Teacher Attitudes: What makes an impression on your students?"

Recently, I attended an excellent workshop for cooperating teachers at Slippery Rock University. Part of the presentation included a discussion panel of five university students, ready to embark on their student teaching assignments this fall.  The students answered a series of questions about their needs, skills they want to improve, and concerns that they will bring to the student teaching experience.  Finally, the students were asked about attributes of their own most memorable teachers.




The most memorable teachers who left a lasting impression:

• made learning fun, and applied real-world situations to the class. The example given was a third grade teacher who ran a school store to give practice in buying and making change.
• were energetic and enthusiastic about the subject they taught.  Their excitement was contagious for their students.
• had a good personality and added humor to the class in appropriate ways which made the students more comfortable in their classroom.
• showed a commitment to their students, an interest in the students' well-being and went above and beyond the call of duty to help out.  The example given in this case was that the student admitted that he wasn't particularly good either academically or behavior-wise in his middle-school years. His band teacher made a point to seek him out and took time after school to meet with him in the band room to work on homework because he knew that the student wasn't working on it at home.  An enormous tribute was made to this anonymous teacher to a room filled with teachers, and he may never know the impact he made on turning a student's life around.
• made personal connections with the student. They made a point to get to know the students' families very well which helped to keep pathways of communication open.
• were approachable. Their students knew they would help them with anything.

In all of these cases, it was the teacher's attitude (undoubtedly postive) made the lasting impression.  What do you think? What are/were the attributes of your most memorable teacher?