Youth : What Makes a Good Teacher?

Gabriel White, 17, Senior

North Hollywood High School

One of the most important characteristics of a good teacher is willingness to put time in to making a class interesting. I’m talking about those teachers who are willing to stay after school and help; they are prepared for class; they know your areas of weakness and are willing to stay late for special projects like the school paper.

I have a few teachers who go over and above the requirements. There are others who put in the absolute minimum effort to get the job done. I understand that teachers are not paid enough to put in 20 hours a day; but they should have gone into another field if they weren’t going to do what it takes to be a good teacher. But you have to understand from my point-of-view; my life is made more interesting if teachers are willing to make a class more challenging.

Since they chose to be educators: they should educate. Sometimes they’ll spend 20 minutes on taking attendance or kind of messing around. Then by the time we really get into the sublect, class is over. I’m in a magnet program, and most of those teachers are good. I think the teachers in the regular public school curriculum are bad.

I think the school district should raise teachers’ pay in appreciation of what teachers do so that we can keep those good ones and get rid of the bad ones.

Christine Nguyen; 13, 8th Grade

Lathrop Intermediate School, Santa Ana

Discipline is important. Sometimes kids get out of line and disrupt the class. I also think humor is important. They need humor to keep the class interested. Some teachers are really boring. Sometimes the kids want to have fun; but teachers act like they don’t want the kids to have fun. It’s good to take kids out on trips to enhance the topic. It keeps kids interested in school. I guess the last thing is that teachers need to be understanding. Some kids are slow, but they want to learn. They need to be understanding because some kids are just a little bit slower than other kids. Teachers don’t have to be like a mother or a guiding hand. They just need to stop and expain.

Teachers don’t have enough resources and supplies to do their job. Sometimes they have to share with other teachers. For example, my school is over crowded. That makes it very tough on the teachers.

Jennifer Inzunza, 16, Junior

Garfield High School

Good teachers ask if you are learning or not. They are not bothered when we asked questions, even if they are dumb questions or dealing with information they brought up before. Good teachers are friends with the students. They try to be there for them. In some ways, they are like a big sister or a big brother; a mom or a dad. They want to be there for you and help you because they know what your background is.

On the other hand, bad teachers get disappointed when you ask too many questions or they get frustrated when you don’t understand something. They have to know that not everybody understands things at the same pace. Some are slower than others.

But I think there are more good teachers than bad teachers.

Lorena Chavez: 17, Senior

Huntington Park High School

Good teachers have to have patience and be understanding of the students. Teachers need to have a sense of who the students are and what their background is.

(I think the budget cuts) have effected how the teachers perform. Some are not willing to put in extra work. I guess improvement in pay and better attendance by the students would help make our teachers better.