50 Fun Facts About Teacher

Anne Sullivan is best remembered as the lifelong teacher of which deaf and blind author?

Sullivan was herself partially blind after childhood trachoma and had begged her way into the Perkins School for the Blind.

NASA's Teacher in Space taught which subject at Concord High School in New Hampshire?

Christa McAuliffe planned to teach two lessons from orbit before Challenger broke apart in January 1986.

Jaime Escalante, the inspiration for Stand and Deliver, taught which subject at Garfield High?

Born in La Paz to two teachers, he had taught in Bolivia for 12 years before immigrating and learning English.

Which actor was Oscar-nominated for playing Escalante in Stand and Deliver (1988)?

The film was added to the National Film Registry in 2011.

Erin Gruwell's students at Wilson High in Long Beach compiled diaries that became which 1999 book?

Hilary Swank played her in the 2007 film; Gruwell had started as a student teacher assigned the lowest-performing class in 1994.

Before creating her educational method, Maria Montessori qualified as what?

As a girl she enrolled at an all-boys technical school hoping to become an engineer.

Which philosopher was hired by Philip II of Macedon to tutor his 13-year-old son Alexander?

The lessons took place at Mieza; the pupil became Alexander the Great and the tutor founded the Lyceum in Athens.

The name 'Confucius' is a Latinisation roughly meaning what?

Jesuit missionaries coined it in the late 16th century; the man himself was born Kong Qiu.

Horace Mann, 'The Father of American Education', built the public school system of which state?

As secretary of its Board of Education from 1837 he pushed universal public schooling, and most states copied the model.

Founded in 1635, which is the oldest existing public educational establishment in the United States?

It was modelled on the grammar school of Boston, England, and its first classes met in the schoolmaster's home.

Which German educator coined the word 'kindergarten' in 1840?

It literally means 'garden of children'; he had opened his Play and Activity Institute at Bad Blankenburg three years earlier.

World Teachers' Day is celebrated annually on which date?

Established in 1994, it marks the signing of a 1966 ILO/UNESCO recommendation on the status of teachers.

Which 1939 conference organiser is known as the father of the yellow school bus?

His week-long meeting at Teachers College, Columbia, set national standards including the colour now called National School Bus Glossy Yellow.

The 'lead' in a pencil is actually a mix of clay and which mineral?

The great deposit found in Borrowdale, Cumbria, in the 1500s launched the pencil; casings are usually hexagonal to stop them rolling.

Early blackboards were made of thin sheets of what?

The word is attested in English from the mid-18th century, and large boards were used for music teaching in Europe as far back as the 1500s.

In 1880 which city's school board was persuaded to ban teachers from setting maths homework?

Economist Francis Amasa Walker made the case; two decades later journalist Edward Bok campaigned against any homework before age 15.

Which English school, founded in 1552, is believed to be the first to require a uniform?

Its long blue coats gave rise to the term 'bluecoat school'.

As late as 1930, roughly what share of US school buildings were one-room schoolhouses?

They served about 30 percent of rural pupils, and consolidation shrank their numbers rapidly through the 1920s and 30s.

Which country's schools are famous for topping the PISA international rankings in the early 2000s?

Its system runs from daycare through an 11-year comprehensive school starting at age seven.

The US National Teacher of the Year program began in which year?

It is run by the Council of Chief State School Officers, and winners are traditionally honoured at the White House.

In Dead Poets Society, John Keating teaches his students which Latin phrase?

Robin Williams' Keating also has the boys stand on his desk to see the world differently; the film grossed $235 million on a $16 million budget.

In School of Rock, Jack Black's Dewey Finn poses as a substitute teacher at which school?

Richard Linklater's 2003 comedy was the highest-grossing music-themed comedy until Pitch Perfect 2.

Which actor plays music teacher Glenn Holland in Mr. Holland's Opus (1995)?

Holland takes the job in 1964 to buy time to write a symphony and stays for decades; Dreyfuss earned an Oscar nomination.

Abbott Elementary is set in an underfunded public school in which city?

Creator Quinta Brunson named it after Joyce Abbott, one of her own favourite teachers, and based Barbara Howard on her mother.

Which grade does Janine Teagues teach when Abbott Elementary begins?

Janine teaches second grade at the start of the series; Brunson won the 2022 Emmy for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy.

Which author and illustrator team created The Magic School Bus books?

Scholastic wanted to combine science with story; the pair later made Ms. Frizzle's Adventures to teach social studies.

In Roald Dahl's Matilda, what is the name of Matilda's kind teacher?

Jennifer Honey tries to move Matilda up a class and is refused by the tyrannical headmistress, Miss Trunchbull.

Which subject does Minerva McGonagall teach at Hogwarts?

She is also head of Gryffindor and deputy headmistress, and gives Hermione a Time-Turner in the third book.

Which actor plays George Feeny, the teacher and neighbour of Cory Matthews on Boy Meets World?

The show ran seven seasons on ABC's TGIF block from 1993 and spawned Girl Meets World on Disney Channel.

Before becoming Heisenberg, Breaking Bad's Walter White taught which subject?

Creator Vince Gilligan wanted to turn 'Mr. Chips into Scarface'.

Sidney Poitier plays a teacher in London's East End in which 1967 film?

Lulu's title song topped the Billboard Hot 100 for five weeks and was the best-selling US single of the year.

Which novella about a schoolmaster named Mr. Chipping was published by James Hilton in 1934?

It first appeared as a newspaper supplement in 1933 and sold 15,000 copies on its first day as a British book.

Which fictional Ohio institution is home to the glee club New Directions?

Spanish teacher Will Schuester takes over the club in Lima, Ohio after the previous director is fired.

On Welcome Back, Kotter, what were Gabe Kotter's remedial students nicknamed?

The show launched John Travolta, and the fictional James Buchanan High was based on Kaplan's own New Utrecht High in Brooklyn.

Which actress plays the lazy, immoral middle-school teacher Elizabeth Halsey in Bad Teacher (2011)?

Justin Timberlake and Jason Segel co-star; the film grossed $216 million despite mixed reviews.

Ted Lasso is an American coach of which sport before he takes over AFC Richmond?

The character began in NBC Sports promos for its Premier League coverage before the Apple TV series.

Sesame Street was created by Lloyd Morrisett and which television producer?

The idea, hatched in 1966, was to use the addictive techniques of commercial TV to teach preschoolers.

Which philosopher, teacher of Plato, wrote nothing down and is known only through his pupils?

The Socratic method of teaching by questioning takes his name; Plato and Xenophon are the main sources.

Booker T. Washington worked his way through which Virginia institute before founding Tuskegee?

Born into slavery in 1856, he walked most of the way east at 16 to enrol.

Who was chosen from more than 11,000 applicants for NASA's Teacher in Space Project?

Barbara Morgan was her backup and eventually flew on Endeavour in 2007.

Chalk used on blackboards is a soft form of which rock?

It formed under ancient seas from the shells of microscopic plankton, though modern 'chalk' sticks are often gypsum.

World Teachers' Day marks a 1966 recommendation on teachers issued by UNESCO and which body?

The day itself was established in 1994 and is now marked in more than 100 countries.

India celebrates Teachers' Day on 5 September, the birthday of which former president?

The tradition began in 1962; Argentina's Teachers' Day instead marks the death of Domingo Sarmiento on 11 September.

Why do Australian states mark World Teachers' Day on the last Friday of October?

UNESCO estimates the world will need more than 69 million new teachers by 2030.

Roughly how many new teachers does UNESCO estimate the world needs by 2030?

The 2023 theme, 'The teachers we need for the education we want', highlighted the growing shortage.

A 1977 US Supreme Court decision held that which school punishment did not violate the Constitution?

Thirty states have since banned corporal punishment, but it remains lawful in the rest, mostly in the South.

What was the ancient Indian education system called in which pupils lived with their teacher?

The guru accepted no fees and was supported by public donations; the system was revived in 1886 and 1948.

In which two European countries are teachers mainly civil servants chosen by examination?

German teachers' pay follows the federal civil-servant salary scale, the Bundesbesoldungsordnung.

A 2000 study found what share of UK teachers had occupational stress, double the average job?

A 2012 study found teachers had double the rate of anxiety and depression of other workers.

Anyone wishing to teach north of the English border must register with which body?

Teaching there is an all-graduate profession, with seven universities offering Initial Teacher Education.