Lara Parker's teaching career

[Ronny G]

When I attended the last Dark Shadows convention, Lara had mentioned that she was teaching English classes at college. Imagine having Lara as your English teacher!

Anyway, I recently came across this site where students can rate their teachers and leave comments, and I remembered Lara, so I entered her name in the search engine (not her stage name, but her real name) and guess who's name came up! I was amused to read what her students thought about. I assume her students are primarily young kids (19 or 20 year-olds)  and they probably have no idea of their teacher's alter ego--unless she told them (which I doubt).

She mostly got good reviews. Nobody said anything nasty, but there are a few amusing comments in the mix. I would like to post the link if I can, but I don't want to break any rules, so I thought I'd better ask first.

[Mysterious Benefactor]

Given the way you describe the site/comments, there's no problem with posting the link. And actually, we don't police links - members check them out at their own risk. (Not that there would seem to be any risk with that site.  )

[David]

Which name was she listed under?
It could be Mary Hawkins, Lamar Hawkins, or Lamar Rickey, all of which have been legal names of her's over the years.
Better yet, please do post the link!
(-:

[Ronny G]

Oh, good. Here's the link:
http://ratemyprofessors.com/ShowRatings.jsp?tid=1172553

[Robot_Quentin]

Glad to see she accepts late work!! Too cool. That is totally awesome she teaches. Thanks for the link.

[Mysterious Benefactor]

It's also nice to see that she's gotten mostly positive comments. Why do I suspect the earliest one was posted by someone who didn't do well in the class? Oh, because people who do do well don't post comments like that...

It's also nice to see that Lara's teaching style is pretty much the same as she comes across at the Fests: "her kookiness wins me over, love her dry sense of humor," and "an engaging style that is never boring."

[Brandon Collins]

My favorite is "pretty big butt for an old white lady!" bahahahahahaha! I can't believe the things some people post on that site.

But it really isn't surprising that she's such an excellent teacher. She's so personable at the fests, from the few times I shared short conversations with her she seemed like my kinda gal.

[Robot_Quentin]

Lara does have beautiful penmanship I will say!! About ten years or so ago my wife ordered an autographed pic from her website. She hand addresses the envelopes and wrote a nice little note inside. Very cool lady.

[Annie]

That is  really  neat having  Laura  Parker  as a english teacher.    Thanks for  sharing  Ronny G.
                 Love    Anne

[The Doctor and K9]

Slightly off topic, but I'd heard that Margaret Hamilton was a kindergarten teacher before she became famous as a certain witch from Oz. I always wondered what her kids thought of her.

[quentin-channing]

Neat find. I actually used a similar site back in college when these kinds of things were first popping up on the internet. The whacky comments are par for the course. It would be interesting to have Ms Parker as a teacher but i think I'd get along better with KLS as a teacher. She seems like she'd be a favorite. Too bad we can't go back in time to get ratings for Mr Selby when he was teaching in grad school. I can only imagine some of the comments! 

[MsCriseyde]

Too bad we can't go back in time to get ratings for Mr Selby when he was teaching in grad school. I can only imagine some of the comments! 

I'm pretty sure his teaching stint was limited to a semester or two, and, by his own admission, he sucked. Then again, any grad student who thinks s/he is a brilliant teacher in the first few semesters probably has a tenuous grip on reality.

[The Doctor and K9]

Roger Davis told me he taught also. One assignment he gave involved his taking off his shoe and placing it on the podium. He told his students to write about it.  I wonder what it would have been like to be in his class!!!

[Mysterious Benefactor]

I wonder what it would have been like to be in his class!!!

That's something I don't even want to contemplate - ever. And IF I have a nightmare about it, I'm coming after you for mentioning it. 

[Julia99]

Slightly off topic, but I'd heard that Margaret Hamilton was a kindergarten teacher before she became famous as a certain witch from Oz. I always wondered what her kids thought of her.

While not as a teacher, I know someone here in NYC who's family owned a restaurant MH used to frequent in the Village.  He says she was always so nice, you'd  never have known she was the WWW.