What Makes a Great Teacher? Your Turn to Weigh In!

Mr. Harrington and I are launching some research in hoping to present at the New York State English Council's (NYSEC) annual conference next year and we need your input. We want to get a better understanding of what characteristics that students, both past and present, consider essential in making a great teacher.


We are asking people to weigh in on what characteristics made the great teachers they have encountered so great. You can simply list qualities or tell a quick anecdote about that particular teacher that illustrates why you hold him or her in such high esteem.

When completing this task, please spend some time considering what made the teacher a great teacher in total. Was she very knowledgeable? Did he have a great classroom environment? Was she tough but fair? Compassionate? Did he or she get your prepared for your exams particularly well or maybe helped you to learn about yourself in ways you didn't anticipate or just have a class that you looked forward to attending?

We ask that you don't use your teacher's names.
If you would like to refer to someone as Mrs. S or Mr. G, for example, that is fine.

Please feel free to forward this to anyone you would like. We are hoping to get a real cross section of demographics (ages, genders, locations, etc.) and this is just the first step in that process. To that end, hearing from students, parents, grandparents, principals, custodians, and the like all help to paint the total picture.