Eilidh: Teachers have to be nice, otherwise I get sick of them.
Kara: I like ones that think outside the box, if you see what I mean. They give group work, have ball games and stuff.
Eilidh: Make it more interesting.
Kara: Yeah, so you actually pay attention and listen.
Sam: They go the extra mile. They definitely have to have a sense of humour.
Kara: I like a sense of humour, but some teachers tend to do cheesy jokes and nobody laughs. It’s really awkward. They are like Halloween jokes you get in crackers. I find cheesy jokes quite funny, but I don’t want to be the only one laughing, so I just sit there quietly giggling to myself.
Sam: The thing I value most in a teacher is if he’s nice. As she said, he or she needs to bring everyone into it, so someone is not sitting in the corner. He doesn’t make it awkward. Some teachers make it really awkward, like “who would like to do such and such a thing?”, and no one puts their hand up.
Kara: I don’t feel like learning if they are dead grumpy. I can feel, “Oh, she is not in a good mood.”
Eilidh: You can tell if they are fed up and stuff.
Kara: They just storm into the room, and I feel like they’re not teaching me anything when they are angry. You kind of want to just say calm down, are you OK, would you like a cup of tea or something, but you’d get into trouble. They would say that’s cheeky, even though you’re trying to help. I do care, I’d make her a cup of tea. I don’t do coffee very well, but I’d make a tea.
Sam: You just put a tea bag, water, milk and sugar in and that’s that.
Kara: I don’t like teachers who are too friendly. Really old ones who use phrases and that, it’s really cringey.
Sam: Get down, get funky!
Eilidh: I don’t like it when they get cheeky with you, when they know you don’t know the question.
Kara: Character is really important in a teacher. I would only pick history because I like the teacher. But I’m not really interested in history, to be honest.
Eilidh: I like history, but the teacher makes it better.
Kara: I had a teacher I really didn’t like once, so I felt like I wasn’t trying as hard, but now I’ve got a better teacher in that subject, I feel I’m trying more.
Eilidh: I like teachers who explain things and don’t just expect you to know.
Sam: Age doesn’t really matter.
Kara: The younger ones you can talk to, but the older ones are kind of better teachers.
Eilidh: The younger ones are more lively.
Sam: I also like teachers who are in the real world. I like people who don’t say, “We are the best subject.” Some teachers do that, and it’s really annoying.
