One issue was that she just wasn't a great at explaining and would often contradict what the textbook itself said. Most classes had us staring at each other several times trying to make sense of her jarbled mind. That in itself isn't too bad since I learn well by studying the material myself and never failed a single test in the class. The bigger issue is the perfection she demanded on each homework assignment and project. If it didn't earn an A, it was returned and you had to redo it. If the handwriting wasn't legible enough, it was returned and you had to redo it. If there was even an erase mark somewhere or too many creases on the paper, she would return it and you'd have to redo it. (I learned to invest in really nice erasers that gave no evidence of erasing and got used to writing really slow and carefully as to not make any mistakes.) The homework was only accepted and received a grade if it was up to the quality of an A. However each day it was turned in "late" without receiving full marks would dock it an entire grade. So if I turned in an assignment that only reached B quality, and she didn't have time to grade it for 2 days, and I had to redo it, it would already be considered 2 days late and I probably wouldn't have time to redo it that day so the highest grade I could then possibly receive would be a D. And we only had Biology every other day so if you couldn't catch her on office hours or right before/after school to turn it in, it was an automatic fail. If it fails to get an "A" on the second attempt, then you're almost always a guaranteed fail on it. (Occasionally we would be lucky and she would have assignments graded by the end of the day and you could attempt to catch her at her office to see if it passed thus giving you a chance of only getting it in a day late). I really struggled with getting my assignments with the context she wanted, probably because I didn't understand her context and did most my actual learning from the textbooks. Often my second attempt to turn in an assignment resulted in it being rejected. Even worse, tests were worth only 20% of my grade while homework was worth the majority of the rest. It didn't matter that I got an A- on the final exam. I still failed the entire class by 1 point. It didn't matter that I went and begged her to bring up my grade by 1 point just to pass, that I felt I worked hard enough to not deserve zero credit for that entire semester of work. It didn't matter. She said I had my chance.
And that is the story of the most effort I put into any class in my entire life and the life lesson it taught me that none of it mattered.
(Written and brought to you on one of those nights I just couldn't sleep
)What are some of your worst teacher experiences?