Good adjectives for teachers

273 Best Words to Describe a Teacher (2023)

This list of words to describe a teacher collates adjectives that you could use to describe any sort of teacher, both positive and negative.

Some of my favorite ways to describe a teacher are:

• Passionate
• Committed
• Inspiring
• Warm
• Caring
• Student-Focused

Some negative descriptions include:

• Apathetic
• Unprepared
• Lazy
• Biased
• Indifferent
• Boring

Use the table of contents below to jump to a category then select an adjective from the lists.

Positive Adjectives to Describe a Teacher

1. Excellent Teacher

Amazing – “You’re an amazing teacher and I’m so grateful to have you in my life.”

Awe-inspiring – “The lesson you put together for the students on space travel was awe-inspiring. My son now wants to become an astronaut!”

Awesome – “You’re an awesome teacher who makes every class fun. ”

Energetic – “Your energetic approach to teaching and learning invigorates the students and keeps them focused.”

Experienced – “I can tell you are an experienced teacher by the way you control your classroom.”

Leader – “You are a leading educator in the nation.”

Passionate – “Passion is the most important trait of an educator.”

Stimulating – “Your lectures are always incredibly stimulating and encourage excellent debates after class.”

Read Also: 13+ Examples Of The Word “Academic” In A Sentence

Natural – “You are a natural born educator thanks to your compassion, patience and ease with explaining.”

Other words for excellent teachers:

2.

Competent – “Based on the lesson I observed I believe you will be a competent educator and suitable for certification in our state.”

Helpful – “Whenever I ask you a question I always find your answers to be punctual and helpful. You don’t beat around the bush.”

Prepared – “If there’s one thing I can say about you, it’s that you always come to class prepared with great hands-on lessons.”

Punctual – “You are a punctual professional which shows me you value your students’ time.”

Valuable – “You are a valuable member of the faculty and I just wanted to let you know we all appreciate your input during staff meetings.”

Confident – “I was impressed by how confident you are in commanding the classroom and engaging with the students’ parents.”

Perseverant – “Even though you don’t always have successful lessons, it is admirable that you’re perseverant and bounce back with vigor the next day. ”

Other words for good teachers:

Read Also: 83 Best Words to Describe a Student

3. Kind Teacher

Amicable – Easy to get along with. “You’re an amicable teacher who is friends with all the parents and your colleagues.”

Empathetic – Ability to notice students’ feelings and have sympathy for those feelings. “The fact that you’re an empathetic person will make you a great early childhood educator. ”

Generous – Willing to give a lot of your time or resources. “I’m so impressed by how generous you are with your time. You will always sit down and talk with me to give me extra help.”

Nurturing – “As an educator of young children, your nurturing disposition makes me confident that you will always have the children’s best interests at heart.”

Perceptive – Ability to have insight into a situation. “You’re impressively perceptive. You can diagnose the needs of a student even when they don’t always tell you what they need.”

Warm and Welcoming – Making a classroom where all students feel comfortable. “The moment I walked into your classroom, I felt a warm and welcoming vibe from you. I was at home immediately.”

Other words for kind teachers:

4.

Amusing – “It’s great how you can get your students to laugh in order to make them feel comfortable in the classroom.”

Animated – Lively. “Your animated explanations of concepts really engages the students.”

Fun – “I love that you are a fun teacher who makes learning exciting for your students.”

Enthusiastic – Eager to get involved. “I love that you’re always so enthusiastic for learning, which really rubs off on your students.”

Motivating – Inspiring a desire to strive for things. “Your lessons are always so motivating and make me want to come back and learn more day after day.”

Other words for fun teachers:

Read Also: Metaphors about Teachers

5.

Astute – Clever and with good judgement. “Your astute analysis of situations ensures fairness in the classroom.”

Clever – “You’re a clever teacher which gives me confidence you’ll pass on great knowledge to your students.”

Analytical – “Your analytical thinking skills are rubbing off on the students and they’re starting to think very carefully about difficult tasks.”

Academic – You are an academically minded teacher who pays close attention to your students’ cognitive development.

Autodidactic – Self-educating. “It’s great how autodidactic you are. You’re always looking for ways to learn how to become a better teacher.”

Assiduous – Pays close attention to details and sees a task through. “Your assiduous approach to teaching ensures the students won’t miss any key pieces of information in the upcoming exam.”

Bright – Intelligent. “You’re clearly a bright teacher who has a lot to share with your students.”

Other words for intelligent teachers:

6. Fair Teacher

Tough but Fair – A way to describe a teacher who doesn’t provide high grades easily to any student. “That professor was very tough but fair in grading our papers. ”

Sincere – Honest and truthful. “You have always been a sincere educator who gives feedback that is kind and thoughtful.”

Objective – To follow a clear set of guidelines without bias. “You use marking criteria well in order to ensure you are an objective assessor of grades.”

Other words for fair teachers:

7. Calm Teacher

Cool-headed – To stay calm in situations. “I am so impressed how cool-headed you are when you have rude students in your classroom.”

Good Under Pressure – “You are incredibly good under pressure, especially when you get questions and pushback from your students.”

Other words for calm teachers:

Negative Adjectives to Describe a Teacher

1.

Angry – “I find you to be an angry teacher who scares the students.”

Annoying – “You’re an annoying teacher because your explanations are difficult to understand.”

Apathetic – Doesn’t seem to care. “You’re too apathetic to be in charge of a classroom full of students.”

Careless – “I think you are careless when you grade students’ papers. You miss a lot of important points that should have been considered when you provided the grade.”

Egotistical – Focused on how good you are. “You’re so interested in telling us how smart you are that you don’t focus on what matters – teaching us!”

Unprepared – “You are always unprepared. You come to class with your hair dishevelled and provide lessons straight out of textbooks instead of preparing enjoyable classes.”

Vague – Hard to understand. “You are vague. Your explanations don’t make any sense and don’t help any of us. ”

Verbose – Using too many words. “Your explanations are too verbose. Say what you mean and then get on with it!”

Other words for bad teachers:

2.

Absentminded – Meaning forgetful or inattentive. “You have been habitually absentminded which has hurt your students’ learning and progress.”

Average – “He’s not a good teacher but not a bad teacher either. He’s just average.”

Boring – “You’re a boring teacher who doesn’t make any effort to make class entertaining.”

Dry – The lessons are no fun. “Your classes are dry. All we do is sit and listen to you in silence.”

Indifferent – Not caring. “I’m failing my exams and I’d like your help. But you seem indifferent to my problem!”

Lazy – “You don’t do any work to improve your lessons or make your classes enjoyable. You’re just lazy!”

Other words for boring teachers:

3.

Biased – Shows preference to some students over others. “I think your grading of that essay was biased and showed preference for boys over girls.”

Hypercritical – To be too critical of things. “I think you were hypercritical of my child’s performance. I was there and they did a lot of good things but your feedback was all negative.”

Too Blunt – Says things that are true might be phrased hurtfully. “You’re a bit too blunt in your feedback. Consider providing positives as well as negatives next time.” (Opposite: Euphemistic).

Other words for unfair teachers:

Adjectives to Describe a Teaching Style

Accommodating – “It is lovely that you are accommodating to your students by allowing them to learn in ways that suit them best. ”

Active – A teacher who is regularly engaged in tasks. “You’re an active teacher who is always on the move and finding new ways to educate your students.”

Artistic – Good at arts. “The students love how artistic you are, which really brings out their creative sides.”

Constructivist – A constructivist teacher encourages hands-on learning. “You showed great skills as a constructivist teacher when you got the students to actively participate in the task.”

Opportunistic – Looking for new situations where teaching can occur. “I love how opportunistic you are. You always find teachable moments in everyday situations.”

Passive – A teacher who does not get involved in activities. “It has concerned me that you have been a passive teacher. You’re not getting involved in fun lessons with the students.”

Other words for teaching styles:

Other ways to Describe a Teacher

Business-like – Doing things efficiently and without emotion. “You’re business-like in the way you present the lessons which makes them easy to digest, but I would like to see you show a little more excitement in the delivery.”

Forthright – Straightforward and honest. “I appreciate your forthright feedback on my last exam and I will try to put that feedback into action.”

Overworked – “Teachers these days are overworked and underpaid. It’s unfair because they do so much for our society and our young people.”

Conclusion

There are countless words to describe a teacher, but those adjectives provided above are a good start. Whether the teacher is in early childhood, middle school, high school or college, there’s a word above to describe just about any teacher.

Some of the adjectives would be good for students to use, while others might be a little inappropriate. Many of them would be ideal for a person in a leadership position who is using words for constructive feedback for the teacher. And still others might be good for a parent to use in a message to the teacher at the end of the year.

And if none of the above words suit, have a brainstorm about how you would describe a teacher in your own words and in a way that is personal to how you perceive them.

Chris Drew (PhD)

Website | + posts

Dr. Chris Drew is the founder of the Helpful Professor. He holds a PhD in education and has published over 20 articles in scholarly journals. He is the former editor of the Journal of Learning Development in Higher Education.

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12 signs of a good teacher | Chalk

A good teacher is perhaps the main sign by which we define a school. But what a good teacher should be is sometimes difficult to answer even for yourself. A good teacher can be different: an elderly lady with a kind heart, and a fidgety university graduate, but he must be a person in his place. Competent, mentally adequate and able to transfer knowledge to the student. "Mel" has collected 12 signs, as it seems to us, of a good teacher. Not that all of them are mandatory, but usually a good teacher knows all or almost all of this in practice.

This is an absolutely universal skill that highlights many aspects of teaching at once. A good teacher does not ask students stupid questions that do not need answers (“Petrov, why are you under the desk? Tear you out, or what?”). He does not ask intimidatingly difficult or formal questions that make the blood run cold (instead of such questions, he can use requests. For example: "Prove the Riemann hypothesis." Smile).

A good teacher asks questions often, one might say, they are his main tool. And his questions always arouse more or less interest in at least some of the students. These can be slightly leading questions or such questions that, as it were, open up before the students a view of the further educational “road”. His questions simply cannot remain without an attempt to answer, at least mentally.

It is generally accepted that good students ask good questions. Question: where will they learn this if not from a good teacher?

part of the class to another. These are the basics. But a genuine such teacher also knows how to treat normally those who, for some reason, do not like his subject. And he knows how to give a fitting rebuff to students who are trying to fight him for power in the class or mock him.

Even if the student is a real enemy whose goal is to suppress and humiliate the teacher, a good teacher will not use his methods in the fight against him. Because where, again, will such a psychopathic student learn other methods of interaction if the teacher does not give him an example?

We know that he can be a man with nerves of steel and an icy gaze. And he can be a fidgety bastard and a caustic wit. And she can be a sedate lady with a slow mind and a kind heart. Or a young blushing girl. Absent-minded autistic professor, peppy crowd entertainer ... Anyone.

One thing is important. Whatever a good teacher in terms of his psychophysiology, he always falls into his own plate. He makes for himself such a world in which he looks appropriate and natural, and where the spectrum of his normal reactions and emotions works in a plus. In the class of such a teacher, students tune in to “his” atmosphere. They calm down, but they don’t slow down, but they absorb the material better, it “wakes them up” and even makes them laugh, but they don’t play pranks and again, they absorb the material better. Silence? Better concentration. Violent controversy? The search for truth.

A not very good teacher can get in the way of his temperament and burn out easily. The character of such a teacher always “clings” a little, touches the learning process. On the contrary, the character of a good teacher is always clearly inscribed in the work, it serves as a lubricant for it, so a good teacher does not burn out so quickly. And all because he is realistic about himself and does not try to look better or change schoolchildren.

Well, with children and especially teenagers, there is no other way. It must be said that in the modern Russian school it is sometimes difficult to remain honest and noble. But, as practice shows, it is possible. And there are such people in our schools. Please breathe, dear teachers!

For example, he loves modern art-house cinema or teaches at the university . .. Or all this at once. Of course, there are among good teachers those who live exclusively for the school. But let's look at the matter from the other side: such teachers, as a rule, arrange for themselves a varied and complex life in the school itself. Lead some kind of circle or theater. They go on ski trips with their students. That is, a school for them is not only a school, and this is a suitable variant of the same "to have a different life, except for the subject and class."

No, we're not talking about joking and jokes, telling stories and sucking up to children. Humor is synonymous with the concept of "adequacy to the state of the environment." That is, a sense of humor in the broadest sense is the ability to manage a situation or adapt flexibly to it, look at it broadly, extract unexpected meanings. Sometimes, why not, these meanings are funny.

Dancing is known to be the best prevention of insanity, as the dance requires many urgent small movements in order to adjust to the partner. The brain works very intensively as a result. The work of a good teacher in the classroom is also such a dance, only he has a couple dozen or more partners.

Anything, but an adult, already matured. A good teacher is not equal to his students, even if their age difference is several years. He is qualitatively more mature. This is manifested in his ability to take responsibility for the momentary situation in the classroom, and in the case of elementary school, for the long-term atmosphere in it.

He may get angry, even break loose, may not hold back laughter or other "inappropriate" manifestations. But what definitely never happens is situations of his impotence. He chooses his reactions himself, and not the students provoke him to them. In the presence of a good teacher, there are no informal class leaders, there is only one leader - himself.

8. A good teacher is able to transfer knowledge along with emotions

It is understood that he has this knowledge and these emotions, that is, a good teacher knows and loves his subject. Information in itself has no special value and is not remembered. You have to love physics first, and only then learn it. To be able to convey emotions, you need to have empathy, to be able to give out this information “in the language” of the listener.

In general, this point is probably the most important. This is the essence of what a good teacher does in the classroom: fall in love with his subject. Of course, not everyone, although it also happens that, as a result, the whole class is rushing to enter the biofaculty and medical science. The contrast between the enthusiasm of one teacher and the boring lesson of others is too great. And in any case, even those who "do not like biology", if the biologist is a good teacher, listen to him with pleasure, which means they will learn at least something.

School is a place where everything is done slowly and incorrectly. The efficiency of teaching and learning at school is low, the teacher is littered with a pile of papers, the kids, colleagues and bosses are annoying, the pay is low - it seems like it’s not up to ideals. Our mythical hero knows how to maneuver between all these pitfalls, achieving some kind of effectiveness of his lessons. He does not despair and does not think that he can do nothing. He does not merge borders, uses diplomacy, saves his space and time. He knows from experience: even from such rubbish as a modern school, something good can grow. And he grows as best he can.

Everyone has the danger of burnout, but the main character of this text has the instinct of self-preservation, which, with all devotion to the profession, will not allow him to wear out to zero . It happens that a good teacher for some time enters the first and even the second stage of burnout (fatigue, apathy, emptiness), but always finds a way to replenish his strength and not reach the terrible irreversible stage number three, in which all students will forever seem like idiots, bastards and enemies. And point five helps a good teacher replenish his strength - about a different life outside of school. Well, point nine is the ability to maneuver and give yourself a break. Otherwise, he will not survive.

It is important that in some sense. He does not have to be an intellectual. He may even be intellectually inferior to his students. Probably, it is important not to be limited, that is, to understand with any amount of mind that there is still a lot, very much, beyond the understanding of the teacher. And it is desirable to want to go there with your students. Or at least not prevent them from making this path themselves.

There are good teachers of very modest abilities who absolutely lack the stars from the sky and are well aware of this. The stars are grabbed by their students.

A good teacher will not consider that three years of a teenager's life should be completely devoted to preparing for the Unified State Examination. He is calm about formalities, which are so many in school life. He understands that there can be many reasons for not wanting to learn. And not all of them are subject to immediate eradication. Accepts that not all students must necessarily love the school, his subject and him personally.

He distinguishes between malignant mess and work clutter, disturbing noise from work hum. In general, he releases a lot on the brakes, otherwise he cannot hold out and not focus on the main thing. He does not twitch the children over trifles and does not twitch over them himself.

Adjectives characterizing a person from the good side

Here is the most complete list of adjectives that positively characterize a person. The list does not include obscene words and words that are professional terms used by a narrow circle of people for professional purposes (not in colloquial speech).

The list does not include such words as: “beautiful”, “blue-eyed”, “stately”, “slender” and the like. They describe appearance, but (although they are adjectives used to describe a person) they are not related to character and are unable to shed light on personality traits.

Please note: there are words in the list that can be both an adjective and participle (depending on the context in which the word is used at any given time).

Also, remember that some words are neutral in color and characterize a person from the good side only depending on the context in which it is used. But in the same way, it can be used not as a characteristic of positive personality traits, but simply as a statement of fact (without a specific coloring).

If you need the most complete list of adjectives that characterize a person (both positively and negatively), you will find it at the link above.

A

• Adventurous (characterizes positively, if used in a good way)
• Adequate
• Gambling (here in the meaning - a positively gambling person, for example - an athlete or passionate about study, work, i.e. - very enthusiastic)
• Active
• Accurate
• Altruistic (altruistic)
• Ambitious (if positively ambitious, in a good sense, we are talking about healthy ambitions of an adequate person)
• Apolitical

  d

  • False
  • Darovy
  • Delicious
  • VELE
  • DEMOPICAL
  • (sometimes impudence is required for the implementation of bold objects) 9000 as impudent)
  • Active
  • Diplomatic
  • Disciplined
  • Valiant
  • Kind
  • Kindest
  • Light (here, not light in weight. For example: easy to communicate, easy to get on with, etc.)
  • Lyrical (neutral characterizes, but in some cases it is a positive property)
  • Loyal
  • Loving
  • Affable
  • Inquisitive
  • Curious (for some situations, professions, this personality trait is positive)
  • Loving

  M

  • Slow-speaking
  • Insensitive (under certain circumstances, such a character trait can be positive)
  • Mannery
  • Skilled
  • Seasoned (here in the meaning - very experienced, knowledgeable in something)
  • Melancholic (neutrally characterizes In some cases, it is a positive characteristic.For example, when it is required to exclude people of choleric temperament from the candidates under consideration ... in this case, characterizing him as "melancholy" will do him good)
  • NOT Military
  • Inappropriate (a useful property for ... for example - a surgeon and other specialists where a certain share of insensibility is required to fulfill their professional tasks)
  • Nezhda
  • Non -ore
  • Non -inflammable
  • Non -inflammable
  • Non -inflated one
  • Nezhordny ned -heart useful property for a man, rather negative for a woman)
  • Gentle
  • Independent
  • Disinterested (a useful feature when it is required to be disinterested in something in order to be objective)
  • Strong (not necessarily physically strong, for example: a strong-minded person, mentally strong, mentally strong, etc. ) e.)
  • Skeptical
  • Modest
  • Scrupulous
  • Loquacious
  • Complicated (for example, complexly organized, etc. this can be both a negative characteristic and a positive one. This word can be described from a good side only if attached to it positive coloring in the context)
  • Close
  • Sounded
  • Frontier
  • Scientist
  • Calid
  • Sustainable (for example: mentally, emotionally, professionally, etc.)

  F. etc.)

  • Fantasizing
  • Lucky (from the word "luck")
  • Phantasmal (depending on the context - in some cases it serves as a positive, negative or neutral characteristic)
  • Philosophical (for example: philosophical-minded, philosophical-reasoning, etc.)
  • Phlegmatic (neutral characteristic, but phlegmatic can be considered a virtue when a person of exactly the phlegmatic type is required, and all other types are undesirable)
  • Photogenic
  • Fundamental (here in the meaning - strong, strong)

  X

  • Charismatic
  • Cold-blooded
  • Hospitable
  • Economically competent (economically prepared)
  • Expert
  • Extravagant (sometimes this word can be positively described, sometimes negatively. Depending on the context)
  • Energetic
  • Emotional 90
  • Outrageous
  • Elite
  • Spectacular

  Yu

  • Humorous
  • Humor
  • Young
  • Legally competent/illiterate
  • Yurkiy
  0 I
  • LUCK
  • YARY (about a person, for example: for example: for example: for example: for example: , an ardent hater of fools)
  • Furious (here, as above - a fierce fan of his profession, for example)
  • Clairvoyant
  Note:
  • All of the above words can positively characterize both a man and a woman, a teenager and in many cases a child. To do this, you need to change the ending of each word, changing the gender of the word from masculine to feminine.
  • This list of words is useful when creating a profile, resume, self-presentation, cover letter (when looking for a job), essays and is applicable wherever it is required to describe a person (his character traits, behavioral characteristics, personality traits, etc.

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