Fun Facts: Famous Former Teachers

Today, we are celebrating World Teachers’ Day, which falls on October 5.

World Teachers’ Day is an event that celebrates teachers worldwide. We’d love to hear stories about the teachers who have inspired you, no matter what subject they taught! Share your stories with us on facebook, or tweet us @kaplanintl!

While we’ve already shared interviews with two of our teachers, one in Manchester and one in London, we thought we’d share a list of some surprising former teachers. You will probably recognize some of these names…

	Sylvester Stallone: Famous for films like Rocky, Rambo and He once studied in beauty school, but dropped out to attend the American College of Switzerland, where he studied drama and worked as a gym teacher.
	J.K. Rowling: Before becoming the best-selling author of Harry Potter, she worked in Portugal, teaching English as a foreign language. Some of the teachers in the book series were inspired by former teachers of hers… though she won’t say which!
	Jon Hamm: The lead actor in Mad Men, and a character in the popular film Bridesmaids, actually started off as a drama teacher in St. Louis, Missouri (USA). He even taught actress Ellie Kemper, who is in the US version of The Office and a fellow co-star in Bridesmaids!
	Alexander Graham Bell: Though he’s best known for creating the telephone, he got his start by teaching Visible Speech at the Boston School for Deaf Mutes in Massachusetts, USA.
	Ezra Koenig: The lead singer of the band Vampire Weekend started his professional life as an English teacher in Brooklyn, NY, as part of the Teach for America program.
	Sting: The lead singer of The Police, also known as Gordon Sumner, actually went to school to be a teacher. After graduation, he taught at St. Paul’s Middle School in Cramlington, England for 2 years before turning to fame as a rock star.
	Barack Obama: After graduating from Harvard Law School in Massachusetts, USA, he took a job teaching constitutional law in his hometown’s University of Chicago. He was a professor there for 12 years before running for U.S. Senate.

Of course, most teachers you’ll have will never go on to start famous rock bands, play boxers in films or run a country. But even on a smaller scale, teachers are pretty important people.Almost everyone has a teacher that he or she considers an inspiration. What made your favorite teacher an inspiration to you?

Share your inspirational teacher stories with us!