For teachers, showtime begins at 8 a.m. However, outside the typical 8-3 p.m. workday, teachers spend many hours preparing lectures, grading homework and creating powerpoints.

Teachers have accompanied us from the sandbox to the calculus classroom.  Through the years, classes and teachers have become increasingly tough. Math isn’t the same as it used to be and neither is the tolerance level of teachers. Their strictness has tightened up and their patience has loosened up.

Gaining monotone voices and losing the colorful worksheets, high school teachers differ greatly from elementary school teachers. However, the making of a good teacher starts with the students.

Forming a relationship with your students or simply remembering their names is a good start. Don’t wait for them to talk to you, supply a simple statement to say before or after class. Make sure to recognize the shy and the more talkative students.

“Good teachers really care about students and want them to succeed,” junior Kaitlyn Johnson said. “I had some teachers that not only made me like them, but like the subject.”

At one point, everyone has had their favorite teacher. Whether they were cool or interesting, their classes were entertaining to attend.

Many teachers supplement their daily lessons with anecdotes. For some students, it’s easier to retain information in a story format. Stories help  to further detail the subject and explain a personal encounter with the lesson.

“[A good teacher is] someone who helps the students when they have questions and doesn’t tell them to learn it themselves,” sophomore Madison Harrell said. “I’ve had teachers like that.”

Handing out a worksheet or packet for you students is a little dull and colorless. Working in an appealing story or facts on the subject can help the students remember details later on.

Using a strong voice while teaching helps keeps the students attention.  Refrain from using the words “um” and “you know.” Everytime you say one of these words, one of your students goes farther away into la la land.

Being a student is hard but being a teacher can be even harder. Whatever a teacher does, it affects the student differently. Teachers just have to be sure to keep in mind every kid is different.