4 Valuable Lessons from My Favorite Teacher

I’m taking a small break from your somewhat-regularly scheduled programming of delicious food and health stuff to talk about something else today. What’s that something else, you ask? More like who: teachers, and more specifically, one of my favorite people ever.

I am firmly of the opinion that a good teacher can turn a class you wouldn’t otherwise care about into one of your favorites. And while they’re responsible for teaching you about a specific subject, I find that a good one can teach you a whole lot more.

I’m not a history buff – and I especially wasn’t as a sophomore in high school – but my favorite class I took in high school was AP US History.

Why? Well, I had an excellent teacher. He taught me a lot of US history. A lot. But he also taught me some other things that are probably ultimately more valuable than the religious history of the country and the minutiae of the Civil War.

He’s retiring at the end of the school year, so I thought now would be a good time to reflect on the many lessons of Mr. Wolf.

It’s okay to depend on others

My first study group ever was for AP US History. I spent the majority of high school studying solo. But for APUSH we had online tests, and Mr. Wolf encouraged us to group up and take them together. So we did.

The first time we opened up a test for one of my friends, about eight of us worked on it. We got a D. And we got a D on the next person’s test, too. We had Google tabs open on multiple computers. We had people manning the class notes and the textbook. We were smart and as prepared as we thought we could be. Aaand we didn’t do well.

Those first few less-than-stellar grades didn’t go in all of our files, but we all felt them, and it sucked. But we cried (yes, literally… we liked our A’s) together, and by the third or fourth person’s test, we had started to get the hang of it. We were reading more carefully and learning as we went – together.

The tests were timed and we had to ask each other for help a lot. We double-checked our answers, sure, but ultimately, we trusted each other.

In college, that’s how most of my classes are. I work with people almost all the time on problem sets. If I don’t “get” something, I depend on people who do (and Google) to explain it to me. After APUSH, I realized I would need to give up a big chunk of my stubborn pride in favor of understanding what I’m supposed to be learning, and that’s one of the most valuable lessons I’ve learned.

There’s no need to show off

High school was a time when teachers would often post students’ grades on a bulletin board after tests. I had a teacher who had a three-tiered leader board displayed for every quiz and test. I also had a teacher who posted grades for pretty much every assignment on the wall so students could make sure he’d entered them in correctly, even though we had online access to our grades.

I’ve never liked that style. I think disclosure of grades should be at students’ discretion, and that consistently displaying them fosters unnecessary competition.

Mr. Wolf didn’t do that stuff. He wanted us to know our stuff, and he probably wanted to brag about excellent AP scores at the end of the year (we killed the AP exam that year), but he didn’t want to feed resentment between his students regarding grades.

If he wanted to tell you you’d done a good job, he’d write you a note or tell you after class. It was a quick ego boost and then you got back to work.

Writing matters 

Multiple-choice tests were usually reserved for homework assignments. You could generally use your notes, and the point of them was just to make sure you did the reading, could pay attention in class, and eventually got the facts straight. Valuable in-class time was for exams where you wrote as fast as you could, and did it well.

We started off writing pretty much everything we knew on given topics. They could be bullet points, and were essentially thought-dumps. You wanted to show you knew a lot.

Over time, we learned how to use what we knew strategically to say what we wanted to say. I learned how to quickly structure and concisely craft an argument better in APUSH than in any other class I’ve taken. That’s a skill that will serve you well for as long as you need to talk to people.

So… forever.

There’s nothing wrong with having high expectations

I think a lot of teachers eventually let their expectations drop to the level of effort their students are willing to put in. Mr. Wolf didn’t do that. If you were going to sleep in class, he’d probably call you out on it. If your writing wasn’t up to par, he’d dock you for it. And if you said something stupid, he’d probably call you a knucklehead (jokingly, of course). He could be tough, but it was always for your own good.

You probably start off a lot of projects with high expectations of yourself. And sometimes you meet (or exceed them!), but sometimes you don’t.

You know when your work isn’t your best, and it happens. Call yourself out on it. Recognize you can do better. Don’t let your expectations of yourself tank because you didn’t show up one day.

The best #teachers teach lessons that extend far beyond the final exam. Share on X

So Larry Wolf taught US history. That’s been his job for years – and he’s damn good at it. He also taught me a lot of other lessons about school and work and success that I’ll remember long after I’ve forgotten his fondness for Harry Truman. 

And beyond what he taught, I’ll always remember Mr. Wolf for who he is: my favorite teacher and a really cool person. Even 20 teachers later, his lectures stand out as some of the most engaging and he still keeps in touch and offers advice, five years after I finished his class. His jokes are still not for the easily offended (but they make me laugh) and his faith in my abilities still means a whole lot. His response to my inquiry about coming to visit him – “Absofreekunlutely” – put the biggest smile on my face, and made me think that the immense respect I feel for him as a teacher and a person might just be mutual.

Thinking Out Loud with Amanda today.

What life lessons have your teachers taught you?

Tell me about your favorite teacher!