How My Students See Me

I was thinking about yesterday and what makes a good teacher and how my students see me.  I taught Anna (and her younger sister) for a year or more, then her family had some money problems.  Her sister, being both younger and not as motivated as Anna, quit first, but Anna eventually had to, as well.  A couple of times I saw her around the neighborhood or she'd be in school waiting for a friend to finish class.  I always said hello and made a little conversation—she's one of the students I'll never forget.  She seemed pleased that I remembered her.  Recently she started studying at our school again.  Yesterday amongst all of the bad students, Anna made a special point of finding me to say hello.  I think that in her eyes, I'm probably a good teacher whom she thinks very positive things about.
 
Then there are students like Steven and Michael.  They came up to me yesterday to ask me why I had taken their "points" away.  I explained that Steven had an extremely bad attitude, and that Michael had bolted out of class when the bell rang when I hadn't given them permission to leave.  They're both upset about that incident, but overall, how do they see me?
 
The incident yesterday made me think of one of my college professors.  She had quite a reputation in our college—tough, mean, almost impossible to make an A in her class.  I believe I put off taking her for a semester or two because of the rumors.  When it was necessary to take one of her classes, another student (Tolan, I think) told me that you actually have to study in her classes, but that she's fair.  Tolan was a really good student, while the rumors had been coming from only mediocre or poor students.  I still went into her class with a BIT of fear, wondering what kind of a semester it was going to be.  I thoroughly enjoyed her classes, even while other students were complaining about how she kept us for the whole class period (on a T/Th schedule, 80 minutes; some professors let students out 10 minutes early on a regular basis).  She always spent the first few minutes of class discussing current events, which made me keep up to date with what was going on in the world.  I went to her first test with LOTS of fear, and made a B (when As were my specialty).  I worker harder.  I kept up with current events.  I learned.  I went to another test.  B again.  Aww….I worked harder…..I continued to keep up with current events…..I learned more…..I went to another test….all right!  An A!  I continued to work hard…..I continued to keep up with current events (even during that pre-Thanksgiving crunch!)…..I learned more.  I wrote an awesome paper, with citations everywhere (she herself warned us that there better not be even a hint of plagiarism) and went into the final exam fully prepared.  That was probably the closest A I've ever gotten, but also one of the hardest ones to get.  But the thing is, I felt like I earned the grade, while in some of my other classes the A was a joke.  After that I was only able to take one more of her classes before graduating.  I had to work harder in those classes than in most of my other classes, but the thing is, I also learned more in her classes than in a lot of my other classes.
 
When I was home in March, I went to a lecture at the college.  I was sitting with a current student, and we were discussing my life in Korea and current things at the college.  The professor came over to tell her student what time they would be returning to the classroom (they were attending the lecture in place of part of class).  At first she didn't recognize me and started to turn away, but when I made eye contact she remembered me with no problem, and was thrilled to see me, surprising me with a hug.  We spent several minutes talking, then the lecture began and we learned together.  (Unfortunately it was a pretty boring lecture, but I still learned.) 
 
So all that to say, I loved her classes and thought she was an excellent teacher.  The bad students hated her classes (and perhaps her) and thought she was the meanest teacher on the face of the earth.  If my students think the same of me as students think of that professor, then I'm happy.  I don't really care if the bad students hate me, as long as the good students enjoy my class and everyone's learning a little something.