What makes a teacher great?
Motivators, Mentors, and Megalomaniacs
All teachers that I have had from elementary school through college, and even my masters degree, have fallen under one of the three categories: motivators, mentors, or megalomaniacs.
Motivators
Great teachers will motivate you and what they are teaching you. Their enthusiasm and knowledge of their subject matter is infectious. They invite you into their world to be part of what they know and find wonderful and beautiful. The symbiotic relationship in these classrooms is fantastic and rare, unfortunately in my education career.
Mentors
Great teachers, instructors, professors, mentor their students, and lead by example and teach by example. They make you feel like you’re equals and that you’re on this journey together. Even to the point they you talk to them on a first name basis. Leaving by example and bringing you to new places as all what a mentor is all about and the best teachers are mentors.
Megalomaniacs
My least favorite, and unfortunately majority of educators, especially in the college level or megalomaniacs. Being educated and an accredited instructor can lead to a really big ego. Some of us feel like why are we wasting their time when they know more than us? or they talk down to us like we’re stupid just because they know more than we do about the subject matter. The professors, many of professors, I’ve had no less about human nature than anybody. And if you don’t care about your audience, they’re not gonna care about what you have to say and I’ll just ignore you and give you very poor reviews at the end of the semester.
I think I’m very effective teacher or professor mentors, their students relates to them and leads/teaches by example.
As always, thank you for reading.
-AAA
Anthony’s Crazy Love and Life Lessons in Empathy 
I know a kid personally who dropped out of school his sophomore year. Failed most of his classes that same year, went back his junior and senior year and was put in honors classes because he was board in the other classes. Made up only one semester of English, was failing a core class the second half of his senior year. The parents were getting notice he was in jeopardy of failing and the his economics teacher allowed him to turn in a 1/4 of the missed assignments up until the Friday before graduation for full credit, therefore, bringing his grade up to a 71%. This is the kind of students this teacher allows to pass his class and graduate and this is the kind of laziness these kids are learning today. No work ethics are required, just turn in what you can and you’ll get full credit. No consequences for jerking off the majority of you high school years. Good luck in the real world is all I got to say on that one.
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Yikes
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It is sad how so many teachers, at least from the ones I was familiar with first hand during Covid became so less involved with their students. My opinion based upon what I saw was so many took a long break rather than jumping in feet first to the fire and doing anything and everything possible to help their students continue to learn. I know it was difficult on Teachers, students and parents a like and I don’t discount that at all, what I do have trouble with were the teachers who spent, again, from personal experience, 20-30 minutes a day on line with their classes. My opinion, some of the teachers I dealt with didn’t care about their audience (class) and the students suffered.
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Very articulate and true I agree completely and that was the issue. I had many of my classes growing up with some teachers didn’t really care whether we learned or didn’t. They’re just there to get paid or you know keep us in the classroom and try and push us to see if we could learn a day and care if we did if we didn’t.
And we have those real sick ones that love to be in control and rec cruel to us because they had that power. Kinda like the brick in the wall by Pink Floyd.
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Great response to the question
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Thank you I’m hoping to maybe one day teach writing writing in the professional sense of like writing in business writing technical writing different themes how to get organized in your writing term papers, etc.
If I do teach, I teach it from passion and example not from a megalomaniac perspective.
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I believe you would do wonderfully as a teacher and you are passionate about writing. I would have taken your class for sure.
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