What was the classroom atmosphere in my math class?

So, again back to ninth grade...you may be curious as to what my classroom atmosphere was like?
I can recall there was a lot of tension...some of the kids hated coming to class and some were terrified. I believe I was in the middle.

I like a challenge and I wanted to prove to my teacher that I understood math, that there were other ways to figure out a problem. Some had shorter steps, which of course is what all students look for when doing work.

My Dad was brilliant in math and he taught me different ways to figuring out a problem. If he showed me a method that my head couldn't grasped, he would find several other options until I caught on to one style which made more sense to me.

He often told me that there are always tricks to learning math and finding the steps that make sense to me was the most valuable thing I could learn. He said to never give up and to always try until I found someone who could explain things to me that I could understand it.

My classroom did not provide a safe learning environment...she was mean and forceful and if not all the kids, most of us feared her and did not ever challenge her. We just struggled and gave up.