Great Teachers

Today in class we read a slection by Pat Conroy about great teachers which he describes as having outrageous personalities. Then the students listed the qualities of what they think a great teacher is. Here were their top picks from each group.
friend
fair- gives students what they deserve
teach about life (not just class work)
patient
always shows good attitude (and acts like they have a good attitude when they have a bad attitude)
understanding
honest
creative
fair- doesn't discriminate
open-minded
sense of humor
punctual (ha)
rolde model
respectful
comfortable to be around
authoritative
responsible
has good teaching strategies- "Can get the knowledge into the students' heads" one student said.
makes you challenge yourself.
Once again my students have come up with a long list that is probably impossible to comply with completely. But, I can do my best. As someone said, "You can't please all of the people all of the time."
We talked about how different cultures interpret things in different ways. For example, for some cultures it's very important to show authority in the way that you dress, and the students' first impressions of the teacher establish his or her authority. Other students said that authority is something that is earned over time as the students get to know the teacher.
I can tell this is going to be an interesting group, and I'm already proud of them because noone said a great teacher gives less homework.