After my siblings came home, my family went out for school supplies and dinner. It was nice to spend time with them. 
One store we went to was Big Lots. While there, I asked Beth who her English teacher was. I was hoping that the teacher I had, the one that "Old Hag" is basically about, had quit teaching.
Beth told me she didn't have her. 
However, one of her friends, Christina, had had her and failed that course. 
Well, I told Beth that if she ever got that teacher, let my mother know ASAP so my mother can get her out of that woman's classroom. Beth doesn't need the hell I went through.
Besides the fact she was a bad teacher, her classroom made me ill. My school attendance was never grand. However, my absences in 10th and 12th (no matter how much the thought of looking at Logan in class got me to come to school) were higher in those grades than 11th (when I had no Loganized classes). I'll admit I wasn't the most stable person in high school and couldn't cope with it at times. The only other factor that 10th and 12th had that 11th didn't was that I had her as a teacher. The classroom was in an older part of the school and she was all the time fussing about the heating/air unit the classroom had. Since I've gotten out of high school, I've learned all about toxic mold. It wouldn't surprise me that her classroom had it.
However, at the high school now, the English wing is not where it was when I attended. According to my sister, the new English wing is still in an older part of the school.
The weirdest thing about this all is that when my mother took Beth and Christina to school this morning, they were discussing English class! It was then that Christina brought up the fact she had that woman. My mother said she didn't like her at all and that if Beth ever got her, she would be removing Beth ASAP.
My mother's disdain for the inspiration of "Old Hag" deals not with me but my sister Nicki. Nicki had her own problems in high school. She hated the school, feared the school, and dropped out. However, props are in order for my sister. She has her G.E.D and has a job she loves, wanted, and is happy to have. It's more than many others have. Nicki left school in 10th grade.
Well, a few years ago, Nicki and I were discussing the witchy teacher. Nicki had her in 10th grade, too. Nicki spoke about why she didn't like her. It seems on the first day of class with her, the teacher finished her discussion before class ended. Nicki had nothing to do during the free time so she pulled out a book to read. Mrs. Witch Teacher points to my sister and says to the rest of the class that she sees one student that is going to fail her class.
Oh, that pissed my mother off when she heard that. She wished that Nicki spoke up right then and there when it happened. My mother would have confronted her over that. School is to be a place to learn. It is to encourage reading and to get kids interested in something they enjoyed. Nicki enjoyed reading. She didn't go to school without a book to read in her spare time. And this witch is upset about Nicki reading a book in spare time! My mother was already having trouble trying to get Nicki to actually go to school, then. My mother feel this woman's actions just led to my sister losing her heart into going to school. Dear Witchy Poo teacher is to blame for Nicki, in my mother's eyes.
I honestly don't blame my mother. I know, I'm a little bias, but still, it's wrong for an English teacher to discourage reading like that. Knowing I had her for 2 school years, I believe my sister. She would end class early and start talking about things like current events and how horrible the school system was. She would also go on and on about her son when she wasn't teaching. Nicki's story about pulling a book out makes perfect sense to me.
I didn't mean to get into a rant about this one teacher. I just thought it was funny that both my mother and I, independent of each other, told Beth that if she got that teacher, run away! It's sad to think she's still teaching. However, there are probably ex-students of her that just loved her. Which is fine and dandy by me but she gets no love in my household.
Guess I need to get off this box and read for my own course work.
[Listening to: "To The M
Posted by Shawn at January 6, 2004 8:29 PM in General.
We had an awful teacher - ALSO English (they seem to be beotches for some reason). Her problem, though, was that she was a hard-nosed liberal. One day, without messing anything up, some boys wrote "Rush is best." on her board. She threatened to send them to the principal and fail them. She also only liked those who were "popular" - they could call her by her first name and such. I was glad when she finally left the school to teach elsewhere...I feel sorry for her current students, but it can only be an improvement for my old school.
Posted by: Chewie at January 6, 2004 8:56 PMgotta wonder how some people get their teaching licenses!! many of my teachers over the years were good. I had a verbally abusive teacher in first grade. I was also the last student among my classmates that she could ever target. She was sued by parents of former students, by the district that hired her(!!) and by everyone else who decided this woman should not be teaching at all. And this was all because I had the guts to tell another teacher about what she was saying and making me do in class. Think if I'd gone to my mom about it first, it would've been just another parent complaint...feeding the rumor mill surrounding that jackass with a teaching license. However, I couldn't tell anyone at home for obvious reasons so I trusted another first grade teacher by running to her sobbing my eyes out and begging to be in her class. That pretty much did it. It was no longer a rumor. It was true. She couldn't even finish out the year. We got a substitute for the remainder of that year. SPEAKING UP HELPS!!
Chewie, failing them because they wrote "Rush is best" on the board is wrong and if that happened to any of my kids, I would debate that. Her political agenda does not belong in the classroom. Shame teachers can't comprehend that politics do not belong in a classroom!
As for those that like only the popular kids, seen that before. It's just as wrong. 
Misbah, what did the battleaxe want you to do? If it was that bad for a kid that young, good for you! We don't needed witches as teachers. If you don't want to teacher, don't enter the profession in the first place.
Posted by: Shawn at January 7, 2004 1:49 PM"battleaxe" hahahahaha
well, for starters, she'd banish me to a corner of the room where she couldn't see me... she'd ENCOURAGE the other students to make fun of me....she'd hand me a broom and have me sweep the entire classroom during class and then say i didn't finish my classwork and make me stay inside during recess and lunch to finish...she knew i was getting beat up at home and she relished making up new stories about how bad i was in class so I'd come to school with a broken bone the next day and she'd say "Well no wonder your parents hate you. You're ugly and stupid and not worth my time." One day, in a desperate attempt to win over my classmates, i played truth or dare with them. I was dared to show my underwear so I pulled down my pants and flashed them all. (lol...i was weird). That was just the leverage the teacher needed. She called home and I was taken out of school for one day during which all 8 hrs I could've been safe at school, I spent at home being yelled at, kicked and thrown around from one wall to another. I came to school the next day and my teacher saw me and said, "What are you doing here? Your daddy hasn't killed you yet?" I kid you not, that's what actually came from her mouth, in a voice thick with disgust. That's the day I ran to another teacher on the playground and told her what the teacher said.
I was 6. That was my first grade teacher. You can bet I did what I could to get rid of her. Our substitute teacher the remainder of the year was soooo nice. I wouldn't let her go and at the end of the year, knowing what I had to face all summer long, I just stayed in the classroom and wailed and begged for her to take me to her home.
My 2nd-5th grade teachers were angels. They looked out for me. I'm so glad I had them but by then, it was almost too late. I'd gotten to be very violent and angry. Still, they were angels. They understood.
Posted by: misbah kyrene at January 7, 2004 3:47 PMi meant "mooned" not "flashed"
hahahaha...whoops.
Michael, there are good parts I like to remember (like the bus drill in 12th grade) and others I want to forget. I'd like to forget the old hag.
Misbah, what a 
bitch! 
That woman should not be teachering but locked up. You are really heartless if you say that to a 6-year-old child. Did she lose or settle any of her lawsuits? God, what a bitch! I just can't believe that. That's not a teacher. That's just evil.
I'm pretty sure she settled but of course, she wasn't allowed to teach ever again.
Posted by: misbah kyrene at January 7, 2004 7:12 PMThat's good, hopefully, unless she was able to get a job elsewhere. That's a scary thought.
Posted by: Shawn at January 8, 2004 2:41 PM
