What Traits Made Your Favorite Teacher Great?

[Captain Rooster]

This is an honest question. I am considering teaching as a career and I want to know what makes a teacher great - not useless.

What did your best teachers do for you? What method of teaching engaged you better than any other? What was their personality like?

I need some honest feedback on this subject. I have some ideas on my own, but I trust the members here to give me their perspective straight.


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[McNabbShouldDie]

Her ass.

Seriously though, this same hot teacher is really down to Earth. She jokes around with the class and she let us talk after we were done with work as long as we kept it quiet.

As a student, I always loved doing hand-on projects and other things to keep the class awake. I think that when teachers just put notes up on the board and make you copy them down all class, things get real boring. So Rooster, if you were my teacher, as long as you kept things lively and didnt make the class fall asleep then you'd be doing a great job in my opinion.




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[DC Reed]

Depends what your teaching Rooster, since you were in the army, ill guess either math or history. <P>
My favorite Teacher(s) are my current drama teacher, and my GT World History teacher from last year. Easily enough i like my drama teacher cause hes funny as ass and is really just a kid in disguise. <P>
What stood out about my history teacher was that despite extremely hard grading, essays each class, and long lectures, he made it interesting. <P>
Rooster, the best way to win the respect of the kids is to treat them like adults. Dont try and play god with them and try and control everything they do. When you assign essays, let them argue and persuade how they feel, not what you want. Thats why my teacher did, he gave us a topic and said, write whatever you want, if you think its stupid say it, just prove it. <P>
Plus, he was a fan of hockey so him and i talked alot about the capitals and stuff, so it was always nice, considering im one of the few caps fans in my school. <P>
Your a funny man rooster, and all those army rangers stories are great ways to impress the class. Just treat em like adults, not like teenagers. <P>

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[DarkHippie]

a teacher who had less lecturing and more discussion.

a genuine love of the students and material

less homework, more in-class work (i never did homework anyway)

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[Jennitalia]

a good personality.

good looks and a nice ass dont hurt, either

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[blakjeezis]

I think the important thing to note is that you're not gonnabe able to engage every student in every class. Some kids just ain't gonna groove. It also depends on what age group your aiming for. I think you told me high school, but I'm not sure. If it is high school, you're best bet is to just be yourself. You're personality seems to be one that kids of that age will react positively to. The best teachers I had were the ones that were able to communicate on the same level as the class, while still maintaining their authority. Being able to be somewhat loose with the kids opens them up to you. I find I enjoyed class when it was more of a dialogue, a conversation, than a lecture. This is especially true in an English class where the free flow of ideas is of great importance to learning. It's a lot better if the kids are guided into finding symbology or meaning in a work for themselves, than just being told what it is. You, Rooster, are a righteous, happenin' dude (I think that's the present high school terminology) and I'm fairly sure you'll be able to bring the most kids in with you own brand of wit and what I like to call RoostiePud.

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This message was edited by blakjeezis on 10-30-02 @ 4:01 PM

[Gvac]

My favorite of all time was probably my high school economics teacher.

He was an absolute pisser, with a real dry sense of humor. He was a regular guy, too, and would often tell us of his weekend exploits at the local tavern.

If anyone ever mistook his laid back attitude as a weakness, he was quick to put them in their place, and we respected him for it.

He was also a master at relating everything we were learning (theories and such) to the real world and things outside the realm of economics.

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[furie]

Honesty. He told us how things really worked and how history really happened.

Second, he was very well read and knowledgeable.

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[TheGameHHH]

My favorite teacher ever was my 7th grade Literature teacher. She wasn;t hot or anything, she just made learning fun. Yea, she spent about 5/6 of class time having us learn, but she did fun activities that encouraged us to learn such as staging a mock trail. The other 1/6th of the time we would just kick back and chat about stuff. That's why she was so great to me.

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[Captain Rooster]

You peeps rock.



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[ToddEVF]

honestly, the best teacher trait is one whose a ron and fez head. . . like my current English Teacher, she is so awesome and i try almost everyday to get her to join the board.

Other then that, a teacher who can keep the conversations interesting during discussions

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[Contra]

my favorite teacher was my architectual drafting teacher. i was sort of a trouble student and he turned me around. what made him great was that he went to bat for me and trusted me, which in turn made me trust him. he saw traits in me and wouldn't stop till i realized them. hell i went from burnout to vo-tech class president in a year. i think, with what everyone else has said, you just have to have the guts to believe in all of your students, even the less desirable ones.

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[Poma]

my computer teacher's double d's, very beautiful!

but also that she was caring and made class fun. don't yell at the kids cuz they'll react badly towards the negative vibes. don't assign a lot of home work and don't put a lot of notes on the board, interact with ur class. if a topic u r learning reminds of a story which u find interesting or amusing tell it to the class and hav a couple minute discussion about it, but then get back to work. let the students know that they can talk to u and do not make them afraid of u unless they get way out of hand. trust me this will work i'm in high school right now, show i kno wat i'm talkin about. hope this info helps!
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[Cybersoldier]

female teacher- body, and caring personality/will to help out if having problem with school work

Guy teacher making the class and making it easy to understand class work

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[RF Godfather]

A patient teacher that keeps learning fun and is well versed in his/her own craft/specialty.

Also, young impressionable minds would learn more if they knew you enjoy your job and are just going throgh the motions.

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This message was edited by RonFez Mark on 10-31-02 @ 7:14 AM

[Katylina]

Empathy, a positive attitude, patience, creativity, the ability to give behavior specific praise (not meaningless praise), oranizational skills, flexibility, an open mind and heart, and the ability to be very intuitive and observant.

My list could go on and on, but I think teachers should have the above listed qualities.

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[Yerdaddy]

I want a teacher with slow hands. I want a teacher with an easy touch.

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