“action-packed,” interactive as you may call them. She stayed after school every day for “free consultations,” which were not a burden to her but an opportunity to further help her students. What made her special? What made her different from other teachers? The answers were quite obvious. She was very good at explaining things, like how this thing works, or how something happens. The topics were always arranged in logical or chrono- logical order so we could understand them easily, often using PowerPoint presentations and other visual devices. She had to be sure that everybody understood the lesson. Another unique characteristic of hers was her ability to keep her cool. Teaching a bunch of college kids with rampaging hormones could be pretty tiring and stressful. There were times when she was on the verge of screaming at her students, to silence the chatterers and jokers and gigglers. She had a way of distracting passionate couples who could not keep their hands off each other. She showed calmness, sanity and patience, which made her more likeable to everyone. She always wore a smile, although her jokes were not that funny, meeting with blank faces or courteous smiles. She tried her best to let us know that we needed to relax, be focused on the subject at hand, and though she never stated it to our faces, the message was clear: “Don’t let boredom eat the intelligence out of you.” Fairness was a very serious matter when it came to grading a student. Did you do your best? Is it worth for you to pass my subject? Did you learn anything from my class? There was no merit if you were in charge of erasing the whiteboard after class, or if you were the errand guy who was willing to run 2 kilometers and jog a 100-step staircase to get a term paper
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