Rique Ochoa, 2022 Alta Teacher of the Year, poses with his advisory class shortly after he received the award. Ochoa, like other teachers got into the profession to make a difference in the lives of young people.
Patience, Understanding, and Forgiveness are Qualities Students Appreciate in Teachers
Teachers are a part of daily life for students. Good teachers with good qualities make school so much easier.
We can all agree that having good teachers greatly impacts our society and influences students, but what are the best qualities in teachers?
Patience, understanding, forgiveness, caring: just a few of many adjectives that students used to describe the qualities that they hope to find in their teachers.
“It’s incredible the difference that having good teachers can have on your schooling,” says junior Mikey Bastian, “When you have teachers who show that they care about you, I like going to class more, and I’m more likely to want to learn.”
A teacher who has had an impact on him is Izzy Gustafson, or as students know her, Coach G. “Coach G always made me feel like she cared about me and wanted me to succeed, which made a world of a difference in my learning,” Bastian said.
The validation from teachers has become ever more important in today’s world as social media and the internet seem to create an increasingly negative world, where insecurities are projected, and meaningful connections are increasingly rare. Having an adult that you can go to outside of your family makes a huge impact on students because they have someone they can feel comfortable talking to about their mental health and struggles. Teachers can often provide better help with these struggles than parents can as well, because they are more educated in the psychology of their students.
Junior Danika Miller believes the best teachers are understanding and know students live with stress every day. “We are teenagers who are growing up in a world that is so much different from the one our teachers grew up in,” she said. “When they are understanding and helpful, it makes a world of difference for us students.”
“When teachers care about your mental health you feel seen, and that can help tremendously in making students happier, stress free, and all around better students,” says Berkley Foulks.
Carter Goodfellow thinks that the best quality in a teacher is forgiveness. “Everyone makes mistakes, and no one’s perfect, and when teachers understand that and can cut you some slack, it shows that they care and makes me more motivated to show respect to them.”
Landon Pack agrees, “When teachers give you a second chances, it makes learning so much easier. You are not afraid to make mistakes because you know that you’ll have the opportunity to learn from them and correct them.”
Despite disagreeing on the best qualities for a teacher, one thing seems clear: students love teachers who care about them, and treat them as equals. “The biggest thing for me is when teachers treat me with respect,” says Jeremy Christensen, “It makes me want to reciprocate that same level of respect back to them.”