragement is probably the first and most powerful element that set me on the path to being a writer.)
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post #5 of 15
4/29/05 at 12:08pm
I had two great professors. One for my Ancient Rome (Republic and Empire) course and the other for my "Rap in the Urban Ghetto" course. I took the latter course for 3 reasons: it was an elective I was hoping would produce an easy A, i had heard there were gorgeous girls in it (ended up being only one attractive female) and I'm very, very white.

They couldn't have been more different, obviously, but I had a blast in both, thanks to what the professors brought to it. There was lot of interaction and discussion in both. And great sense of humors.

Plus, I got to read Ice-T's book "The Ice Opinion"...he's a Renaissance Man, I tell you.
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post #6 of 15
4/29/05 at 1:29pm
I had a teacher Greg Kinnard (from community college of all places) who taught History 101. From Pre-civilization all the way to the Renaissance. I've done the class a million times before in High School and my Art History classes, but with him teaching it he made it so much more interesting. He would talk about the people and the scandals they were in, in those days. It gave the historical figures actual lifer and made them human, such as Juilius Caesar who was also known for breaking up happy families (i.e. sleeping with husbands and wives). Or one of the Athenian leaders... not sure of his name but when they were at war with Sparta, he got piss drunk and chopped off all the erect penis's of a god for good luck(they were located at each corner). The next day the Athenians followed the broken penis's to his house and ran him outta town. I believe it may have been Pericles??? Anyway each class had something like that, and I couldn't wait until I came to the class each day. And his lecture on future archaeologists searching the shrines of past McDonald's was the funniest thing.
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post #7 of 15
4/29/05 at 4:24pm
My Editing I professor is the best. He's always coming to me with internship and job opportunities because he really wants me to become a copy editor. Like, pretty much whenever I need help with something or when I need to get in touch with someone, he's my go-to guy.
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post #8 of 15
4/29/05 at 7:18pm
I know this is about "good" professors, but I really haven't had one that I would take over some of my high school teachers (several of whom were amazing). And it has nothing to do with the supposed difficulty of the material. It is in the simple ability to convey and impart information successfully.
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post #9 of 15
4/29/05 at 7:24pm
Thread Starter 
So tell us about one of your great High School teachers, then.
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post #10 of 15
4/29/05 at 7:27pm
My teachers at school were shite. Especially this one Welsh guy who refused to help me because he kept flirting with all the girls.

My college teachers have all been fine. Well, okay, my original film studies teacher was a bit of a tool, but the rest are great. My English teacher really helped me get confidence in my ability to write, and my current media and film teachers are just fantastic.
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post #11 of 15
4/29/05 at 7:52pm
I once sat down for a final exam in a differential equations class, looked at the problems, and completely, utterly choked. I blanked. It's like they were written in Cyrillic.

I wrote an essay about why the professor should pass me, even though I was getting a zero on the final.

To my unending delight and gratitude, the guy cut me a break. Now, that's a great professor!
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post #12 of 15
4/29/05 at 7:57pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by FrankCobretti
I once sat down for a final exam in a differential equations class, looked at the problems, and completely, utterly choked. I blanked. It's like they were written in Cyrillic.

I wrote an essay about why the professor should pass me, even though I was getting a zero on the final.

To my unending delight and gratitude, the guy cut me a break. Now, that's a great professor!
No. That's drawing a Royal Flush when you're betting your house on an opponent's hand.
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post #13 of 15
4/29/05 at 8:12pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Fett
My teachers at school were shite. Especially this one Welsh guy who refused to help me because he kept flirting with all the girls.
Yeah, my Poli Sci teacher was like that. He tried to cover it up by shouting catchphrases like "ALL GOOOOD IN THE HOOOD!" and "BIG DOG, CHIHUAHUA FRESHMAN!"

But as to awesome teachers in high school, all my history teachers, my Algebra I teacher, and my American Literature teacher were all fantastic.

But thinking about it, it's tough to explain why. I guess it mostly boils down to an infectous passion for the material coupled with never condescending to the students. Lovable quirks also help.
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post #14 of 15
4/29/05 at 11:20pm
I have had two good professors since I started and finished university. Both are old-school style history profs. who believe that facts and dates matter. These guy's could walk into a class and teach it with no notes, all while drawing crappy maps on the board. The reason they where good teachers is because they cared about the subject matter.

This may not mean much to you if your not a historian, but as I once had a professor teach a class on why Coffee created modern society, there is nothing like the old school
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post #15 of 15
4/29/05 at 11:32pm
Igor Filinovsky, who taught me Analog Filters & Operational Amplifiers in one course, and RF circuit design in another. There's nothing this guy didn't know about his discipline and how to teach it. He also told me who to talk to get excellent job. The guy is spooky smart.

Dave Routledge, who was just another prof teaching timing circuits and waveshaping when I was working on my bachelor's degree but really strutted his stuff when it came to the radio astronomy course I took seven years later. He's the guy who talked me into not dropping his course when I figured the research paper was too much for me, then gave me top marks and asked if he could copy it to show later students as an example of how to do it after it was all over. And he recommended me to the director of the Dominion Radio Astronomy Observatory. What a swell guy.

Oh, and Dr. Mackay, one of my 2nd year math profs. I guess he was a good teacher but what I remember about him was his wicked chops as a jazz man.
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