Genius Freak

For the student who wrote this, the balance of caring and content is clearly important to good teaching.  For her, and for most students, a "good teacher" is adept at establishing a relationship based on mutual respect and making the subject interesting and accessible to all students. A Good Teacher:  A good teacher is balanced in kindness and strictness.  A good teacher is polite yet stern in a subtle way.  The pupils should respect the teacher as a person.  Some teachers are rude to their students, who give them problems in return. A good teacher makes learning fun and delivers it in an exciting way.  An average teacher is boring and relays information like a robot - assigning homework and naming the day of a quiz. I feel teachers should teach with several different approaches so as to interest all the different learning patterns teens have. Humor is key - there should be lightness yet formality to a class. -Tamara Relationships, relevance and...

This installment of crowdsourcing was contributed by a student who was a high school junior at the time, and who is now putting his ideas about good teaching to use in his own classroom where he teaches social studies to middle school students. A Good Teacher... is not too serious.  We're still kids; not adults. is willing to run with something, not sticking to the plan word for word. is caring and understanding. is a friend, but not.  A good teacher can listen and talk like you're equal, but can still command discipline and respect. knows the subject inside and out. is also well-versed in other subjects, especially topics similar to their subject. does lots of open discussion. had good public speaking ability. is willing to go above and beyond the call of duty.

It used to be that our graduating seniors were given the opportunity at the commencement ceremony,  in conjunction with the reading of their names as they received diplomas, to offer 10 additional words.  They could use them for parting words, celebrations, expressions of gratitude for parents, friends, and others who stood by them along their way.  Right around that time, I changed classrooms, from 1 to 235.  And as we made 235 our home, it seemed to take on a life of its own. Some students in one graduating class opted to use at least some of their 10 words to give a shout out to 235.  Somehow, I wasn't sure how, 235 came to stand for more than just a room number.  One of the assistant principals at the time, on seeing so many references to 235 on seniors’ graduation cards asked, “What is this 235? Some sort of gang affiliation?” No, not a gang. But an affiliation - yes.   Etymologically that word comes from roots that mean to adopt a son.  ...

This list of traits possessed by good teachers was put together by a sophomore several years ago. Good Teachers Have: Patience! Respect An understanding of what they're teaching the ability to communicate what they know trust of students an open mind a sense of humor the ability to relate to their students The exclamation mark on patience! was included in the original. As I reread this list, what jumps out most to me now are "respect" and "trust of students." I'm wondering if the student meant that the teacher trusts and respects the students, or the students trust and respect the teacher. I like the ambiguity; both are important, and grow out of each other.