Who is a good teacher?

As promised, here I am, starting to write about teachers.
Now the first question: Who is a good teacher? I have had kind teachers, caring teachers, friendly teachers, helpful teachers, strict teachers, stong-in-their-subject teachers, dreadful teachers, ok-ok teachers and also some absolutely-good-for-nothing teachers etc etc. But good teachers? Who would fit in there? That made me ask myself: what would I consider as the eligility criteria for accepting someone as a good teacher?

I read a small story yesterday that one of my cousins had forwarded, about a teacher who plays an important part in transforming the life of one of her students. It's like the boy is actually a good student initially, but his mother's death slowly makes him a recluse. He loses all his friends and gradually becomes detached, involving himself very less in what goes on around him. The teacher who does not know the boy's sad story, treats him with marked indifference, until one day, when she happens to read his previous class reports, from which she gets to know that the boy's performance has been deteriorating gradually over the years. This puts the teacher to shame over her own attitude towards him and thereby marks a turning point in the way she treats the young boy. She starts caring for him just like any other child and slowly the boy in back on track. And the rest is history.

Now, what struck me most about this story was: Why did the teacher feel ashamed about the way she treated the child? She could've just got to know the story and moved on. Maybe could have put in some extra effort to help the boy with his lessons, some extra classes etc. But would that've helped him? Yes, a little. But it was her sense of shame that made her treat the boy very differently from the following day. Yes, her inner conscience had pricked her so much that she resolved to do everything within her means to help the poor child. This is what is the most important quality of a teacher, in my opinion: To accept responsibility and make amends for his/ her mistakes.

Actually this is not just for teachers, but for every human being. It's just that they assume more significance for a teacher. Teaching Physics or Chemistry or English or Science comes next. What values are they imparting to their students is what is more important.

To talk about my teachers, frankly, I have had lots of good things (non-academic) to learn from my school teachers. Good habits, kindness, love etc. Basically these happened in the primary classes. I have also had a few teachers who were very good at their subject and who made us love their classes. As would be the case with many amongst you who are reading this, the academic knowledge that I gained is not of much use to me now. But my values are engraved in me. I am thankful I have that all today.

So, now with all that blah-blah-blah-ing over, I will start writing about my teachers soon.