Mr. Feineman was my 8th grade Social Studies teacher. Up until then, I had no real interest in Social Studies. Mr. Feineman made the class fun and interesting. He was really nice looking, and most of the girls in the class had crushes on him and competed to baby sit for his children. The boys in the class all fought to be his caddy when he played golf.

What made him special though was how he treated me as a student. We had to do a report on someone from the industrial revolution in the U. S. and he assigned us the people we had to research. I had Goodyear Tires. Not only did we have to write a report but we had to get up in front of the class to do an oral report. He decided the order and I was first. I was so scared, but I somehow made it through. He made my day when he told  that it was hard to go first and admired how well I did. He gave me a sense of confidence I never had before. I got an A and now Social Studies was one of my favorite subjects. I even minored in History in college.

Thanks Mr Feineman.

I am a teacher in high school now and often tell my students the story of when I got kicked out of Mr. Sterling's algebra class for the entire semester. He hated when students tore looseleaf paper out of our spiral notebooks and always gave demerits for doing so. I organized a revolt and at the count of 3 all the class began tearing paper out of the notebooks. Obviously, he caught me as the leader of this small protest and I was removed, banished from class for the entire term. I sat in the hallway by one of the windows and studied algebra with the help of the Regents review book. I basically taught myself algebra and proceeded to get a 98% on the Regents. The rest of the class which stayed in the room got very low grades and many failed. I tell this to my students as a lesson- when they complain about a subject because they don't like the teacher. I tell them that it is no excuse for failure and that they shouldn't let that bad teacher win the fight and that succeeding is the ultimate revenge. If you fail, then the teacher has won.

It is also about using the Regents review books and about autoeducation which is the best kind anyway. So, thanks Mr. Sterling for the wonderful memory.

BERNICE OSTROWER wrote:

Mr. Sterling was a terrible man and a terrible teacher.  He stands out in my mind as a bad memory.  He accused me of cheating off of a girl who sat on the opposite side of the classroom.  I became totally turned off to learning math.  I never cheated, ever.  It was an awful thing to do to a young, impressionable, and sensitive girl.  The happy ending here is that I went to to major in math during my college years.  I've been tutoring and coaching students of all ages in math.  Watching students become better math students is a joy, and I am thrillled to see them achieve. No thanks to Mr. Sterling.  

There was a teacher that stood out in a very positive way.  Mrs. Berger, a science teacher at Louis Pasteur was wonderful.  I blossomed and thrived in her class.  Mrs. Goldstein, the typing teacher was strict, but I am one hellava typer 93 words/minute!