What makes a good/great teacher?

"Tell me and I forget. Teach me and I remember. Involve me and I learn", 
  ( Benjamin Franklin)

What makes a great teacher? How does a great or at least good teacher have to behave, what does he, she need to know? What do students expect of him/her....these are the questions I ask myself almost everyday, but today it became even more special as today we celebrate Teacher's Day all around the world. While I was checking my mail and Facebook I came across an interesting Wall post by my friend Maria Bossa. Even though she said it weren't her own words I found it very interesting and I am very happy she's shared that with me.
So, what can letters in a word TEACHER stand for:

T-Talent 

E-Education 

A-Attitude 

C-Character

H-Harmony

E-Efficient

R-Relation 

I have asked my students in our facebook group what they think makes a great teacher, one of them wrote, quoting: "to explain good unknown stuff". Is that E-Education or E-Efficient, or maybe both. What do you think!? I hope there will be some more comments, as I always try to improve my teaching skills, which is normal,isn't it. We teachers are a true Lifelong Learners.If we care about our profession or our students we will try to give 100% . Do we get tired sometimes, yes we do, but the will, the strenght, the love towards teaching, towards our students smallest success keeps us going. Are we appreciated today as that was a case 20, 30- 50 years ago, I really don't know. 

I will try to be more effective, try to create even better attitude, work more on my character, but I will for sure try to keep the Fun, Exploring, Sharing, Creativity (both of students and teachers) in my classes. :)

I think it's not just Chemistry or English, Geography or History, Art or Music we teach our students, I hope we also try to teach them how to be better people. Do you agree?

I wish you all Happy Teacher's Day! As we are no longer JUST Teachers, we are:

Image credit: BusyTeacher.org, created by Stacy Bonino - love it!