Thursday, September 18, 2008

Qualities of a Good Teacher -- Junior High Edition

Yesterday, I asked Junior High students what qualities a good teacher had. I had mostly boys and a few girls at the time. Here are there responses:

“Nice” (15 students)

“Fun” (9 students)

“They are strict, but not too strict.” (Six students)

“Funny” (Six students)

“Doesn’t give a lot of ( or too much) homework” (Four students)

“Patience” (Three students)

“Really smart” (Three students)

“They help when needed” (Two students)

“Has some fun games” (Two students)

“Kindness/Caring” (Two students)

“Fair” (Two students)

“Has control over students” (Two students)

“Very organized”

“They know what they are talking about”

“Tolerance”

“Explain assignments clearly”

“Listens to students”

“Doesn’t give detentions for no reason” (from the kid who just got a detention FOR a reason)

“Shows respect”

“Strict”

“Thoughtful”

“Has rules”

“A teacher who actually teaches, not just reads through the lesson and expects the students to understand it.”

“Picks good things to learn about.”

“Helps them learn”

“Knows how to discipline”

“Not a hypocrite”

“Should not yell”

“Cool”

“Loves and works well with kids.”

“Nice person”

“Willing to have fun, but there is a line at some point”

“Willing to answer questions”

“Happy”

“Putting enjoyment in learning.”

“Good at teaching.”

 

 

My favorite quality of a good teacher – “Not your mom!”

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

An interesting comment listed is: "not a hypocrite". It is amazing how perceptive young ones are if our motives are not pure, and if we do not place our money where our mouth is.

Lee Higginbotham said...

Great post! I wish every teacher would think to do this as an exercise.

I added you to my Influential Teacher blog list.

Keep up the good work!