What Makes a Good Teacher Final Draft

Sheyanne Hughes

Professor Sonia Begert

English 101

February 21, 2014

What Makes a Good Teacher

What makes a good teacher? Is it the amount of homework they give you? Is it how easy going they are? Or is it the fact that you actually passed their class? What do I say makes a good teacher? Passion; it is the most important trait when it comes to teaching. If teaching is not what you love, then your student's will not love what you teach. A good teacher puts their heart into every class and is passionate about helping students and educating others. When a teacher loves what they're teaching and loves teaching it, it really shows through to the students and makes them excited about learning more. Both Sylvia Cauter and Stephen Pagaard are two teachers from my high school who had so much passion in teaching. Passion is what makes the difference between a good teacher and an incredible teacher.

When it comes to never giving up, Sylvia Cauter takes the award. She was my choir teacher throughout all of my years at North Kitsap High School. Of course, she made choir an amazing experience for everyone who took choir as a class. She always strives her hardest to make sure we got the most out of our education. Many could say that music has no educational value to it but that’s where they’re wrong. Sylvia Cauter took music and made it mean something more to her students than just getting a grade for a class. With music, she taught us team work and to really strive for goals. Every morning she was always in her office bright and early getting ready for her classes for the day. She would always take work home with her. She would even stay after school to voluntarily help us with our music and to help those who needed extra help and special attention with their vocals.

It may be hard to see what goes on behind the scenes with teachers, but sometimes it’s necessary to know what they’re really going through. The arts is always the program that suffers the most when it comes to budget cuts, because it’s not a priority to schools. Sylvia was so passionate about her job that to keep the arts program, which they were going to cut, she told the board to take the whole budget and that we would raise the money ourselves. If she wouldn't have done that, our choir program would be completely erased. She was truly passionate about music and the effect it had on her students’ lives that she was willing to do anything to keep it. Her salary was dropped quite a bit, yet she refused to quit. The fighting spirit she had in her was passed down to her students because we were right there backing her up the whole way. When they had board meetings we would go to them and volunteered to speak to defend our case on not cutting the choir program. Sylvia is truly a diamond in the ruff. She never left us and I don’t think she ever could. With all the odds against her, and no faculty to really back her up, she fought and fought and prevailed. Our beloved choir program wasn't cut. Yet, she did have to adapt to some changes, but she made it work. She was the backbone to our defense. She wasn't just a teacher; she was a role model who showed us to not only strive for our goals, but to fight for what we believe in.

The other teacher that, in his own words, “strikes my fancy,” is none other than Stephen Pagaard. Now, Pagaard was quite an odd teacher. The first day we walked into class, he referred to us by our last names, an example being, Mrs. Hughes. We were all a bit confused by this, but it was his class room, so his rules.  If you met Pagaard or heard the rumors around school about him being an insanely strict teacher, you might be a bit intimidated. Yet, I cannot speak for every student, but Pagaard wasn’t strict, he was actually very fair when it came to grading and homework. Now, what makes Pagaard such a great teacher? Well, Pagaard was a man who could tell you anything you wanted to know about history. He could give you a complete tour around the world pointing out every statue, land mark, and historical area, and give you a complete back story on it. He is without a doubt one of the most intelligent history teachers in this world. I remember one day in class I asked, “How do you know all this?” and he simply replied with, “Well, I read books.” In fact, every year Pagaard is chosen to fly to St. Louis, Missouri to help grade a huge world-wide history exam. Even though he did get paid, it’s a very long process and it takes a few days to grade everything.

Something that stands out about Pagaard is when you came to class, you could tell he was ready to teach, and he always did so with a huge grin on his face. He always got so enthusiastic when he went into detail about any certain topic he talked about. He always involved us in the topics and asked questions to keep our minds open. He didn't ask just generic text book questions, he asked questions that truly made us think and really analyze the subject. Pagaard gave a full analysis and review of any subject we were on. He wasn't just a good teacher because of how smart he was and how much knowledge he gave us; he was a good teacher because he was passionate about what he does. You could tell that man truly loved history and teaching it. What also made Pagaard a great teacher was he didn't just give us a text book and tell us to answer the questions from the chapter or make us take copious amounts of notes, he gave us the information we needed and elaborated on it. He even won an award for best history teacher in the state of Washington. He really knew what he was doing when it came to educating his students.

The differences and similarities between these two teachers are quite tremendous. The differences are, well for one, they teach completely different subjects. Comparing their teaching styles would be night and day. Sylvia teaches verbally through music and is very hands on, while Pagaard is more visual with his teaching. Another difference is Pagaard is a little more traditional with his teaching, while Sylvia is more modern and “out there” with hers. Now, for their similarities, they both love what they do. In fact, they both have awards for their teaching. What makes their classes stand out to me is that they didn't just make class regular and boring; they always added excitement and enthusiasm in their teaching, as well as a lot of humor that always made the lesson more fun. Another huge similarity they have is they both have the one thing that is most important when it comes to teaching; passion. Without passion, there is no true education.

Both these teachers are completely different yet share one thing that makes them come together in a way only a student could see. The fact that they both have such enthusiasm and passion for teaching shines through to the students and make the students passionate about what they’re learning. Although there may be many teachers who go unnoticed by faculty for the effect they have on students’ lives, they will never go unnoticed by the life of the student that they changed.