Good Teacher vs. Bad Teacher

Good Teacher vs. Bad Teacher:  Man, are these two titles slung around or what?  Especially...the latter.

But, what are the ingredients that make up both? Are they consistent? Are they definable?  Or are they a matter of personal taste?  What are the elements that are found in a good teacher versus a bad one?  Is it black and white or a big mush of valley-fog gray?

In Doug Lemov’s book, Teach Like a Champion, he states that it is “better to have a good teacher in a bad school than a bad teacher in a good school.”  Is this true?  Can one little human make the difference in a kid’s life?  Fortunately, for us...they can.  

Before I write anymore, I decided to go directly to the source:  62 teenagers from the Central Valley answered these questions:  What makes a teacher good?  and What makes a teacher bad? Here is what they said (direct quotes in an anonymous survey).

Good Teacher:

-smile

-greets us at the door

-interacts with students

-understands what they are teaching

-don’t give up on us

-listens

-don’t lecture all the time

-happy and caring

-involves everyone in class

-understands their students

-no homework

-fun

-unpredictable

-connects with students

-tells kids they will succeed

-not boring

-no talking the whole period

-sweet

-funny

-loves us

-talks to us

-gets to know us

-gives us time to work together

-guides us

-asks us how we are doing

-tells us what we are doing right and wrong

-answers questions we have

-understands that we don’t understand it the first time we hear it

-active

-excited with what they are doing

-no packets

-adjusts to different ways kids learn

-lets students collaborate

-lets us debate

-upbeat

Bad Teachers:

-yell at us

-have monotone voices

-talk too much

-give us all book work

-play movies constantly

-don’t know your name

-don’t know what period you are in

-show favoritism

-don’t talk to you

-are rude if you ask a question

-give work without teaching you first

-allow kids to speak to them disrespectfully

-use book too much

-don’t teach

-worksheets

-is never there

-expect us to pick up something quickly that we have never learned

-are lazy

-don’t care about us

-make us memorize but not think

-give you dirty looks

-stay on their phone

-give us packets

-sit down and tell us what to do

-are on their computer the whole class

-make inappropriate comments

-eat in class

-yell too much

-throw chairs

-too strict

-throw markers

-ignore us

-can’t manage their class

There it is...out of the mouths of babes.  The End.