Characteristics of a good teacher

My good friend and above all beloved teacher, Azahari Ismail shared this piece of work with me that I thought I'd post for everyone to enjoy. The piece entitled “13 Semi-visible and invisible desirable characteristics of a good teacher” was an assignment submitted for a Testing and Evaluation class and carried the date December 12, 1975. For posterity, the piece is rewritten in its originality without any amendments and is posted with permission from the author.

……. Class distraction …………. 7121975
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13 Semi-visible and invisible desirable characteristics of a good teacher*



1. Has the minimum functional desire to teach.

2. Has a thorough knowledge of the subject matter taught and likes it.

3. Has the ability to shift the students’ state of learning at least from
negative to neutral and knows the difference between the two.

4. Has the ability to disengage the students’ yawning mechanism at least for a one hour period.

5. Has the ability to maintain the behavior of a complete human being
while in the classroom.

6. Has the ability to communicate in different but proper wave-lengths.

7. Has the ability to lead and remains in front while leading.

8. Has the ability to maintain the mirror image of oneself while engaged in a
personal conversation in front of a mirror.

9. Has the ability to translate imaginations into proper actions.

10. Has the courage to accept the fact that the world is unstructured.

11. An observant, interested and dedicated learner.

12. A product of the college of education out of choice but not circumstances.

13. Has the ability to continue teaching while other job offers are pouring in.

-Azahari Ismail-

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*Lack of any or all these characetristics does not necessarily deprive anybody from being a marginal teacher regardless of sex.

az/july '75