The second famous teacher that comes to my mind is Christa Mcauliffe.  She was the school teacher who won a nation-wide contest and was selected to teach her class from space aboard the Challenger Space Shuttle.  In one of the most memorable national tragedies I can recall in my lifetime the Challenger exploded and Mcauliffe as well as the other passengers all died in the explosion.  Her grade school classroom watched in horror on television as the entire nation saw the explosion on live tv. 

Celebrity Teachers

Below are some famous teachers who are famous for things other than teaching.  I bet you didn't know any of these people were ever teachers.  Some of them are really hard to believe.

Andy Griffith is most famous for playing the sheriff of Maybury, North Carolina in the Andy Griffith Show.  His character, along with his co-star Don Knotts' charcter, Barney Fife, is one of the most memorable tv characters of all time.

Athough he is most remembered as Sheriff Andy Taylor for the older generation, he is very much remembered by the younger generation for his role as Matlock, a funny old detective who would always get his wrongfully arrested clients off the hook.

In various episodes of The Andy Griffith Show and in Matlock Andy could be seen playing a guitar and singing country and gospel music, so it is no big shock that he was once a music teacher.

It is a little known fact that before Billy Crystal said, "You look marvelous...", before he met Sally in Harry Met Sally, and before he was a City Slicker, he was a part time teacher.

It's a shock to most people to learn that before Mr. T. was on the A-Team he was a teacher in Chicago.  It's not a shock that he was a physical education teacher.  I guess the "T" stands for Teacher.

While we're talking about famous P.E. teachers, did you know Sylvester Stallone was teaching Phys Ed in Switzerland long before he was duking it out with Clubber Lang and Drago in the Rocky movies?

Another celebrity teacher that may come as a shock is Gene Simmons, who taught 6th grade in Harlem.  He "kissed" teaching goodbye when he hit it big.

Another celebrity teacher is Sting.   The lead singer of The Police and solo artist taught soccer and poetry in New Castle, England.

It may be less of a shock to learn that famous authors were once teachers.  However, if you had to name two best selling authors who were once teachers I doubt if you would guess

J.K. Rowling (Harry Potter)

and Steven King

Here are two famous singers who were once teachers:

Sheryl Crow (taught in St. Louis)

Roberta Flack (sang Killing Me Softly)

Roberta was the first black student teacher at an all white school. She taught music at a high school in Maryland.