What Makes a Great Teacher? | StudentsFirst.org

What Makes a Great Teacher? | StudentsFirst.org

It's Teacher Appreciation Week and I thought this was a great article about what makes a great teacher. We can all remember those teachers who made a difference in our lives. And don't we all remember finding out the week before school who our next teachers were going to be? There were some that we cheered and others that made us cry. How were we going to survive a year with the teacher that everyone before us told us "I hope you don't get so-and-so."

I don't remember a lot of my teachers' names anymore. But I do remember those that made a difference and who believed in me to be a better student and person.

Third grade: Miss Mizuno (later Mrs. Shue) -- we learned by doing. I remember at Halloween instead of just doing a party, we had to carve our pumpkins and save the seeds. We then dried them out and ate them. She had a whole lesson that went with it. I also remember making butter in her classroom. Her classroom was full of joy. In fact, the first time I laughed so hard that I cried was in her room with my friend Julie Black. I don't remember what it was that was so funny but I remember the love of learning and feeling safe there.

Fifth grade: Mrs. Embly -- she shared her love of books with the classroom. Whether it was our daily journal assignments (where we got to write about anything we wanted as long as we wrote and used correct grammar) or her reading different books to us out loud --I LOVED THIS CLASS. She read so many different books to us that year. I was in heaven. Books that I had never heard of, books that I had heard of but had never read and then how proud I would feel when she'd read a book that I HAD read before her. She definitely helped my love for reading increase 10 fold.

Seventh Grade: Ms. Newman (?) - Again, it was about reading. She pushed us to learn more while we read our books. It wasn't just about the story itself but what it was trying to teach us. A lot of great discussions in class.

Seventh Grade again: My U.S. Studies teacher. I can't remember her name! And I knew her kids at one point too. Oops. Anyway, she had such a love for America and it was apparent in her teaching. We learned so much in her classroom. I loved learning about the U.S. In fact, my first major in college was Political Science. Why? Because I had loved her class so long ago I knew that I would like learning more about our great country. She taught us a lot about the Constitution and our Bill of Rights. But I really remember learning about our jury system. She showed us the classic film, 12 Angry Men and I was fascinated about being a juror after that. In fact, when I was first called to jury duty I was so excited I thought I'd died and gone to heaven! I've served twice now and love it each time.

Ninth Grade: My math teacher. Dang it. I can't remember his name right now either. But he was a great teacher. He wasn't there to fail kids, but to help kids learn math. I had him in 8th grade and struggled HARD with math. He told my mom he was requesting to have me as a student again the following year to work with me. And work with me he did! I actually learned algebra and LOVED it. I thought it was strange when he'd do a lot of our problems on the board. But looking back I saw that he was showing us each move that was required to get the correct answer. He'd also show us how one teeny-tiny wrong move would change the entire equation. Mr. Madsen! That was his name! At the end of each quarter if we had done well he'd show us movies. So yes -- I saw all the Rambo movies thanks to him. And to be quite honest, I would have never ever thought that I would like those movies, but thanks to Mr. Madsen I learned that I actually did like those shows!

Eleventh / Twelvth Grade: Mr. Oates! He was the creative writing teacher and our literary magazine instructor, of which I took part my senior year. He pushed me to write and to write well. I never thought of his class as "homework" but more as "how lucky am I to have to write a story or a poem tonight!" I loved his class and his instructions on how to be a better writer. I ended up changing my major from P.S. to English, with a Creative Writing emphasis because of his class. I loved to write. I used to write all the time. But alas, sigh, have not for a long time. In fact, I started doing this blog just so that I would write more. Not that I'm very creative on this blog -- but hey - I'm writing again!

There are a few more teachers who I adored but these are the ones that stood out the most to me.

So while we cherish our teachers this week -- think about those in your life who made a difference. See if you can remember their names, what their classrooms were like... why were they so good? Why did you love their classrooms? I can say that all of the teachers above -- I knew they liked me as a person. They respected me and I could feel that they wanted to see me improve. They also were passionate about teaching. That to me is a great teacher.

Thank you to all the wonderful teachers out there!!

Enjoy.