Good teachers--from the students' perspective

This time of year it might be necessary to rejuvenate ourselves and our classrooms in order to help the students (and ourselves) finish strong. There are many blogs, tweets, articles, posts, etc. on what makes a good teacher that at times it might seem overwhelming… “I need to use technology effectively for 67% of the class period, engage students with different learning styles, return homework the next day so they have feedback, monitor their behavior, join #edchat, and return parent e-mails…” While all of these are great suggestions and the experts do know what they’re talking about- I decided to get some different input so I asked current and former students (aren’t they the ones we need to connect with anyway), “what makes a good teacher?” 

Here are the results (in their words):

• Passion and love for what they’re doing
• Dedication
• Changing up methods of teaching—keeping us interested
• Encouraging and genuinely cares about students’ well-being
• Fun, keeps the class awake, fun activities, encouraging
• Engaging and sets the students up for success, truly wants them to do well
•  Loving the subject and finding new ways to get students interested 
•  Music, a lack of monotony
• Fun and interesting lecture, fair with no bias
• Focuses on taking what we learn in the classroom and applying it to real life. It’s more fun learning about things when I understand what I am learning
•  A God-loving person whom takes pride in their work and is just
• Spends time explaining topics and makes sure class knows subject well
• Knowing how to handle a classroom
• Leadership. Fairness. Organization. Personality. Creativity. Effective communication. Compassion.
•  A good teacher is a leader but also a friend when needed
•  Definitely taking the time to know each student individually and showing concern for each student’s success in a class
• A "good" teacher is one who makes themselves available not only in class but outside of class. Someone who switches things up for every class period and one who gets to know their students on a more personal level.
•  A good teacher is someone who makes learning fun and does something new each class period. Also not just necessarily in the classroom but being a good example to the students. High school is a time of mixed emotions (puberty) and discovering oneself and having a professional friend/teacher as an example is extremely helpful.
•  Earning respect from day one and allowing some goofing off when appropriate!

These answers are from high school students but I think they can apply to all levels. If we just focus on one of these a day we will be busy for 21 days becoming a better teacher in the eyes of those who need us. Try some of them and see what you can learn…