A good teacher is someone ...

Un bon prof est quelqu'un ...

sincere

that genuinely cares about his students, and invests the necessary time and effort to provide them with the resources they need to succeed.

who cares about their students and tries their best to teach them.

who doesn't lose patience easily.

who is attentive to different students' learning styles, and is consistent with their methods of grading.

who is engaging and dynamic and teaches problem solving skills and thought processes instead of just material.

who is patient and explains things clearly and thoroughly.

who is patient and organized.

who lets their students learn in a way that works best for them; who connects with their students; who makes learning fun.

who poses more questions than he gives answers.

who prepares good lectures, who is driven to teach, who provides good feedback

who prepares lectures well and is easy to approach.

who takes the time to teach their students something useful.

who truly knows her subject enjoys teaching and helping others understand

who's goal is to have their students understand.

aime ses étudiants et sa matière, qui nous fait aimer se qu'il enseigne

aime ses étudiants, ne les surcharge pas trop de travail et sait rigoler avec eux

de cultivé dans son domaine, à l'écoute, et pédagogue

de patient, gentil, compréhensif.

de respecté, de particulier.

pédagogue, qui a de l'imagination, de l'autorité

prépare bien ses cours et sait transmettre sa passion

qui a de l'autorité, qui explique et aide les élèves en difficulté.

qui aime son métier, qui partage sa passion pour la matière, qui explique bien.

qui est compétent dans sa matière et qui sait apprendre aux élèves la matière, qui sait éveiller l'intérêt des élèves pour la matière

qui se préoccupe de l'avenir de ses étudiants,
qui connait sa matière sur le bout des doigts,
qui sait être à la fois dur et compatissant

s'adapte à ses étudiants

Discussion

juste une question: pourquoi mettez-vous "their" après a good teacher is....?

Je ne comprends pas , pourquoi pas his ou her?

Sur le fond, je pense que nous avons les mêmes idées sur ce qu'est un bon prof, nous nous rejoignons sur ce point!

Their is used instead of his or her because it is more politically correct (PC); a teacher can be female or male and it is better to use gender neutral words whenever possible to avoid offending others

It seems true indeed, Pierre, that we are in accord here -- we all care about making the relationship between the teacher and the students as good as possible for the students.

However, I see another pattern also. We all want to be treated well as students, and the Americans go in quite some detail and offer quite strong claims about the teacher serving lots of the students' needs. On the whole, for the Americans the teacher must, above all, ensure that absolutely all students understand the material and that's it. The teacher is a fellow to their students and engages with them through discussion.

But the French seem to hold that the teacher must, first of all, be passionate about his subject and good at it and only after that present it well to their students. Moreover, the way the teacher should engage the students should be to by providing himself as an example for a professional in the subject and by transmitting his passion for his subject. Also, the teacher must have authority and be respected; otherwise they would lose credibility. 

How do you see those?

Pierre,

Their can be used for both the plural and singular (instead of saying his/her) when the writer wants it to be gender neutral. Sorry english is so confusing.

I also found the responses do be very similar, however, the French students mention authority which is not spoken of on the American side. The French students also mentioned the future as they have for many of the other topics. It seems that French students look ahead a lot more than American students who may be too focused on the present.

General question:

What do you think of teachers who are too harsh? What is being too harsh? In America, being too harsh on students (in terms of feedback on projects, homework, etc.) is looked down upon. In general, we prefer constructive criticism to flat out rudeness. Do you think all criticism is constructive? Is a good teacher someone who does not hold back his or her opinions?

Like Megan, I am also interested in what you guys have to say about strictness and harshness, I noticed that in the French side there were some responses about a good teacher being strict and a pedagogue and having authority, however in the American side there were no mentions of strictness or authority. Why do you think this is? In France, is it considered better for a teacher to be strict?

Megan, je pense que ce n'est pas en étant un professeur plus sévère que l'on se fait plus respecter par les élèves. Au contraire, les élèves vont alors dire de lui que c'est une personne méchante, méprisante comme tu l'as dis. Je crois que certaines critiques peuvent être constructive oui, seulement si l'a critique est expliquée à l'élève calmement et gentiment.

Arturo, ce n'est pas qu'un professeur strict est un meilleur professeur, mais qu'en effet il faut l'être un minimum je pense pour pas que ce soit les élèves qui fassent la loi ou passent leur temps à bavarder.

Je suis d'accord avec Anissa,

 

et puis "sévère" et "strict" ce n'est pas la même chose ! Je pense vraiment qu'un professeur ayant de l'autorité se fera mieux respectés par ses élèves et pourra plus facilement instaurer un climat propice au travail et à apprendre dans de bonnes conditions. 

Après ce n'est pas parce que un professeur est strict qu'il est forcément bon. Mais un professeur sans autorité aura du mal à être vu comme un bon professeur par ses élèves et par les parents des élèves. 

En France,

un prof sans autorité est considéré comme un mauvais prof: mais l'autorité peyt être naturelle, le prof n'a pas besoin de crier pour que son autorité soit respecter.

I think being able to command the attention of how many ever students a professor has is a rare trait, and this is what distinguishes a good professor from a great professor.

In a way, there is no doubt that most professors are experts in the subject. They have seen the material before, in some cases, they have been teaching the material for many years...what really distinguishes a professor is his ability to engage in the material, capture and maintain the attention of his students, and transmit his passion for the subject.

This involves commanding authority and respect from the students, it involves preparedness, and many of the other descriptions mentioned in the responses, but the overarching theme is this one that I am mentioning.

Je me rappelle un prof de maths qui m'a beaucoup marqué car il semblait vivre pour les maths et nous transmettait sa passion; c'est je crois assez rare!