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General Discussion

Thank a teacher!

Hello dear students!

This week is Teacher Appreciation Week (https://www.pta.org/home/events/PTA-Teacher-Appreciation-Week) and we want to celebrate by taking a few moments to acknowledge the amazing teachers we have on staff here at Treehouse.

While they aren’t your traditional classroom teachers, we know they’ve made and continue to make an impact on your lives. They are committed to providing quality education because they genuinely care about the growth of their students. True teachers through and through!

Let’s show our teachers some love! Tag or comment below and share how they’ve have made an impact on your learning journey.

24 Answers

Maggie Bignell
Maggie Bignell
19,527 Points

Woooo!! I have MANY teachers to thank at Treehouse!!

I started learning on Treehouse in 2015. My knowledge of code was minimal, and I started with "How to Make a Website" by Nick Pettit. I kept learning for two years before seeing an open role at Treehouse — now I write and ship front end code every day on our team! Nick's so enthusiastic about code and that first step was so fun and approachable — got me hooked!

Next up: Guil. Not only has he taught me most of the CSS/Sass I know, I'm also currently working on our Full Stack JavaScript Techdegree, currently on the React project. I was IMMENSELY lost on React and it's one of those things I've been trying to figure out for months. He + Joel's 'React by Example' course just made it all click and I swear I started scream-cheering when I finally understood it (my boyfriend looked at me like I was nuts).

And of course, the master himself: Dave McFarland! One thing I love about designing + developing at Treehouse is that the teachers of our courses are so integral to the creation of the Treehouse app and how it helps students learn. So, on top of my javascript enthusiasm which he fueled with courses, I also get to work with him on the daily making our platform even better. And it's awesome!

ALL of our teachers inspire me every day with how much effort they put into the courses they create and how much they care about creating an amazing learning experience for their students. CHEERS TO EVERYONE! ??

Michael Pashkov
Michael Pashkov
22,024 Points

Hi, I wish I'd had a chance to say every teacher from Treehouse a proper thank you in person. Thank you for your hard working, for being patient to students. With your work we getting better as professionals. Students truly appreciate it. Respectfully, Michael

Jennifer Nordell
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STAFF
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Jennifer Nordell
Treehouse Teacher

Wow! I have a ton of people to thank for being amazing teachers, but I warn you right now, you will not find all of them in a video here at Treehouse. They're mostly Treehouse staff, but not necessarily your "traditional" teachers.

First up, I'd like to thank Ryan Carson, Kenneth Love, Rob Allessi, Robert Manolis, and Faye Bridge for teaching me probably the most important lesson I've learned since I have been here at Treehouse. It is this: belief is contagious. I can believe in myself and my abilities because you guys have all believed in me. And there is no way to adequately repay that kindness or express that gratitude.

Thank you, Craig Dennis and Kenneth Love for your crazy ability to make me giggle when watching your courses. I've been known to laugh out loud while watching and catching some odd looks from people around me. Your sense of humor is appreciated and never overlooked.

I've learned so much about front-end development from both Guil Hernandez and Nick Pettit that it's bordering on silly at this point. Thank you both for reminding me of the importance of being versatile. I see Guil pop up in JavaScript courses and let's not forget that Nick has games out on the App Store and Steam right now!

Big thanks to Nicolas Hampton for teaching me how important it is to be encouraged, encourage others, and the value of self-compassion.

Thank you, Pasan Premaratne for having a unique way of explaining things which makes everything "click". And besides iOS, you're quite knowledgeable in business too! I promise to always try to not force unwrap optionals :smiley:

And oh my goodness, where would I be without the JavaScript gurus? Tremendous thanks to Dave McFarland, Guil Hernandez, Andrew Chalkley, Huston Hedinger for the countless hours of JavaScript material. Besides that, you all make a concerted effort to keep things up to date and let us know about browser compatibility issues etc.

Is there anyone else besides me that thinks of PHP and automatically sees Alena Holligan in their minds? I have learned so much from this amazing lady about a programming language I at one point thought I would never be interested in. But she did it! She made it interesting and fun. Thank you so much!

Where would we be without the two Bens? And now, making an appearance in Android teaching... Ken Alger. I've learned quite a bit about Android development from Ben Jakuben and Ben Deitch and enjoyed the projects while doing them.

I have a friend who has been a C# developer for a while now. But now, because of the excellent teaching of James Churchill, Jeremy McLain, and Carling Kirk I can keep up with his conversations... and then some :smiley:

Python. I never thought I'd learn it. I saw the indentation rules and thought: "Nope. This isn't for me." But then I saw one of Kenneth Love's videos and he was so funny and charming I just had to continue. So it turns out I was dead wrong. It is now my "go-to" when I want to quickly test something. Many thanks to Kenneth Love, Ken Alger, Chris Freeman , and Steven Parker for collectively teaching me almost everything I know about it.

Last, but definitely not least, thank you Jason Seifer for being an amazing Ruby instructor. I'm only saddened that you cannot read this. But you have not been forgotten. That being said, Jay McGavren is doing an excellent job teaching these days.

If you're reading this, and you are part of this Community, then you might also be my teacher. I've answered a few thousand questions on this forum now. I would love to say that it's entirely humanitarian, but the truth is that I learn so much from it. I learn from my fellow students. So if you're my fellow student, then thank you for also being my teacher.

Just... my two cents :sparkles:

edited for additional thank you

Another round of applause to some of my fellow moderators who have been overwhelmingly encouraging and taught me the value of answering questions as thoroughly, accurately, and as diplomatically as I can. So shout-outs to Michael Hulet (infinitely diplomatic), Kevin Korte (the reigning king of patience), Jason Anders (who encouraged me so much in the beginning), Chris Freeman (the Python "big dog"), Rich Donnellan (who is partially responsible for me answering questions in the first place). You guys are all superheroes in your own right!

Ken Alger
Ken Alger
Treehouse Teacher

Thanks, Jennifer Nordell for the kind words and for all you do for the Treehouse Community as well!

Happy Coding everyone!

Steven Parker
Steven Parker
229,732 Points

You and several other moderators have taught me how to improve my correspondence skills, both directly and by setting a standard in your own postings worthy of emulation. And I'm sure I speak for a great number of current and former students in appreciation of your contributions to this forum.

Colin Stell
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Colin Stell
Front End Web Development Techdegree Graduate 25,702 Points

Man, so grateful for Treehouse and it's teachers! The excitement they exude through their courses is contagious and makes coding a ton of fun to learn! I've got a long way to go and I am excited to meet some of the new teachers along the way! Grateful for you all giving back to students and sharing your wealth of knowledge with all who come here to learn!

Cynthia Norwood
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Cynthia Norwood
Front End Web Development Techdegree Graduate 15,214 Points

Thank you to all of you for all your help along the way, especially Haley Ward Jason Welch Randy Layne Guil Hernandez. I am also grateful for the wonderful Slack Channel that I use daily for the Front End Web Development Techdegree and to all my fellow learners for all of their encouragement and help.

I need to give a big thanks to Guil Hernandez, Dave McFarland, Treasure Porth, Nick Pettit, and all of the teachers and staff here at Treehouse! You all have helped me accomplish goals that I wasn't sure I would be able to achieve. I was able to confidently learn HTML, CSS, JavaScript, as well as some other awesome skills - and in return graduate from the Front End Web Development Techdegree. Now, I have the opportunity to work with all of the stellar staff here at Treehouse and I couldn't be more than thrilled. Thank you again to all of the teachers and staff with whom I wouldn't be where I am without your support and knowledge!

Robert Manolis whose encouraging posts made me jump out of bed eager to code. The amazing support and encouragement from Robert is what I needed and what got me to where I am today. Nicolas Hampton for keeping me up late at night helping me sort through the many things that wouldn’t enter into my head and explaining it in such a way that I could understand and move forward. So helpful and so full of knowledge. Thanks guys.

Guil Hernandez Andrew Chalker Dave McFarland Nick Pettit Treasure Porth amazing job well done. I have watched many of the videos at least 3 times and I have learnt so much from them.

Thanks Treehouse and Ryan Carson

So there are a good many teachers here I owe a great thanks to, too many to name them all. Guil Hernandez, Nick Pettit, Dave McFarland, have been instrumental in my growth as a developer and designer since my first major introduction to the field almost 10 years ago! Guil has helped me to realize how much I enjoy the design aspect of FEWD work as well as flourish my skills! When I started using Treehouse it was already an amazing resource staffed with amazing instructors, courses, and projects, and has since grown into so much more! Treehouse was current with the info they taught, html5 had JUST been loosed on the world, and they already had informative videos and courses touching on the changes made to it. From then to now Treehouse has become almost a sort of movement, consisting of like minded community members and staff who thrive on personal as well as professional growth! The teamwork and diversity alone helps everyone learn and grow in ways that would otherwise be inaccessible without "in the field" experience! Then when I thought "this cant get any better, Treehouse went and added the Techdegree and the slack channels! Which brings me to a few others who deserve BIG THANKS, Haley Ward, Jason Welsh, Randy Layne, Robert Manolis! There are so many more here who've impacted me I wish I could name them all! All of you rock! Please keep up all the amazing work you all do!

I especially wanna thank Dave McFarland for getting me started with Javascript in my techdegree. Great teaching style and so easy to follow and understand. Better than any text book out there (besides his own, obviously :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye:) :smile: !. I just started my journey here on treehouse and have not had the pleasure to see many teachers yet I also wanna thank Guil Hernandez for all the CSS and Javascript courses that you have been teaching me :smiley:. I had a little bit of a headache during the Javascript and the DOM course but I got trough it with yout awesome videos and teaching style!

I am looking forward to see many of you guys teaching in the upcoming weeks, months ! My decision to start coding here on treehouse was probably the best I have ever had and I want to thank everbody for making this such an amazing experience ever since!

Keep up the good work treehouse!

Jennifer Nordell
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Jennifer Nordell
Treehouse Teacher

Tobias Trinkler I don't think it's possible for Dave McFarland's style to be better than any text book out there. He's actually published books on JavaScript :smiley:

Warren Leyes
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Warren Leyes
Front End Web Development Techdegree Graduate 31,463 Points

There is absolutely no way to thank each and every teacher and not leave one out by accident so I need to thank Mr. Ryan Carson ! Without him realizing one of his dreams many of us including the teachers that have influenced us on our journeys may of not had that opportunity. Also a huge shoutout to everyone in the fewd techdegree ... though most of us there are students doesn’t mean I do not learn something new each day from many of you!

So true!! I second this!! Thank you Ryan Carson!!

Well, I think for the instructors I would say the ones who helped me the most (in no particular order) were Andrew Chalkley, Guil Hernandez and Dave McFarland, for not assuming understanding that wasn't there, for taking the time to explain things in ways I could relate to and putting together material that had direction that made sense to me. These were the outstanding ones for me.

As for mentoring, Robert Manolis was definitely the inspiration guru. Nic Hampton was the guy who kept my feet on the ground and helped me crack the toughest nuts.

When I first signed up for Treehouse the teacher I had for the first course was Nick Pettit and I can remember thinking how great it was the way he broke things down so clearly and really enjoyed every course I've had of his. Then I moved on to the course, and wasn't him and I thought "Oh, no! Nick is great I don't want to change!", but then Guil Hernandez and was absolutely amazing, too! Throughout my time in FEWD I've really enjoyed all the teachers there, like the way Andrew Chalkley makes everything in JavaScript so understandable, and Dave McFarland contagious enthusiasm for making the development world a better place and his genuine concern for every student. Since graduating from FEWD, I have really enjoyed the wealth of knowledge I have gleaned from watching Craig Dennis in Java!

Also, in my journey I can't thank Robert Manolis enough for the hours he spent mentoring and encouraging me, as well as Nicolas Hampton knowledge base and ability to answer any question I had with true insightfulness.

There is also all of the fellow Techdegree student developers that I have come in contact with, that have all contributed to what I have learned, not just as a developer but as a person, and a member of this community as well! Hats off to you all!

I signed up for Treehouse quite a few years ago. I think it was around this month of May in 2013.

I was just a student then, things were still fairly new to me and many of those teachers have come and gone.

Nick Pettit , Guil Hernandez - You are still around and still putting out content since I have been here. Its great! Getting to meet you both in person was even more amazing! You are like famous faces to me because Ive learned with you for years and now I get to work with you and yall are still around. Guil I have always had the backend developer mind, but more recently I am learning the ways of the Front-End with SASS thanks to you. :)

Kenneth Love - I always tell people I really didn't like Python when I first started, it must of been the syntax and whitespace. I spent so much time in other languages before you released your first series in Python. Once your Python series released, especially Django, after that I just couldn't stop and kept wanting more Python. Started converting all my projects to Python, Python was everything. You showed me how to Python and now look what I've become "Obi-Wan".

Craig Dennis and Ken Alger - I haven't had much time with you two yet but you are already working on great ideas and putting out some great content for Python. I cant wait for more Python content from you two, I hope I get sharpen my skills with you moving forward in Python. The students are definitely in great hands as well!

Dave McFarland and Treasure Porth - I just want to thank you in advanced, because all my JavaScript learnings are coming up in the near future.

Steven Parker
Steven Parker
229,732 Points

A few particular stand-outs for me include Nick Pettit, Guil Hernandez, Dave McFarland, James Churchill, and a couple of past teachers I'll really miss: Kenneth Love and Andrew Chalkley. But each and every teacher of the courses I've taken here has contributed to making Treehouse my favorite learning resource of all time. Thank you all for making learning both effective and fun!

Jason Anders
MOD
Jason Anders
Treehouse Moderator 145,858 Points

I started Treehouse a a few years ago on a whim. I thought maybe coding would be a neat thing to learn, and although I haven't made it "big" in the world of code yet, it was one of the best decisions I've made. There isn't a single teacher, past or present, that I haven't admired, respected, and awed in their ability to take something that could be mundane or complicated and present it in a way that was interesting, fun, and very clearly explained. Some of them have moved on to new and exciting endeavours, and I wish them well... but still they are missed. So THANK YOU! Each and every one!

I would also like to add a Thank-you to Jennifer Nordell for her kind words. Her "two-cents" are worth much more than that to many here on Treehouse, but we all learn from each other... One encouraging is also encouraged by that mere act... I've provided answers, but I've received so much more. Treehouse is very welcoming... very friendly... very much like home. This is because of the Staff and how they interact and react to us students, but also because of the students. Everyone shows respect. Everyone shows compassion. Everyone understands the occasional struggle. It's still amazes me how people step up to help, be it other students... Treehouse teachers... Treehouse staff... It doesn't matter, there's always someone there.

For that, again, I say Thank you to all the Treehouse Teachers and to those who don't even know they taught me something! It hasn't gone unnoticed.
:grinning: :thumbsup:

Jason Welsh
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Jason Welsh
Treehouse Project Reviewer

There are so many people who have taught me so much, I don't even know where to begin.

Robert Manolis was a bright guiding light through my Techdegree, and on top of the many insights he provided into technical details of some bit of code, he taught me so much about how attitude, perseverance, and positivity play into finding success as a developer. I was also fortunate to have the help of Nicolas Hampton many times, and he inspired me to want to be able to answer seemingly any JavaScript problem with ease the way he can.

Nick Pettit Got me going on Treehouse with his How To Make A Website course and it really took me from hacking at HTML and CSS to understanding how to start to build a responsive site.

Guil Hernandez has taught me so much from his amazing courses from responsive and mobile-first design, legacy layout methods, Flexbox, Grid, to jaw-dropping moments in the JavaScript DOM Scripting courses as well as React. His ES6 course, as well as Dave's, really helped to bring modern JS to light.

Dave McFarland's JavaScript Basics and Loops, Arrays, And Object courses took the fear out of learning JavaScript for me and really got me started on how to think like a programmer. Both of those courses made such an intimidating subject seem so accessible and doable.

Andrew Chalkley's Object Oriented JavaScript course was so amazing and opened my eyes to a new way of using objects, and his Callback Functions course was great as well.

Joel Kraft's Array Iteration Methods course is one of my favorites on Treehouse, and I had such a fun time pausing the video to complete the many challenges he tasked us with. I learned so much.

And now I am learning and loving PHP from Alena Holligan's courses, which are extremely well done.

I am so grateful for all I have learned, and everyone I have learned from. I hope one day to be able to give as much back to other people.

Ioana Sauluc
Ioana Sauluc
3,251 Points

Thank you for all the teachers in Teamtreehouse. I am grateful this site exists. For now I have the privilege to learn from Dave McFarland - very helpful and clear courses about JavaScript.

Brandon Oakes
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Brandon Oakes
Python Web Development Techdegree Student 11,501 Points

Shout out to Chris Howell and Zachary Jackson for helping with any questions that need to be answered, Always find a way to answer the questions and teach the concepts. Keep up the good work

Aw, thanks, Brandon Oakes

I get to learn a ton more helping mentor you all with all the various question you all have about your code or concepts. :-)

Thanks Brandon Oakes ,

It is a joy trying to answer questions the best I can. The "best I can" being the opportune phrase. You all ask some great questions that I do not know the answer to.

Treehouse is the SHIZZLE! @Alena @Nick @Guil @Dave Happy Belated Teachers Day~ You all have taught me well!

I am barely 2 months here and it already seems like a whole year. I havent taken a lot of courses but the One Man I sure respect is Guil Hernandez, He has been super awesome and has taught me way more than I could even think. He is My best! Thanks and wish to meet him again!!

To all the fine people at Treehouse, you have my thanks. My road to programming has not been the smoothest. After a couple of less than stellar attempts the timing was right and I joined the Python TechDegree program. The systematic, guided curriculum of the TechDegree program is top notch and allows students to push themselves beyond there comfort zone. All of the courses on Treehouse are taught with the beginner in mind, making sure not to skip over or leave out any information.

While their are many teachers to thank and that I am appreciative of, the person I have the most experience talking with is Chris Howell . He has always been willing to help out in my journey through the TechDegree program. Cleverly, Chris points to the answer without giving it away. Forcing me to learn how to learn, how to claw away until I get the answer, and gaining a better understanding of what I am doing at the same time.

Jason Walsh Randy Layne Doug Hawkinson Debbie O'Brien Jennifer Nordell I really don't know what to say. Helping you all on your journey has been and still is one of the greatest opportunities of my life. You think I've helped you, but helping you all has taught me sooo much about who I am, what I do, and why. Blows my mind that I came here to add my own thanks to this list and found some of my own. Means everything to me, thank you for learning with us.

But, like I said, I have some thanks of my own to add here. I took a lot of classes here before I even started working here, so if there was a teacher I hadn't interacted with as a student, I definitely learned from all our teachers working beside them. But there's some standouts for me. I remember starting classes with Treehouse March 5th, 2015, and knowing so little that I think I got Java and Javascript mixed up, so my first classes were with Craig Dennis. And his videos on reading the Java Docs as a beginner in Java Data Structures still continues to be the Treehouse course I've learned the most from, not because I remember all the interfaces and collections, but because I learned how to find them and everything else I need to know in this job. I remember taking that class with my good friend Emily Cain during coffee study sessions and learning code as not solitary action, but as a community of learning and sharing.

And then there's Dave McFarland. Dave taught me and many other students their first Javascript, and there's very few people that understand how to present those first steps in a better way. But Dave also gave me my first Job in this Industry. All this sounds cheesy, but having the chance to work with Dave taught me so much about caring for and working with students, learning from them and approaching their problems. The two years I spent on the Techdegree team are probably going to be the most significant of my career. Thanks Dave.

These days, I'm a junior dev team at Treehouse. You'd have to use a crowbar to pry me away from Treehouse, a big one. I have one more special shoutout to Myers Carpenter. I only hope our students are lucky enough to find their first job working beside someone who's so patient to help them learn the ropes, the in's and out's of this job in practice and not theory. You've really taught me a lot these past two months, and I know I've got a lot to learn.

Ok, bah, sentimental cheese show over, everybody back to work.

:)

pet
pet
10,908 Points

I'm thanking Nick Petite and Kenneth Love for their great job at working in Treehouse

Steven Parker
Steven Parker
229,732 Points

I'll sure miss Kenneth. And now I'll never get "petite" out of my head when I watch Nick. :laughing:

nakalkucing
nakalkucing
12,964 Points

I'll second missing Kenneth.

Faraz Khalid
Faraz Khalid
4,077 Points

Treasure Porth is a really good teacher. I loved the JQuery basics course, everything was crystal clear.