Good teachers, bad teachers, great teachers. What classifies a teacher as good or bad? I asked students if they could describe a great teacher. Most of the students could immediately identify a teacher in their minds by my simple question, “What is a good teacher?” Teachers work hard to teach us in their own unique way. Most students have an unforgettable teacher, the so-called “best teacher ever.”

After his many years in school, senior Ernesto Flores gave his opinion of which characteristics make a good teacher.

“A teacher needs to be caring,” Flores said. “[They have] to know their students and what they’re teaching.” 

Flores said teachers who are not motivated to teach are those dubbed “a bad teacher.”

“Some read out of a book,” Flores said. “But what makes a good teacher is one that knows what they’re teaching. [StuCo sponsor Allison] Stamey is actually a teacher who cares about her students. She motivates you and keeps in touch with you.”

A teacher who cares about his or her students is more likely to get good results out of students. The majority of a teacher’s students will do better if they are more caring towards their students.

Junior Alexandria Brown gave another point of view.

“A good teacher is one who is understanding, flexible, [has] Farmer Pride, [and is] passionate,” Brown said. “She also has to care about her students.”  

World-renowned psychiatrist William Glasser said “We learn…10 percent of what we read, 20 percent of what we hear, and 30 percent of what we see,” which points toward the idea that a teacher’s active participation in the learning process can affect the way a student’s success.

Senior Gabriel Tovar said his favorite teacher in high school was social studies teacher Rob Borenstein.

“He helped me develop really good studying skillls and pushed me to always give it my very best,” Tovar said. “He always made us work hard and didn’t make it too easy where it was a blowoff class, but he made it hard enough to give us a challenge and learn well.”

Tovar said Borenstein had a big impact on his life because of the way he prepared his students for college.

“A teacher should be reponsible, strict with humor, laid back, and caring,” Tovar said.

Many characteristics can describe a good teacher, but the student is also a part of the learning process. The next question to ask is, what can we do to help the teacher teach us?