What makes a good high school teacher? Is it a fun and joking person? Or is it straightforward and serious person? What should be the most important characteristics? Maybe a balance of both?

Well first of all, a good teacher should know an extensive amount about what they are teaching, obviously. Even though you may be teaching freshman math you should know the basis of what the rest of the upperclassmen are learning. It also helps to explain certain things if you know more than what you are supposed to be teaching.

Another important characteristic that a good teacher possesses is the ability to communicate. Not just to individual students, but to the entire class. It doesn’t matter if you know a lot about your subject, if you can’t communicate the information correctly.

Being able to communicate individually is also important because every student learns at a different pace so a good teacher needs to be able to help that student stay on the correct path and pace. Anything can happen in a classroom, so a calm and collected manner is definitely needed as well. No matter what unexpected event occurs around the school or in the classroom, a good teacher has to be a role model for the students and stay calm. If students see their teacher freak out or agitated what do you think will follow? The students will act the same.

In both an emergency in the school and a regular day in the classroom a good teacher also needs to be disciplined with their students. Keeping the class in order and focused on the topic is a necessity every time they step into the classroom. They need to be able to control any bad students that act up in class.

Not only do they have to be able to calm the students down, but if any further action is necessary then a good teacher must have the authority to act. If a student needs to be given detention, suspension, or be sent to the office, the teacher should have the correct judgment on when that point is reached.

A good teacher needs to have a grip on all of their students’ attention. Not only by being disciplined with their students, but also making the lesson interesting and something that students might enjoy. That is another important thing for teachers to incorporate into their teaching styles.

It also doesn’t hurt to have a little fun while learning. After all, that’s what gets the most attention from students. A good teacher finds a nice balance between fun and serious learning. A teacher could be the most important factor of a student picking something they want to pursue in the future.

Teachers help us learn things about the world that we never knew in the first place. Besides your family and friends, teachers are who you spend the most time with in your life. A good teacher can shape your future from a good one to a great one.