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Essay on My Teacher

List of essays on my teacher in english, essay on my teacher – essay 1 (300 words), essay on my teacher – essay 2 (400 words), essay on my teacher – essay 3 (500 words), essay on my teacher – essay 4 (750 words), essay on my teacher – essay 5 (1000 words).

Introduction:

Teachers are the ones who play a very vital role in shaping our future. From the Pre-Kinder Garden to your Post-Doctoral fellowships, they teach, impart knowledge, share ethical values, and imbibe morality, thereby shaping our personality as a strong one.

My Teacher:

Throughout our lives, we will be having many kith and kins who will hold a special place in our hearts. For me, one such person is my teacher. All of us, for sure, will definitely agree to the fact that the kinship between us and our kinder garden teachers could not be well-defined. I like my nursery teacher, so much. There is something very magical about her. Maybe, she was the first teacher in my life or maybe, she was very sweet in talking to all of us, I am unable to portray why she is always my favourite. I relied on her blindly.

Unforgettable Memories:

I have some cherished memories with my teacher. Whenever I think of those memories, it makes me blissful. On the last day of my nursery school, I started crying at the very thought of leaving her and having a new teacher. I had fallen sick due to crying for hours together. I skipped my food. My parents were not able to do anything. They called for her to make me feel better. My teacher travelled a few miles across the city and reached the hospital. She, then, said that she would never forget any of her students and asked me to write to her. I started writing to her every week from then on and she replied to every letter of mine. Till date, I look at my teacher as my second mother and she guides me in all my difficult situations.

Conclusion:

Having a good teacher who can share an amalgamated relationship with the students is a boon. A good teacher should be a good mentor, a philosopher, a guide, a friend and above all a surrogate parent to the children. I am lucky that I had gotten one in my lifetime.

My favorite subject is English and my most favorite teacher is Chitra Ma’am. She teaches us English. She likes me a lot and appreciates my hard work. She joined our school one year ago. Before that, I was not so good at English. But after attending her classes, we have all become much better at this subject.

I like her for many reasons. First of all, she teaches the lessons in a very interesting way. Even when we have doubts or questions, she never gets upset with us. Her best quality is her loving nature. She would come to school daily without missing a day.

Her dressing sense is nice. She wears simple salwar suits. She always speaks to her students softly and respectfully. I eagerly wait for her class and do my English homework on time. Chitra Ma’am puts a lot of effort in explaining every chapter.

There are many activities given at the end of every lesson and she makes us participate in all of them. Not only that, but she also encourages us to take part in drama and poem competitions. Since her first day, she made a rule for us.

All of us has to speak in English during the English period. Every student tries to talk in English even if the sentence sounds improper. She has taught us to never laugh at each other’s mistakes. This has improved our spoken English in a great way. Now, we are able to talk in English with more confidence.

Another great quality of hers is that she treats every child equally. After explaining the lesson to us, she asks each one of us different questions about the chapter. Sometimes, we also love to talk about our personal lives, like what do we like about our lives, how our parents work hard for us, and things like that.

When we get confused or need an emotional support, she is the best person to talk to. Her advice and suggestions are always positive. Last month, on teacher’s day, all the students wished her and brought presents for her. We also sang a song to her.

I made a beautiful greeting card for her and a red rose with it. She accepted it with a smile and thanked us for everything. I feel grateful to have such a gentle and great teacher in my life who supports me in every way.

In school, you tend to interact with a lot of people who can either impact your life positively or negatively. A teacher is one neutral person who will manage to strike a balance between the positive and the negative. Teachers have a huge responsibility that we students may not understand. All in all our teachers try their best to provide an education, guidance and discipline despite the challenges we might impose on them. The life of a student is entirely dependent on a teacher because most of their time is spent in school rather than with parents that is why teachers play a major role in shaping the lives of young children through school.

Who Is my favourite Teacher?

I have several teachers now that I am in high school but there is only one whom I can relate to as “the teacher” because of the impact he has made in my life. The teacher is male, of Indian origin and has a funny accent when he speaks. He is married and has three children. Actually, one of his children is my age and I know him through tennis practice because he comes to train with us sometimes. I like him because his sense of humor gives a good learning experience for the students. He is a math teacher and he is very good at what he does. Students tend to make fun of him because of his accent but he make fun of it himself, which gets even funnier. This teacher has been a great mentor to me and other student ever since we joined high school. I met him on a personal level one day after class when I needed clarification on a topic I had not quite understood. The teacher was kind to me and guided me through it. Since then, he took his own initiative to do follow-ups on me and I became really good in math due to his efforts.

Coincidentally, he also coaches my tennis team and we meet out on the field. We have won several awards as a tennis team under him. I feel connected to the teacher through his mentorship and he has become like a school parent to me because whenever I have an issue, he is free to help me out.

How the teacher has impacted my life in school .

Mentorship goes along way depending on the approach used. When I first joined high school, I did not have much confidence in myself. This teacher mentored me and made me believe in myself. The good thing is the attention he gives t is students because most of the times, he follows up on the performances and ensures that he does everything he can to help students improve academically. He has also been a role model to me through his way of doing things. He is dedicated to his work and he is an achiever. Through following his footsteps, I have been able to dedicate myself into studies and sports, which has helped me to achieve my goals.

In conclusion, good teachers are hard to find but when you find one, make the most out of them.

The word “teacher” depicts a person that teaches. English dictionary defines teacher as “a person who teaches, especially one employed in a school”. A more recent definition of teacher in the linguistics field is “a tutor that interacts with the learners in order to facilitate good learning”.

Types of Teachers

Old method teachers: the teachers found under this method adopt the rigid mode of impartation of knowledge. They control the class the way a king would rule over his subjects. Old method teachers are less concerned about the welfare of their learners, they are syllabus-oriented.

New method teachers: the tutors under this model are student-oriented. They are more concerned about their learners and their various levels of understanding. They accept and promote contributions in class unlike the old method teachers. New method teachers encourage the inquisitiveness of their students.

Attributes of a Teacher:

A standard teacher has all or most of the various characters imbedded in them:

• Compassionate
• Open-minded
• A good counselor
• Friendly and most importantly
• Approachable.

Attributes of My Favorite Teacher:

Personally, I see my teacher as a mini-god because he leaves his mark on me. He influences my life in ways that enables me affect changes wherever I find myself.

He is a perfect example of the new model teachers. Basically, he is student-oriented. In the classroom, he employs the Eclectic mode of teaching (this is the combination of all the modes of teaching “discussion mode, play way mode, role play mode, question mode” so as to facilitate standard learning).

He comes into the classroom; starts the lecture with a recap of what was discussed in the previous class, gives room for the students to ask questions that arose from the last class, answers them and then starts a new topic.

To start a new topic, he starts with a mind-capturing introduction that attracts the attention of all students. Once he is through with introducing the topic, he gauges our reaction in order for him to know if his students are on the same page with him or left behind.

Then, he moves on to the discussion mode of teaching, whereby he throws questions to his students and accommodates both relevant and irrelevant answers, at the end of this model, he sieves through the answers provided, pick the relevant ones and add his own iota to it, he also always applaud the courage of all who answers his questions.

He moves either into the role play method or the play way method, here he selects students to either act out the lessons from the day’s topic or summarizes what he has taught for the day. The use of this particular mode enlightens the students more on the topic being discussed.

Finally, he moves over to the questions and revision mode, where he personally go through all he has taught over the course of the period. During this mode, he entertains questions from students on their personal areas of difficulties. Occasionally, he gives assignments to back up his teachings.

During his teachings, he pays close attention to the expression, mood, sitting posture and carriage of his students. This tells him when his students are lost, sad, worried, hungry, sick, away in dream land or simply tired.

Once he is done processing the information gotten from our faces, he either finds a way of brightening the mood of his students, bringing them back from the dream world, or ending his class without breaking his stride or alerting the whole population of students to what is currently going on.

It is only normal for a human being to reflect his mood whenever he is talking or interacting, but my teacher hardly ever allow his bad, horrible moods interfere with his teachings.

Outside the classroom, my teacher is approachable, fatherly, and jovial. He entertains all and no one is excluded from his open arms, smiles and affections.

He is a good counselor who is always ready to help me out of my tight corners. He gives twenty first century advises in a fatherly way.

Although, due to my teachers lenient ways with students, some students tend to be lazy, disrespectful, stubborn or rude. He has a way of being firm, maintaining class control while teaching.

In conclusion, my teacher has all the attributes and more of a new method teachers. He is capable of combining all modes of teaching, he is compassionate, passionate, and friendly. From my interactions with him, I can confidently say that he is one of the best teachers around.

A teacher plays a very important life in shaping your life as well as career. A good teacher is a blessing for the students in their early years and helps them understand the world; learn moral values along with education. Most importantly, a teacher helps you the art of survival and brings out the best of you.

Why a teacher is so important in a student’s life?

Teachers assume the essential job in our life to end up fruitful invocation and business. A decent teacher encourages us to end up great individual in the general public and great nation of the nation.

Teachers realize that students are the eventual fate of any country. So the future advancement of any country is in the hands of teachers. What we move toward becoming in life is relies upon teachers. Teachers confer the information and data in the mind of understudies to dissect. Investigating in the circumstance what is conceivable is the most essential thing that we gain from teachers. Energy about teachers is imperative since they are the most essential individuals in the nation. What we’re seeing today in business, legislative issues, and society all influenced by teachers. In this way, in India, we commend teacher’s day consistently on 5 September on the event of the birth Dr Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan.

My Teachers, My Role Models

During my formative years, I have come across many teachers who have influenced my life for the better. Having being studies in a convent school, I got to face a much-disciplined environment during my school years. The teachers, although were very polite in their behaviour, at the same time ensuring that we all followed a disciplined life. We were taught how to inculcate these values in our daily life so as to be better human beings when we grow up and face the world. Although all the teachers were good, there is one teacher whose teachings I just cannot forget. She is Ms Kirti Bhushan. Her teachings have been so powerful and impactful that I can still feel them during my day to day decisions even today.

My Best Teacher

Ms Kirti was my class educator as well and took participation in the daily activities with us as well. She was a strict instructor anyway extremely amusing and mind in nature. At the same time, she was extremely restrained and dependable. She did her work perfectly with the class at a perfect time without getting late. I liked her, particularly as she attempted simple approaches to show us beneficial things. We made the most of her class. She taught us English subject as well. She even made us giggle by telling heaps of jokes in the middle of when she taught. She likewise managed us exceptionally well amid any school or between school rivalry of the move, sports, scholastic, and so on. She instructed us to share things in class among our associates, for example, lunch or other required things.

Her Background

She was from Varanasi and completed her initial studies there itself. She took her higher education degrees from the Banaras Hindu University. She was extremely friendly and kind in nature. She realized well about how to deal with little youngsters in the class. Her one of a kind style of educating is perhaps what I mostly recall her for. I even meet her at times at whatever point I have to explain some intense inquiries of my day to day issues, she advises me so easily and comfortably. She looks extremely savvy with shimmer eyes and fair hair.

Her Smiling Attitude

She generally smiled when she entered the classroom and first got some information about our prosperity. She additionally helped us in the games at whatever point our games instructor was missing. She had a smiling face even during the strict environment during the examination times. She constantly rebuffed to the students who were with fragmented home works. She was acclaimed for making loads of fun amid the class time and ensure there was a positive ambience all around.

She was an instructor with great aptitudes of educating, well-disposed nature, great comical inclination, understanding and nice. I am proud to be one of her favourite students, as she always said good things about me to other teachers. At times she gave us chocolates on doing great in the class tests and exams. She never gave us heaps of assignments at home. She was exceptionally eager and constantly spurred us for doing our best in the examination.

Teacher’s In Today’s Scenario

Today the general population are changing and their reasoning and advancement thoughts are more against nature. Presently for the world, a teacher is only a teacher. Various offices and departments only tend to remember them on teachers day during various events and usually do not remember them otherwise. Individuals also share few posts via web-based networking media with respect to teachers and after that just forget them. Individuals overlook a bigger number of things that they are gaining from teachers. Schools and students also praise the teacher’s day event and value the endeavours teachers are doing. This is incredible if individuals ought to pursue the exercises of teachers also.

The genuine present for teachers is when students turn into a decent individual, effective in their vocation and business. Not all teacher are great in instructing and comparatively, not all students resemble “Shishya and Guru” particularly in the advanced period. A few teachers are incredible and they are dependable in heart of students all life along.

Students admire teachers for counsel and direction. Students are inspired by scholastic exercises as well as they are intrigued to pursue their life exercises. That is the reason it’s exceedingly essential for teachers to motivate students to pursue great propensities not terrible by their own precedent. An instruction is critical in everybody’s life and assumes different jobs in various phases of life. It’s imperative that individuals understand the significance of teachers and pursue their teachers in the right spirit.

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The teachers who inspired us, and even changed the trajectories of our lives

Rita Pierson leads off TED Talks Education, our first televised event, which will air on PBS on May 7. Photo: Ryan Lash

Rita Pierson is the kind of teacher you wish you had. An educator for 40 years, she is funny, sharp and simply has a way with words — so much so that today’s talk feels a bit like a sermon.

“I have had classes so low, so academically deficient that I cried. I wondered, ‘How am I going to take this group in nine months from where they are to where they need to be?” says Pierson, in this amazing talk . “I came up with a bright idea … I gave them a saying: ‘I am somebody. I was somebody when I came and I’ll be a better somebody when I leave. I am powerful and I am strong. I deserve the education that I get here’ … You say it long enough, it starts to be a part of you.”

Pierson’s talk will open our first-ever television special, TED Talks Education, which airs Tuesday, May 7 at 10/9c on PBS. It will be an exhilarating night, featuring talks from educators and innovators with bold ideas, plus performances from host John Legend. Set your DVRs and read lots more here »

In honor of Rita Pierson and TED Talks Education, I asked the TED staff: who is that one teacher who just really, truly influenced you?

“The teacher who changed my life was, serendipitously, my English teacher for kindergarten, 7th grade and senior year of high school. Ms. Barbato taught me how to write eloquently (I hope!), and she had this unexplained faith in me that really galvanized me as a student. What she taught me stuck with me through college and beyond.” — Olivier Sherman, Distribution Coordinator

“Mr. Eric Yang was only in his mid-twenties when I had him as my AP government teacher, but he was unforgettable. He was the first teacher I had who made keeping up with current events mandatory, forcing us to read news sources on our own time and not just from the textbook. He exuded discipline, and that was contagious.” — Thu-Huong Ha , Editorial Projects Specialist

“Mrs. Bailey was my English teacher. I loved her. I was the younger sister of an already very successful big sister, and that was a cloud over my head too. She held my hand and brought me into the sun with her love of the English language. She recommended books just to me, she made me feel special and I just couldn’t get enough of her. I went on a school trip to Amsterdam with her and she brought her husband, who was an artist. She changed my life.” — Juliet Blake , TED TV (who executive produced TED Talks Education)

“Mrs. Mendelson, my 8th-grade English teacher. This was my first year living in the U.S. I think she set the stage for future learning and she’s the main reason I have such good English right now, both written and spoken. So, thank you, Mrs. Mendelson.”  — Ruben Marcos, intern

“I still recall how awesome my 6th-grade teacher, Mr. Fawess, was. Middle school in general is basically Hades. I was extremely small, super nerdy, and had a unibrow, asthma and glasses — plus I left school once a week to take classes at the local high school. I got picked on a lot. Mr. Fawess came up with all these ways to take my mind off that — he talked to me about bullying and how to let things roll off your shoulder and gave me books I could read outside of class. He got me thinking about college early and what kinds of subjects I was most interested in. I consider myself lucky to have had such an inspiring teacher. If only he had discouraged me from dressing up as the skunk in our annual school play.” — Amanda Ellis , TEDx Projects Coordinator

“Robert Baldwin’s class ‘Essay and Inquiry.’ Every day: Walk into class. Sit down. Look at the handout on every desk. Read it. Start writing. Class ends — stop writing. Every day. Except Wednesday, when we’d put the desks in a circle and everyone would read something they’d written. The prompts were everything from simple questions like, “What’s your favorite memory of trees?” to readings from Rachel Carson or W.B. Yeats or Orson Welles. It was a whirlwind of ideas, and the constant writing forced us to wrestle with them, and (tritely but correctly) ourselves. It was like a boot camp in thinking. People I know who took, and loved, that class went on to some of the most amazing careers. Every time we get together, we gush about the quiet, unassuming, force of nature that was Mr. Baldwin. He would have hated that last sentence, because the metaphor is strained. But he also taught us to ignore authority, so I’m writing it anyway.” — Ben Lillie , Writer/Editor

“Mrs. Lewis, my 5th-grade teacher, read to us every week. She made us put our heads on the desk and close our eyes and then read wonderful stories to us: The Golden Pine Cone , The Diamond Feather .. . It made our imaginations come alive.” — Janet McCartney , Director of Events

“My junior high school science teacher, Dr. Ernie Roy, with his outsized laugh and booming voice, was one of my very favorite teachers. He demonstrated to us how important we were to him by making what were obviously personal sacrifices on our behalf: when the lab needed equipment, we knew he had purchased some of it on his own; when we couldn’t get a bus for a field trip, he took a few of us in his own car (something which could have gotten him into quite a bit of trouble); and when a big science fair deadline loomed large, he opened the lab every weekend to help us with our experiments. At a point in my life when I didn’t have a lot of guidance or positive role models, he taught me a lot more than science; he taught me, by example, the power of sacrifice, discipline and self-respect.” — Michael McWatters , UX Architect

“Dr. Heller, my 10th-grade social studies teacher, taught me that passion is the key to learning. I had never met anyone from kindergarten to 10th grade that matched his raw passion for the  meaning  behind historical events, and it was so contagious.” — Deron Triff , Director of Distribution

“Rene Arcilla, a professor of Educational Philosophy at NYU, changed the way I think.  Prior to that class, I hadn’t truly been challenged about what *I* actually thought — much of my educational life was about regurgitating answers. Rene was the first teacher who asked me questions that he/we didn’t know the answers to. Realizing that I had to actually provide the answers from within myself, and not look to an outside source, was very difficult at first. It was a muscle I had to build. I owe a lot of who I am today — and even this job — to the introspective, critical and philosophical thinking I learned from Rene’s classes.” — Susan Zimmerman , Executive Assistant to the Curator

“Mr. Downey — 7th- and 8th-grade Humanities. Still the hardest class I’ve ever taken!  I’d credit Mr. Downey with helping me think more expansively about the world. Right before 8th-grade graduation, he showed us Dead Poets Society , and on the final day of class we all agreed to stand on our desks and recite ‘O Captain, my captain.’  It was all very dramatic and I think there were tears.” — Jennifer Gilhooley, Partnership Development

“I took my first painting class my sophomore year of high school and fell in love with it. My teacher, Ms. Bowen, told me I could use the art studio whenever I wanted to, and gave me access to all kinds of new paints and canvasses. I spent almost every lunch period there for a few years, and regularly stayed in the studio after school ended. One day, Ms. Bowen told me that a parent of a student I had painted expressed interest in buying the painting of her daughter. After that first sale, I painted portraits of kids in my school on a commission basis, and continued to do so for the remainder of my high school experience. Thanks to Ms. Bowen’s mentorship, I felt empowered to try to make money from something I was passionate about and loved to do.  Here  is one of the paintings.” — Cloe Shasha , TED Projects Coordinator

“I had a chemistry teacher, Mr. Sampson, who used to meet me at school an hour before it started to tutor me when the material wasn’t clicking. That was the first class I had ever really struggled with, and he made this investment to help me get through the material — but more importantly learn that I could teach myself anything.”  —Stephanie Kent, Special Projects

“On the first day of my Elementary Italian Immersion class, I asked to be excused to use the restroom in English. Professor Agostini kept speaking rapidly in Italian as I squirmed in my seat. Since she seemed unclear about my request, I asked her again to no avail. Finally, I flipped through my brand-new Italian-English dictionary and discovered the words, ‘ Posso usare il bagno per favore .’ Suddenly, she flashed me a smile, handed me the key, told me where to go in  Italian , and pointed to my dictionary so I could learn how to follow her directions. Even though I only studied with her for one semester, I will never forget that I emerged from her class knowing intermediate-level Italian.” — Jamia Wilson, TED Prize Storyteller

“My history teacher in high school, Mr. Cook, challenged us to think hard about what happened in the past and directly related it to what was happening around us. He gave us ways to try and predict what could happen in the future. He was the first person to make me take ownership of what it meant to be a citizen and the social responsibility that came with that. Because he taught ‘World History’ rather than a regionally specific class, we learned extensively about other countries, and I am convinced he is the reason that I went abroad to Ghana in college and I am now still an avid traveler today.” — Samantha Kelly, Fellows Group

“The professor who taught me Intro to Women and Gender Studies my sophomore year of college completely changed my framework for thinking about human relationships within a hierarchy. She brought coffee and tea to class for us every morning to congratulate us for being so dedicated to learning as to choose an 8:30 a.m. class. When I emailed her to say I’d be out sick, she sent me a get-well e-card. And when, in a fit of undergraduate irresponsibility, I simply failed to do an assignment, she wasn’t the least bit mad — instead, I received a phone call from her a week after the end of the semester informing me that, because I’d done such good work, she couldn’t bear to give me the B+ I numerically deserved. It was incredible to see how fully she lived the subject she taught; the philosophy of compassion and equality.” — Morton Bast , Editorial Assistant

“My high school photography teacher, Susan Now. I’m convinced that the support I got from Susan got me through high school. Two years later, when I was freaked out about transferring colleges, I, without hesitation, called her for advice. She made me feel comfortable and challenged me to speak up and be confident with expressing myself as a student. So valuable!” — Ella Saunders-Crivello, Partnerships Coordinator

“Cliff Simon, one of my college professors, taught me that wisdom is the greatest pursuit, our skills and passions are transferable, and that fear will only ever always hold us back.  To this day, he’s a great mentor.  We’re now great friends, and I even officiated his wedding ceremony.” — Jordan Reeves, TED-Ed Community Manager

“My 10th-grade biology teacher spoke and interacted with me like I was a grown-up individual and not one of a batch of ‘kids.’ He made us all fascinated with the subjects he taught because he spoke to us not at us. I always worked hard to match that capacity that he saw in me. He was only in his 50s when, a few years after I graduated, he died suddenly of a heart attack. Lots of sad former students.” — Ladan Wise , Product Development Manager

“Stephen O’Leary, my professor and mentor at the University of Southern California, showed me that the quality of my thinking could be directly traced to the quality of the authors I referenced in my bibliography. This realization motivated me to both seek and challenge everything I have read ever since. This habit likely played a part in me finding myself so passionate about being a part of TED.” — Sarah Shewey , TEDActive Program Producer

“My high school art teacher was equal parts smart and silly, and always insightful. Mr. Miller showed a bunch of restless seniors that art class wasn’t just about memorizing which painters influenced which periods. Instead, he taught us that art was — at its core — an exciting way to touch both the head and the heart. Mr. Miller took our  class to the Met in New York one warm spring afternoon, a trip I’ll never forget. Great art, he told us, was about great ideas, and not simply the pleasing arrangement of color, shape and form. Thank you, Russ Miller.” — Jim Daly, TED Books 

“Mrs. Presley, my 1st-grade teacher, advanced my reading skills to full-on chapter book independence … and for that I’ll be forever grateful! But the most valuable gift she gave me was self-esteem. At my school, we’d bring a brown bag lunch with our name written on the bag. I always wanted a middle name like the other kids, and this daily ritual made me feel the lack. I must have let my mom know, because she started to write middle names on my bag. At first it started: ‘Marla Ruby Mitchnick.’ Then ‘Marla Ruby Diamond Mitchnick,’ and then ‘Marla Ruby Diamond Violet Mitchnick,’ and so on. Mrs. Presley never skipped a single syllable — she just read it straight through, and I felt like a beloved and fortunate person with a beautiful name, surrounded by wonderful friends.” — Marla Mitchnick , Film + Video Editor

“I signed up for Journalism 1 in high school having no idea what I was getting myself into. Marcie Pachino ran a rigorous course on the joys of telling other people’s stories and on the extreme responsibility that comes with reporting news that might otherwise go unheard. She was kind and inspiring, but wouldn’t hesitate to give you an edit of an article that simply read ‘Ugh’ in big red letters. The key: you always knew she was right. I went on to become a journalist professionally and, in all my years of writing, I’ve never encountered a more demanding editor.” — Kate Torgovnick, Writer (the author of this post)

“Professor Stephen Commins completely changed my  learning experience at UCLA. He pushed the boundaries of what I thought I could accomplish as an undergrad, and having him as my research professor improved my quality of education tenfold. I’ll never forget in my last lecture with him, he left our class with this piece of advice: to work on poverty domestically before attempting to help those abroad, because you aren’t truly a development professional until you have done both.” — Chiara Baldanza, Coordinator

“My high school English teacher Veronica Stephenson went above and beyond to allow me the opportunity to dive into theater and acting in a very underfunded arts community. She saw passion in me, and engaged it by spending a lot of her own time and effort to help me pursue something I loved. I learned so much from her and got more personalized experience than I probably would have from a more arts-focused curriculum due solely to her faith in me.” —Emilie Soffe, Office Coordinator

Now it’s your turn. Who is the teacher who most inspired you? Please share in your comments.

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Essay on My Teacher [Short & Long]

Essay on My Teacher – A great teacher is not that hard to discover. The best teachers teach from the heart, not from the book. There is no substitute for a great teacher and you can not repay him/her even by devoting your whole life.

Teachers play a crucial role in the field of education, who educates students very well to make people of upright behaviour and values. In fact, they are one of the reasons behind our personality and behaviour.

Short Essay On My Teacher | 250 words

Introduction.

The life of a student is completely reliant on a teacher because the largest fraction of their time is spent in school rather than with parents which is why teachers play a significant role in developing the lives of children in school .

They are like a torch in the darkness in everyone’s life because they help students find their way in life. They are God-gifted in life who without any selfishness direct us to success. In fact, we can name them as the creator of an excellent future for our nation .

About My Favourite Teacher

During our lives, we will be possessing many kith and kin who hold a specific place in our hearts. One such person in my life is my teacher. All of us will surely admit to the fact that the kinship between us and our school teachers can not be well-defined.

I like my nursery teacher very much. Her voice is very magical. She was very sweet in talking to all of us, I am incapable to express why she is always been my favourite and I relied on her passionately.

Impacts of teachers

When I first entered class 6, I had not much confidence in myself. My teacher mentored me and made me believe in myself. The great thing is the attention he gives to students most of the time, he follows up on their achievements and guarantees that he does everything he can to assist students to better perform academically.

He will always be a role model to me because of his way of doing something. He is devoted to his work and he is an achiever. By following in his footsteps, now I am able to dedicate myself to education and sports, which has supported me to accomplish my goals .

Concluding, Teachers play a crucial role in the field of education, who educates students very well to make them a person of upright behaviour and values. They make the student academically great and inspire them to do good in life.

Long Essay On My Teacher | 500 Words

We tend to communicate with a lot of people who either influence our lives positively or negatively. A teacher is one unbiased person who manages to strike a stability between the positive and the negative. Teachers have an enormous liability that we students can not guess.

The life of a student is completely reliant on a teacher because the largest fraction of their time is spent in school rather than with parents which is why teachers play a significant role in developing the lives of children in school.

All my teachers try their best to give us the best education, supervision and regulation despite the difficulties we might inflict on them.

My favourite teacher

I have many teachers because I am in inter-school but there is only one whom I can spell out as my favourite teacher because of the influence he has executed in my life. My teacher is a male of Indian ancestry and has a bright accent when he talks.

He is married and has two children. One of his children is my age and I recognise him through tennis practice because he also practices with us sometimes. I like my teacher because of his good sense of humour and he provides a good learning experience to the students.

He is a maths teacher and he is very skilled in mathematics. Students usually make fun of him all because of his funny accent but he also makes fun of himself, which becomes even more laughable. This teacher has always been an excellent mentor to me.

I reached him personally one day after finishing the class when I required clarification on a question I had not really understood. My teacher is very kind to me and guided me through it. Since then, he initiated to make follow-ups with me and I converted really well in math because of the efforts of my teacher.

Types of teachers

• Elementary school teachers- They play a vital role in setting the foundation for learning. They dedicate their careers to teaching young students from kindergarten to the fifth grade.
• Middle school teachers – Another highly significant period in a scholar’s life is middle school. Grades six to eight set the platform for high school.
• High school teachers – High school teachers improve their tutoring plans to challenge and fasten their students. They evaluate their students’ growth through ranked assignments and exams.
• Post-High School teachers- The attention of teachers in this framework is to equip students for life after high school.

Importance of Teachers

A great teacher is not that hard to discover, but you need to know where to look. Great teachers are well-prepared for their educational aims. They make their plan of action daily to assure the greatest productivity. Teachers have a lot of information on everything, especially in the subject they specialize in.

A good teacher extends their knowledge continuously to give good solutions to their students. Furthermore, a great teacher is similar to a friend that supports us in all our problems. A good teacher builds their own learning method which is uncommon and not mainstream.

This causes the students to learn the subject in a more reliable manner. In other words, a good teacher confirms their students are efficient and scoring good marks.

Impact of teachers

My parents and all my teachers are the first ones to influence my life significantly. In truth, at younger ages, students hold complete trust in their teachers and they obey their teachers more than their parents. This explains the significance and impression of a teacher in our lives.

when a student gets injured in school, the teacher enables them to first aid. This gives a sense of security and a unique connection between them.

Final Words

In conclusion, All my teachers have all the attributes and qualities that a good teacher should have. They are capable of combining all methods of teaching, They are sympathetic and friendly. From my interactions with them, I feel like the best of all gifts from God.

When does teacher’s day is observed in India?

Teacher’s Day in India is observed every year on the 5 th of September. And it was first observed in the year 1962.

When is International Teacher’s Day observed?

World Teacher’s Day will be observed on 5th October 2021.

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• School Education /

Essay on Teacher: Our Friend, Philosopher and Guide in 100, 250 & 300 Words

• Updated on  
• Mar 22, 2024

Teachers are like the guiding stars in our educational journey. They shine our path with knowledge and encouragement. A teacher is a person who helps us learn and grow. They are the ones who guide us through our education and help us to become the best versions of ourselves. Teachers come in all shapes and sizes, but they all have one thing in common: they are passionate about teaching. In this blog, we’ll explore the enchanting role of teachers through the eyes of a student, celebrating their invaluable contributions to our lives.

Table of Contents

• 1 Why are Teachers Important?
• 2 Sample Essay on Teacher in 100 Words
• 3 Sample Essay on Teacher in 250 Words
• 4 Sample Essay on Teacher in 300 Words

Why are Teachers Important?

Teachers help mould today’s youth into the responsible adults of tomorrow. What teachers teach the children at their young age, makes an impact on the students that stays with them for the rest of their lives.

The power of moulding the next generation into great leaders lies in the hands of teachers. This holds the potential of uplifting the society in the near future. Indirectly, teachers are the key to transforming millions of lives all around the globe.

Sample Essay on Teacher in 100 Words

A teacher is a person who helps us understand ourselves. They are the supporters who help us through tough times. Teachers are important because they help us to become the best versions of ourselves. They are like superheroes with the power to ignite our curiosity and help us grow. They teach us numbers, alphabets, and fascinating stories. They are patient listeners, ready to answer our questions and wipe away our doubts. They inspire us to dream big and show us that with hard work, we can achieve anything. A teacher’s love is like a warm hug that makes learning exciting and enjoyable.

Also Read: Teacher Self Introduction to Students and Samples

Sample Essay on Teacher in 250 Words

Teachers are magical beings who turn the pages of our books into captivating adventures. Teachers create colorful classrooms where learning becomes joyous. Their dedication is seen when they explain complex problems in simple ways and solve problems in math and science. With smiles on their faces, they teach us history, nurture our creativity through art, music, and storytelling, and help us express our feelings and thoughts.

Apart from books, teachers also impart life lessons. They teach us to be kind, respectful, and responsible citizens. They show us the value of friendship and the importance of helping others. Teachers celebrate our achievements, no matter how small, and cheer us on during challenges.

A teacher is a person who has a profound impact on our lives. They are the ones who teach us the things we need to know to succeed in life, both academically and personally. They are also there to support us and help us through tough times.

There are many different qualities that make a good teacher. Some of the most important qualities include patience, understanding, and a love of teaching. Good teachers are also able to connect with their students and make learning fun. A good teacher can make a real difference in a student’s life. They can help students develop their talents and abilities, and they can also help them to become confident and self-motivated learners.

Also Read- How to Become a Teacher?

Sample Essay on Teacher in 300 Words

In a world, teachers are essential as they bridge the gap between the unknown and the known. They take the time to understand each student’s unique needs and help them modify and hone their skills. In this process of our learning, they become a friend, philosophers, and guides.

Teachers are more than just knowledge sharers. They are like gardeners, nurturing the seeds of kindness, respect, and responsibility in a student’s heart. They teach us to be a good friend and have empathy. They also encourage us to care for our planet, reminding us that we are its custodians.

As we journey through school, teachers become our guides, showing us the various paths we can take. They encourage us to discover our passions, whether it’s solving math puzzles, painting masterpieces, or playing musical notes. They celebrate our victories, whether big or small and help us learn from our mistakes, turning them into stepping stones toward success. 

A good teacher can make a real difference in a student’s life. They can help students to develop their talents and abilities, and they can also help them to become confident and self-motivated learners.

I am grateful for all the teachers who have helped me along the way. They have taught me so much, and they have helped me to become the person I am today. I know that I would not be where I am without them.

Remember, each day with a teacher is a new adventure, a new opportunity to learn, and a new chance to grow. So, young learners, let’s raise our hands and give a cheer to our teachers, the real-life magicians who make education a truly enchanting place to live.

Also Read – Self Introduction for Teacher Interview

Related Reads:-     

A. Here are two lines lines for a good teacher: Teachers are like shining stars guiding us to the path of knowledge. Teachers are our guardian angels.

A. A teacher is not an acronym, so there is no full form for it, yet some students exhibit affection for their teacher. It also allows one to express creativity. Following are some popular full forms of Teacher: T – Talented, E-Educated, A-Adorable, C-Charming, H-Helpful. E-Encouraging, R-Responsible.

A. A teacher is an educator or a person who helps one acquire knowledge and imparts wisdom through teaching methods.

This brings us to the end of our blog on Essay on Teacher. Hope you find this information useful. For more information on such informative topics for your school, visit our essay writing and follow Leverage Edu . 

Rajshree Lahoty

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Essay on My Favourite Teacher for Students and Children

500+ words essay on my favourite teacher.

A teacher is one who instills in the learner an inspiration to learn and to be good. With this message, I want to start an essay on my favorite Teacher. I am a student of XII class in a  private school which is a well-known school in the city. It is a reputed school with over 1,700 students. There are about 40 teachers in our school. Among all the teachers who taught us Mr. Anurag is my favorite teacher. He taught us history.

Personality of My Teacher

Mr. Anurag is about 34 years of age, tall, smart and has a tough look. He also knows karate. He believes in high thinking and simple living and thus, always wears simple clothes and looks so sober. His manners are pleasing and liked by all. He is also an experienced English teacher.

He has masters or postgraduate degrees both in History and English. Also, he is very soft-spoken and yet strict in discipline. The best part of him is that he doesn’t believe in physical punishment. I have never seen him giving any kind of punishment to anyone. Rather disciplined is maintained nicely in his class. He has some positive influence on us.

He has perfect command over History and English. His knowledge of Indian history and English literature is very good. His pronunciation is perfect, accurate and very clear. I feel fortunate to be his student and so other students also feel the same. He looks upon us as his own sons and takes a lot of interest in solving our school and personal problems.

He is also the principal advisor of our school drama club and also prepares students for English debate and elocution contests. Under his guidance, many students have won a number of prizes and trophies in such competitions. We have become 3 times consecutive champions in debate under his guidance. He is an asset to the school and student community.

Why is He My Favorite Teacher?

His voice makes it an excellent experience to have history lessons from him. It feels that we are in that era of history. It’s like watching a video while listening to him. He has also traveled at a lot of historic places and makes good use of them as an example to make teaching and learning effective and memorable.

His talks are interesting, educative and full of literary references. He is serious and sober and yet he is a man with a great sense of humor. Even some teachers feel envious of him and his popularity among students.

Once, we went to visit the Nizam palace and Qutub shahi tombs in Hyderabad. We were surprised to know his vast and authentic knowledge about the palace and tombs. He explained so many things about the palace and the generations in detail. The visit became so memorable only with Complete knowledge of the place because of him. His vast general knowledge shows his deep interest and devotion to books. Reading is his only hobby.

Get the huge list of more than 500 Essay Topics and Ideas

Qualities of My Teacher

He often tells us that honesty and a heart-to-heart talk is the best way to strengthen a relationship. Sometimes I fail to hand in my homework on time, but he is happy when I tell him the truth – in other words, I have to be honest with him. He doesn’t set too many rules and allows students to think for themselves. He is a very good person and teacher and that’s why he is my best teacher .

History comes alive in his class. When he takes classes there is absolute silence in class and everyone focusses on the topic that he discusses. He has the capability to draw out attention to the subject and also to sustain it.

Also, he shows us various historical videos and pictures from the internet in the class and describes them thus making it much easier for us to understand what he teaches. He does not just read from the book but gives us a concrete picture of everything, so that we see them before us.

I am sure that, even after some years when I leave this school I will take his portrait fitted into the depths of my mind and heart. His picture is so deeply entrenched in my heart and head that, I think no matter, where I go, I will never forget his idealism and  I will never get another like him to see and meet.

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Home — Essay Samples — Education — Teacher — How My Teacher Influenced Me

How My Teacher Influenced Me

• Categories: Teacher

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Published: Nov 15, 2018

Words: 694 | Pages: 2 | 4 min read

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What makes a good headteacher?

Some people think they can spot one across a playground. Some believe selecting one is an art form. Some think you just get lucky. But anyone who has ever sat on a headteacher interview panel agrees that picking a leader for a school is all about prioritisation: no single person can be perfect in every way for the job.

That’s mainly because the role is so complex and varied. For starters, you need to be a financial whizz: schools are being asked to do more with less, so an ability to stretch a budget to the final penny is a must. You need to be a master of teaching and learning, too, not to mention skilled in the arts of behaviour management and pastoral care. Then there’s compliance, HR, marketing, communications, project management, administration, logistics, policy interpretation, research - the list goes on.

On top of all this, you face intense scrutiny as your performance in each area will be closely monitored by parents, governors and your local authority or MAT CEO. Is it any wonder we are on the cusp of a leadership recruitment crisis?

“Once you’re a headteacher, it’s your neck on the block,” explains James Bowen, director of policy at the NAHT school leaders’ union and director of NAHT Edge. “When Ofsted is doing reports, it’s your name on the cover. It’s the headteacher who is ultimately held accountable.”

According to the NAHT, nearly half (46 per cent) of assistant and deputy heads aren’t currently willing to put themselves forward for senior positions, while a YouGov and Teacher Tracker poll found the same number have considered quitting owing to the stress of the Covid-19 pandemic.

How do we halt the decline in the numbers of those willing to lead schools? Fundamental changes clearly need to come from government but, in lieu of that, a great place to start would be to demythologise headship.

As mentioned, headship interview panels are not looking for someone to tick off every item on that long list of qualities, yet the perception is that you need to be the complete package, which puts so many off even attempting to step up.

What current senior leaders actually need to know is what, within that list, is a non-negotiable; what qualities do panels say are essential if a candidate is to be considered?

We spoke to a panel of school leadership experts to find out what would be on their list of key qualities and skills you need to be a great headteacher. Here’s what they said.

Clear principles, classroom experience, sweats the small stuff

Geoff Barton, general secretary, Association of School and College Leaders, says:

First, you have to know what you stand for. That sense of principles you get from working with other people, learning from them, deciding what you would do yourself and what you wouldn’t do.

Next - and not everyone would agree with this - is having credibility as a teacher. You don’t have to be the best teacher in the school but you have to have credibility, so that when you say to the staff, “you need to make sure homework is being marked” or when you’re asking questions, you are able to speak from a position of authenticity.

Also, I actually think sweating the small stuff is really important. This is about understanding the symbolism around headship. If you’re going to insist that everyone in the school is going to have their shirt tucked in and wear shoes instead of trainers, then you cannot afford - ever - to walk past a young person who isn’t doing that. Even if your own heart is saying, “Oh, I don’t want to tell another kid to tuck his shirt in”, you are the embodiment of that school’s values.

Frankly, I didn’t go to university to stand at the school gates, telling young people to put their shoes on. But what I was doing, as a head, was symbolising to the staff that we were going to do what we said we were going to do. And that made it easier to do the big stuff later on, like move to a three-period day or to change the curriculum. The small stuff is symbolic but it demonstrates to people [that sense of] “we can change things here”.

Sound judgement, tenacity, optimism

Emma Knights OBE, chief executive, National Governance Association, says:

I don’t think we talk enough in the school sector about people who have good judgement. Somebody may be a very good classroom teacher, very knowledgeable about their subject, but when they’re caught in a leadership decision, which you often are as a school leader, you need someone whose judgement is sound.

You need tenacity, that ability to keep on keeping on. I hesitate to use the word “toughness” but perhaps they’re two sides of the same coin. It’s that professional toughness and, boy, has this last year been an incredible test of leadership, tenacity and toughness.

Another quality that I haven’t necessarily seen on lots of job specs, but which we’ve needed in the past year, is optimism. It’s a way of being - it’s certainly a personal quality that I think you absolutely need at the moment, both in terms of your personal drive but also leading the school forward with a sense of positivity, even when the times are pretty tough, as they are now.

Clear values, commanding presence, moral purpose

Durell Barnes, head of governance and compliance, RSAcademics, says:

It’s still important [to have a commanding presence]. I did my training in a really rough industrial estate in Oxford; it was a pretty difficult place. We had a head who was about 5ft 3in, but he just had something about him. He walked into the lunch hall one day and said: “There will be silence!” And 600 adolescent boys stood up and were silent.

What we’ve seen in the really unique challenges that headteachers have faced in the past year - which have been about a complete transformation of what teaching and learning consists of in your school, with movements like Black Lives Matter and issues like those raised by Everyone’s Invited - [is that it’s] difficult for anyone to chart a path through it all unless they have an absolutely confident understanding of the values of their school.

If you look at the statements from lots of different schools, the ones that ring with conviction are the ones that say “as everyone knows, our values are this, we live this, we show this”. Nowadays, there’s a huge value in having moral purpose. It sounds old fashioned, but I don’t think it is; I think it’s very, very modern. Because, as these particular issues have shown, moral leadership is part of what we’re lacking in society.

Does the head have to be a really good teacher? Probably not, because you can find a really good deputy headteacher to take the lead on that. But if you aren’t a really good teacher, you’re going to have to have somebody who is. If I were a governing body, I wouldn’t want to have a headteacher who couldn’t teach.

Communication skills, courage, optimism

James Bowen, director of policy, NAHT, and director of NAHT Edge, says:

You need to be able to communicate really effectively with young people, which is a distinct skill in itself. But beyond that, you’ve also got to communicate with a parental group, you’ve got governors, your staff and the local authority.

It isn’t just about speaking, though; it’s about listening as well - that ability to listen to what your staff are telling you, what the parents are telling you.

There are so many incoming things; there’s always a new government project. One of the things you have to be really good at is staying focused on the pupils; to be prepared to be quite brave in saying, “no, we’re not going to jump on the latest government scheme because we have a clear sense of what we want to do”. Sometimes, as a head, you have to shield your school from the outside noise.

You also need relentless optimism. The headteacher needs to be the one to say, “yes, things are tough but they can get better and they will get better”. If you don’t project that optimism for your school, no one else will. The past 12 months have tested that to the absolute extreme but the last thing anybody wants is a pessimistic headteacher.

Resilience, adaptability, energy

Julie Robinson, chief executive, Independent Schools Council, says:

I would start with resilience. [Being a headteacher is] such a full-on existence. It’s a roller-coaster of ups and downs. Everyone gets tired by the end of term but the head has to keep going.

You’re leading a community, so you have to like people, otherwise how would you cope with dealing with all your stakeholders? Linked to that is optimism. It’s so important to be a model of positivity and to ensure that the pupils and the staff look to you to lead positively.

And then you need to be interested in small things. One minute, you’re setting up strategy with the governors; the next, you’re dealing with the fallout from a playground argument.

In terms of dealing with people, I think it’s really important not to hold a grudge. To be the kind of person who can do the telling off, and it’s all very serious at the time, and then just leave it and move on. It’s all the qualities of a great parent that a head has to exhibit across the whole school community.

In terms of personal qualities, it’s about being the leader of a community and being very adaptable, having good energy, being able to cope with small things as well as the sit-down strategy. You’re expected to be able to turn your hand to everything, which makes it both very challenging and very rewarding. Often, it’s the head who’s picking up rubbish in the corridors or helping to fix things, alongside doing admin and the bigger backroom jobs.

Commitment to inclusion, emotional intelligence, teaching and learning experience

Alison Wilcox, education director, Nasen, says:

It’s important for leaders to demonstrate their strong commitment to inclusion and building an inclusive culture. It’s a process rather than a destination, but that commitment is what supports ongoing strategic decision making.

Emotional intelligence is really important here, working with all staff to be able to share an inclusive vision but also to demonstrate an understanding of everybody on an individual basis. This extends into understanding what’s important for children and young people with special educational needs and disability (SEND), for example, recognising individual strengths as well as needs, and celebrating diversity, including neurodiversity.

We believe that “every leader is a leader of SEND and every teacher is a teacher of SEND”. As a leader, it’s being able to model that in terms of the values held, the vision created and how this translates into every part of school life. Being committed to inclusive ways of working, such as a strong partnership approach to education, using co-production with families, and hearing and acting upon the voice of children with SEND.

Having leaders in place with a really deep understanding of teaching and learning is crucial. This can help all staff to have confidence in developing their provision for SEND; demystifying high-quality teaching for SEND by enabling a culture where teachers can adapt approaches and use their foundational understanding of how children learn, on an individual basis. Headteachers, in particular, support this through investment, over time, in good quality continuing professional development for SEND.

So, what does all this tell us about the qualities a headteacher truly needs to be able to do their job?

Communication is certainly important. Whether it’s holding attention in a rowdy room or explaining the intricacies of a new project to governors, headteachers have to be heard when they speak. In many cases, a head is the glue that ties all the complicated, disparate elements of a school together - and keeping everyone informed is no small part of that role. As Barnes puts it, a headteacher needs to have “something to say”, and be able to “say it and be heard”.

Though it might not suit every leader’s personality, a head is also a school’s figurehead, responsible for motivating staff. They need to have (or at least project) an unshakeable sense of optimism, particularly in trying times - something that the past 12 months have made abundantly clear.

On a related note, any prospective headteacher should keep in mind that they are the living embodiment of the school’s values. As a school’s single most visible member of staff, every tiny action a headteacher takes will be noticed and scrutinised. Symbolism, rituals, daily practices that seem insignificant - all hold immense importance.

But doing any of the above effectively seems to rely on one particular quality: a thorough understanding of your school’s principles. Pupils and employees are now arguably demanding more from their schools in terms of transparency and taking a stand on issues such as racism or sexual harassment. Without a detailed and coherent understanding of a school’s values, it is hard to imagine how any headteacher can meet those demands while also putting their vision for teaching and learning into practice.

In other words, if you want to succeed as a headteacher, figure out what you stand for.

Jacob Moreton is a freelance journalist

This article originally appeared in the 14 May 2021 issue under the headline “Head hunters”

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Essay on Our Headmaster

Students are often asked to write an essay on Our Headmaster in their schools and colleges. And if you’re also looking for the same, we have created 100-word, 250-word, and 500-word essays on the topic.

Let’s take a look…

100 Words Essay on Our Headmaster

Introduction.

Our headmaster, Mr. Sharma, is a man of great wisdom. He is a guiding light for us, always showing us the right path.

His Personality

Mr. Sharma is tall and has a charming personality. His words are as inspiring as his presence.

As a headmaster, he is in charge of the school administration. He ensures that the school runs smoothly.

His Teaching Style

Mr. Sharma also teaches us Mathematics. His unique teaching style makes learning fun and easy.

Our headmaster is a true role model. We respect and admire him for his dedication and hard work.

250 Words Essay on Our Headmaster

The integral role of our headmaster.

The headmaster of our college, Mr. John Smith, is a figure of immense respect and admiration. His role is pivotal, not just in administration but also in shaping the character of the institution. He is the guiding light that leads us towards academic excellence and moral uprightness.

An Exemplary Leader

Mr. Smith’s leadership style is a perfect blend of authority and empathy. He fosters an environment that encourages intellectual growth, while also ensuring a safe and inclusive space for all students. His open-door policy encourages students and staff to voice their concerns, fostering transparency and trust within the institution.

Education and Character Building

To Mr. Smith, education is not just about academic pursuits, but also about character building. He advocates for the holistic development of students, emphasizing the importance of values such as honesty, integrity, and respect for others. His speeches during assemblies are not just about college updates, but also about life lessons and moral values.

Innovation and Progress

Under Mr. Smith’s leadership, our college has seen significant progress. His innovative ideas, like the introduction of interdisciplinary courses and emphasis on research, have put our college on the map. He believes in keeping up with the times, ensuring that the institution is always at the forefront of educational advancements.

In conclusion, Mr. John Smith, our headmaster, is the backbone of our college. His leadership, vision, and commitment to holistic education make him an inspiring figure, greatly respected by students and staff alike. His influence extends beyond the confines of his office, shaping not just the institution but also the individuals within it.

500 Words Essay on Our Headmaster

The headmaster, often seen as the backbone of an educational institution, carries a significant role in shaping the future of students. In my school, the headmaster is a paragon of wisdom, discipline, and dedication, embodying the essence of educational leadership. His dynamic personality and visionary approach have not only transformed the school but also left an indelible mark on the student community.

Leadership and Vision

Our headmaster’s leadership style is a blend of transformational and democratic leadership. He believes in the potential of every student and teacher, fostering an environment that encourages growth, innovation, and collaborative learning. His vision is not confined to academic excellence alone, but extends to holistic development, encompassing moral, ethical, and social values.

Emphasis on Discipline

Discipline, according to our headmaster, is the cornerstone of success. He ensures a disciplined environment in the school, promoting punctuality, respect, and proper conduct. However, his approach to discipline is not autocratic. Instead, he encourages students to understand the value of self-discipline and its impact on personal and professional life.

Approachable and Empathetic

Despite his authoritative position, our headmaster is approachable and empathetic. He maintains an open-door policy, allowing students and staff to share their concerns or ideas freely. This level of empathy fosters a sense of belonging among students, making the school a second home rather than a mere institution.

Commitment to Excellence

Our headmaster’s commitment to excellence is unwavering. He constantly strives to improve the school’s infrastructure, curriculum, and teaching methodologies. He is a firm believer in continuous learning and encourages teachers to upgrade their skills and knowledge. His commitment extends to the students, pushing them to explore their potential and achieve their best.

Community Engagement

Our headmaster is deeply invested in community engagement. He believes that schools should not function in isolation, but should be an integral part of the community. He organizes community service programs, fostering a sense of social responsibility among students. This approach helps students to understand the challenges of the real world and develop solutions.

In conclusion, our headmaster’s role is not just administrative but also transformative. His leadership, vision, discipline, empathy, commitment to excellence, and community engagement have profoundly impacted the school’s environment and the students’ growth. He is a beacon of light guiding us towards a bright future. His life and work are an embodiment of the quote by John C. Maxwell, “A leader is one who knows the way, goes the way, and shows the way.”

That’s it! I hope the essay helped you.

If you’re looking for more, here are essays on other interesting topics:

• Essay on Headmaster
• Essay on Harmful Effects of Cell Phones
• Essay on Role of a Woman in the Family

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Descriptive Essay: The Best Teacher I Have Ever Had

Identifying which teacher was the best I’ve ever had is a very simple task, despite the array that I have to choose from. He was my history teacher for four years, taking me all the way through the basic knowledge of Nazi Germany to an in-depth study of Russian Tsarism and USSR Communism.

What made him the best teacher I’ve ever had? It can be described very simply: he was engaging and had an interesting life. All too often teachers distance themselves from their students (which was taken to a whole new level at my school, where two teachers working in the same department got married without anyone knowing about it), which leads to their students becoming disengaged with the person at the front of the room. It’s all too easy, in these situations, to see the teacher as a generic employee who you have no real connection to and therefore don’t value.

My history teacher was different.

Unlike most teachers at my school, he was educated at Cambridge and went to a private school. The contrast between his demeanour and way of speaking and the way that many of his students had been brought up was striking; he wore a fine suit even outside of work, while the typical student at my school wore track suit bottoms outside of school with a scruffy t-shirt and trainers.

It takes someone special to engage a classroom of 30 teenagers, but somehow he managed it. Many people would describe him as an eccentric, but I’d say he was more carefree than anything else. He knew that he had the authority in the classroom, yet had a compassionate side. There was one rule that everyone who met him knew they should break at their own risk: insulting the importance of history in his presence was a one-way ticket to experiencing his wrath.

The image of a stuffy old history teacher is not an accurate description of my teacher. He was young, ran marathons, liked to drink (as demonstrated by his request that we buy him wine for a leaving present, not the generic teacher mug) and had a partner. He was a friendly man, but there was always a clear line between the student and the teacher. After all, he came from a background where teachers were authority figures, not friends.

Teaching history is not like teaching any other subject. To teach history you have to relate what you are learning to your students so that they don’t become alienated with events that occurred one hundred years ago. It takes something more than a teacher training course to enable a man to get teenagers arguing about which of the Russian Tsars did the greatest things for pre-Soviet Russia; he was just that man.

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How to Describe your Teacher in English

What to say about your teacher?

You see this person every day, but how to talk about them? What do you know about your teacher that you can talk about for more than one minute?

Talking about your teacher is a common question in the IELTS speaking test. It could come up in part one, two or three, so you need to be prepared when talking about your teacher.

Want to know what to say? And how to say it all?

Dive right into my guide here and I will show you how to do it. Ready? Let’s begin.

Table of Contents

You need to start with some basic general ideas about your teacher. Think about the following questions:

What is his or her name?

Is your teacher a man or a woman?

What subject do they teach?

Do the students like this teacher?

This can serve as a great introduction of who your teacher is and what subject he or she teaches.

Let’s look at some examples…

My teacher is called Mr Jones. But we sometimes call him Peter in class. He teaches us physics. The students like him because he does lots of experiments in class, which makes it more interesting.

Miss Hanes is my English teacher. She is great and all my class love her very much. When she talks about novels or plays, we have to read in class she always sounds very passionate about the stories and the writers.

It is very simple. You start off with an easy introduction, like one of the examples above.

Why don’t you try?

Take a look at the questions and write out a few sentences as an

introduction for your teacher.

General Descriptions of your Teacher

You should describe your teacher’s physical appearance.

But this is not really so important for your talk. You only need to describe how tall your teacher is and then some general descriptions about the teacher’s face, hair, and other physical attributes.

I will show you some examples below:

Mr Clarke is our English teacher. He is quite tall and slim, and he has blonde hair. He wears the same jacket to class every day. But he doesn’t wear very formal clothes like the other teachers. He wears jeans and sports shoes.

Miss Evans is our chemistry teacher. She is a bit overweight and has dark brown hair which she ties up in class. She wears glasses for reading, which she wears on a chain around her neck. Because she is our chemistry teacher, she always wears a white lab coat.

Mr Davis is our maths teacher. He is kind of serious and he always wears a dark suit in class. He has a beard, which makes him look even more serious.

Mr James is our political affairs and history teacher. He is overweight and a little short. He often wears a white shirt and a tie with striped on it. He is losing his hair, and most of it is going grey now. He frowns a lot when we look at some world events in class.

That is all you have to say when describing your teacher’s physical appearance.

The emphasis should really be on the subject your teacher teaches and how he teaches you all in class.

If you want to practice how to talk about someone’s physical appearance, please check out my article here — How to Describe Someone’s Physical Appearance in English.

What Subject Does the Teacher Teach?

The main topic of this talk should be about the subject your teacher teaches in class and whether or not he or she is a good teacher.

You need to show examples of how the teacher teaches — their style and their personality in the classroom. You can do this by sharing some anecdotes in your talk.

Let’s say, for example, that you are talking about your English Literature teacher.

How does this teacher teach novels, plays and poetry in the class?

What style does he teach in?

What kind of personality does the teacher have? And is this useful in the class — or not?

Is the teacher interested in what he or she is teaching? Do they have a passion for the subject? Or are they boring?

These are some questions you can think about to help you talk about this part.

Let me show you some examples:

Miss James teaches us English Literature. We all love her class because even though some of the poems and plays are kind of boring, she really knows how to make it interesting for us. For example, one semester we were studying Romeo and Juliet. We read most of the play, but because it’s Shakespeare, it’s really hard to understand. So she let us watch the movie with Leonardo DiCaprio. It really helped us to get into the play.

Mr Jackson is our chemistry teacher. Who always seems a bit crazy, like a mad professor or something like that. When we do experiments in class, he always acts surprised like he has never seen it before. It makes the class much more fun for us rather than going over boring equations.

Miss Evans teaches social science. She makes the class very interesting by bringing in real-world examples for us to look at. She also has a great sense of humour and makes us laugh all the time. Her classes are never dull.

What about your teacher? What subject do they teach and how do they teach this subject in class?

Is this teacher interesting or boring? And what do they other students think of them?

Stories about your Teacher

Of course, the best way to describe your teacher is to tell a short story or anecdote about them. This can really help you in the IELTS test.

I have said this many times before in other articles, but it really is a superb way to introduce any person. If you want to take a look at my articles on how to use storytelling, you can find them here.

How to Tell a Story

Using Stories to Describe People & Things in the IELTS Test

If you can remember a little story about your teacher, just tell that in the test. This will help you describe many things about your teacher.

Here are some examples:

One time we had to read Lord of The Flies in class with our English teacher, Mr Angus. Before we read the passage from the book, Mr Angus put us all in the mood for the story. He made us close our eyes and try to imagine what it would be like stuck on a desert island and trying to survive. He created a scene and told us to think about it for a few seconds. Then when we read from the book, we all felt as if we were really on the desert island. With no water or food and no adults around to help us. He is really good at making us get into the story. He doesn’t just make us read the book and expect us to fully understand it. He is like a guide, leading us through it.

Mr Reid is our physics teacher. He arranged a field trip to the science museum in London and all our class went there for the day. It was a really great day out. One, we didn’t have to stay in class — but the main reason was that it was so much fun. Mr Reid let us go round the whole museum by ourselves and just explore all the exhibits inside. At the end of the day, we were all exhausted and fell asleep on the bus back to school. But then the next time we had class with Mr Reid, he asked us what we had found in the science museum. He made us think of all the things we had discovered and how it related to what we had done in class. We had to think long and hard to remember all the different exhibits in the museum.

Can you think of any interesting stories about your teacher?

If you can, take some time to write it down and then try to recite it out loud.

Stories are very useful in the IELTS test.

When talking about your teacher in the IELTS test, you should place more importance on what subject the teacher teaches and how he teaches you in class.

You can do this by taking a look at the examples I wrote above.

Another very useful thing to do is to think of stories about your teacher. The examiner loves to hear stories in the IELTS test.

If you can do this, you are more likely to get a higher score.

Good luck and let me know in the comments below!

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5 thoughts on “how to describe your teacher in english”.

Another good topic for an ESL/EFL class! I like the fact that you put the emphasis on what the teacher teaches rather than only describing the teacher. But what I liked the best was the story or anecdote about something that happened in the class. That makes the description more memorable..

Many thanks, Leona!

I like this ❤️

Many thanks Samardeep!! I am so glad you like it!

Many thanks, Samardeep! So glad you liked it!

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I'm 38 and single, and I recently realized I want a child. I'm terrified I've missed my opportunity.

• I didn't want kids and didn't think I'd want to get married again after my divorce.
• But recently I realized I actually do want to build a life — and a family — with someone. 
• I'm almost 39, and I'm starting to panic about whether my chance to have a child has passed.

I can still picture it. I was 20, sitting on the kitchen countertop with my legs dangling over the cabinets. He was 21, leaning against the stove of the home he hoped we'd share. We'd been dating for nearly two years and were at a standstill.

I was clinging to my dream of moving five hours away to attend the design program at the Art Institute of Seattle. He wanted a simple life with children and home-cooked meals in the little resort town of Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, where we met in sixth grade .

That day in the kitchen, we decided to stay together, and we each gave up something to do that. I would no longer pursue design school and the big-city life I'd always dreamed of, and he'd forgo having children and a wife who prioritized homemaking. I made it clear to him that I did not see motherhood in my future and that he needed to be OK with that. Two years later, we married.

My now ex-husband wanted kids and a stay-at-home wife

My husband thought I'd change, and I thought I could change for him. I told myself that it was silly to go after my dreams and that I should be content in the pretty mountain town where I grew up.

But I grew resentful when he asked where dinner was or complained that his gym clothes hadn't been washed. I did little to hide my disdain for our small-town life. He was a good and hardworking man, but I don't think I made him feel that way.

We were young, foolish, and sweet, thinking our love would allow us to overcome our differences. We were also very wrong.

Related stories

Shortly after I turned 30, we divorced . We were both tired of sacrificing the things that were important to us for each other.

I didn't think I'd want to get married again or have kids

I told my friends and family I'd never get married again. I needed independence, a fulfilling career, and space to chart my own course, and I didn't think marriage fit into that vision. I was content to look toward a future without a husband, children, or the trappings of a "traditional" life.

I was also in no hurry to get into a serious relationship after my divorce. I was terrified of repeating my mistakes. Nevertheless, months later I stumbled into one that lasted 7 ½ years.

He was significantly older and wasn't interested in marriage or children, and we were focused on our careers. We expected little of each other aside from fidelity. We took trips, drank nice wine, and stayed out late. Without the expectations or duties of a shared mortgage or a family, we simply enjoyed our time together. When we were apart, we did our own things. Those were great, easy years.

It was an incredibly healing relationship, and, ironically, I started to become the woman my ex-husband had wanted. I enjoyed cooking, cleaning, and caring for someone when it was my choice and when it wasn't asked of me. I'd been so preoccupied with preserving my independence and caring for myself that I hadn't realized how much I could enjoy caring for someone else and allowing them to care for me.

I changed my mind about wanting to build a family with someone

I started to think I might want more than an easy, aimless relationship. I realized I might actually want to build a life from the ground up with someone who wanted the same thing. And while I knew that might take more work, it also felt like the type of connection worth pursuing.

I felt restless, and I couldn't ignore that what I wanted had changed. Though we were technically together, we were living our own lives. That was exactly what I had wanted and needed after my divorce, but autonomy was no longer my top priority. It felt like the relationship had run its course. He's a wonderful man, and we're still close, but we'd entered our relationship without intention or a shared vision of our future.

We broke up shortly before my 37th birthday. Over the following year and a half I dated around for the first time in my life. I broke hearts, had my own heart broken, and did in my late 30s what many people do in their 20s. I didn't know it then, but I was learning what I wanted and needed in a relationship. Ultimately, I want to build a life with another person, not simply join theirs when it's convenient.

I began to feel an incredible urgency to find the relationship and stability to see me through the second half of my life. To my amazement, I began seriously thinking about marriage and children — I hardly recognized myself.

I also began to feel selfish for spending so much time focusing solely on myself. I went from proudly proclaiming I was too self-centered to be bothered with a family to realizing there was more to life than independence and the pleasures of living for oneself. My very existence started to feel shallow and hollow.

I worry I'll end up alone, but I'm still hopeful

Now, months after that realization and at nearly 39, I feel panicked thinking I'll be a single, childless middle-aged woman. I worry that my youthful looks will fade and that I won't be able to attract the man I want to spend the rest of my life with.

If I sound desperate, it's because I honestly do feel a little desperate. At my age, I know that creating life may not be an option for me. And I worry that men who want a family aren't looking for a woman pushing 40. I get it; I'm no longer the ideal candidate for motherhood , and it's a scary truth. But I still hope to find someone who thinks I'm the ideal partner and create our family together.

I understand the appeal of life without the constraints of marriage or children; for many years I was quite satisfied living that way. I know people can live happy, purpose-driven lives without those things. I just don't believe I'm one of those people anymore. I know now that my purpose lies in having a husband and a family. I'm meant to care for more than myself.

I'm looking for my forever person and hoping he's looking for me, too.

Watch: Watch Tony Robbins bring someone to tears in a one-on-one motivational session

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When Prison and Mental Illness Amount to a Death Sentence

The downward spiral of one inmate, Markus Johnson, shows the larger failures of the nation’s prisons to care for the mentally ill.

Supported by

By Glenn Thrush

Photographs by Carlos Javier Ortiz

Glenn Thrush spent more than a year reporting this article, interviewing close to 50 people and reviewing court-obtained body-camera footage and more than 1,500 pages of documents.

• Published May 5, 2024 Updated May 7, 2024

Markus Johnson slumped naked against the wall of his cell, skin flecked with pepper spray, his face a mask of puzzlement, exhaustion and resignation. Four men in black tactical gear pinned him, his face to the concrete, to cuff his hands behind his back.

He did not resist. He couldn’t. He was so gravely dehydrated he would be dead by their next shift change.

Listen to this article with reporter commentary

“I didn’t do anything,” Mr. Johnson moaned as they pressed a shield between his shoulders.

It was 1:19 p.m. on Sept. 6, 2019, in the Danville Correctional Center, a medium-security prison a few hours south of Chicago. Mr. Johnson, 21 and serving a short sentence for gun possession, was in the throes of a mental collapse that had gone largely untreated, but hardly unwatched.

He had entered in good health, with hopes of using the time to gain work skills. But for the previous three weeks, Mr. Johnson, who suffered from bipolar disorder and schizophrenia, had refused to eat or take his medication. Most dangerous of all, he had stealthily stopped drinking water, hastening the physical collapse that often accompanies full-scale mental crises.

Mr. Johnson’s horrific downward spiral, which has not been previously reported, represents the larger failures of the nation’s prisons to care for the mentally ill. Many seriously ill people receive no treatment . For those who do, the outcome is often determined by the vigilance and commitment of individual supervisors and frontline staff, which vary greatly from system to system, prison to prison, and even shift to shift.

The country’s jails and prisons have become its largest provider of inpatient mental health treatment, with 10 times as many seriously mentally ill people now held behind bars as in hospitals. Estimating the population of incarcerated people with major psychological problems is difficult, but the number is likely 200,000 to 300,000, experts say.

Many of these institutions remain ill-equipped to handle such a task, and the burden often falls on prison staff and health care personnel who struggle with the dual roles of jailer and caregiver in a high-stress, dangerous, often dehumanizing environment.

In 2021, Joshua McLemore , a 29-year-old with schizophrenia held for weeks in an isolation cell in Jackson County, Ind., died of organ failure resulting from a “refusal to eat or drink,” according to an autopsy. In April, New York City agreed to pay $28 million to settle a lawsuit filed by the family of Nicholas Feliciano, a young man with a history of mental illness who suffered severe brain damage after attempting to hang himself on Rikers Island — as correctional officers stood by.

Mr. Johnson’s mother has filed a wrongful-death suit against the state and Wexford Health Sources, a for-profit health care contractor in Illinois prisons. The New York Times reviewed more than 1,500 pages of reports, along with depositions taken from those involved. Together, they reveal a cascade of missteps, missed opportunities, potential breaches of protocol and, at times, lapses in common sense.

Prison officials and Wexford staff took few steps to intervene even after it became clear that Mr. Johnson, who had been hospitalized repeatedly for similar episodes and recovered, had refused to take medication. Most notably, they did not transfer him to a state prison facility that provides more intensive mental health treatment than is available at regular prisons, records show.

The quality of medical care was also questionable, said Mr. Johnson’s lawyers, Sarah Grady and Howard Kaplan, a married legal team in Chicago. Mr. Johnson lost 50 to 60 pounds during three weeks in solitary confinement, but officials did not initiate interventions like intravenous feedings or transfer him to a non-prison hospital.

And they did not take the most basic step — dialing 911 — until it was too late.

There have been many attempts to improve the quality of mental health treatment in jails and prisons by putting care on par with punishment — including a major effort in Chicago . But improvements have proved difficult to enact and harder to sustain, hampered by funding and staffing shortages.

Lawyers representing the state corrections department, Wexford and staff members who worked at Danville declined to comment on Mr. Johnson’s death, citing the unresolved litigation. In their interviews with state police investigators, and in depositions, employees defended their professionalism and adherence to procedure, while citing problems with high staff turnover, difficult work conditions, limited resources and shortcomings of co-workers.

But some expressed a sense of resignation about the fate of Mr. Johnson and others like him.

Prisoners have “much better chances in a hospital, but that’s not their situation,” said a senior member of Wexford’s health care team in a deposition.

“I didn’t put them in prison,” he added. “They are in there for a reason.”

Markus Mison Johnson was born on March 1, 1998, to a mother who believed she was not capable of caring for him.

Days after his birth, he was taken in by Lisa Barker Johnson, a foster mother in her 30s who lived in Zion, Ill., a working-class city halfway between Chicago and Milwaukee. Markus eventually became one of four children she adopted from different families.

The Johnson house is a lively split level, with nieces, nephews, grandchildren and neighbors’ children, family keepsakes, video screens and juice boxes. Ms. Johnson sits at its center on a kitchen chair, chin resting on her hand as children wander over to share their thoughts, or to tug on her T-shirt to ask her to be their bathroom buddy.

From the start, her bond with Markus was particularly powerful, in part because the two looked so much alike, with distinctive dimpled smiles. Many neighbors assumed he was her biological son. The middle name she chose for him was intended to convey that message.

“Mison is short for ‘my son,’” she said standing over his modest footstone grave last summer.

He was happy at home. School was different. His grades were good, but he was intensely shy and was diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder in elementary school.

That was around the time the bullying began. His sisters were fierce defenders, but they could only do so much. He did the best he could, developing a quick, taunting tongue.

These experiences filled him with a powerful yearning to fit in.

It was not to be.

When he was around 15, he called 911 in a panic, telling the dispatcher he saw two men standing near the small park next to his house threatening to abduct children playing there. The officers who responded found nothing out of the ordinary, and rang the Johnsons’ doorbell.

He later told his mother he had heard a voice telling him to “protect the kids.”

He was hospitalized for the first time at 16, and given medications that stabilized him for stretches of time. But the crises would strike every six months or so, often triggered by his decision to stop taking his medication.

His family became adept at reading signs he was “getting sick.” He would put on his tan Timberlands and a heavy winter coat, no matter the season, and perch on the edge of his bed as if bracing for battle. Sometimes, he would cook his own food, paranoid that someone might poison him.

He graduated six months early, on the dean’s list, but was rudderless, and hanging out with younger boys, often paying their way.

His mother pointed out the perils of buying friendship.

“I don’t care,” he said. “At least I’ll be popular for a minute.”

Zion’s inviting green grid of Bible-named streets belies the reality that it is a rough, unforgiving place to grow up. Family members say Markus wanted desperately to prove he was tough, and emulated his younger, reckless group of friends.

Like many of them, he obtained a pistol. He used it to hold up a convenience store clerk for $425 in January 2017, according to police records. He cut a plea deal for two years of probation, and never explained to his family what had made him do it.

But he kept getting into violent confrontations. In late July 2018, he was arrested in a neighbor’s garage with a handgun he later admitted was his. He was still on probation for the robbery, and his public defender negotiated a plea deal that would send him to state prison until January 2020.

An inpatient mental health system

Around 40 percent of the about 1.8 million people in local, state and federal jails and prison suffer from at least one mental illness, and many of these people have concurrent issues with substance abuse, according to recent Justice Department estimates.

Psychological problems, often exacerbated by drug use, often lead to significant medical problems resulting from a lack of hygiene or access to good health care.

“When you suffer depression in the outside world, it’s hard to concentrate, you have reduced energy, your sleep is disrupted, you have a very gloomy outlook, so you stop taking care of yourself,” said Robert L. Trestman , a Virginia Tech medical school professor who has worked on state prison mental health reforms.

The paradox is that prison is often the only place where sick people have access to even minimal care.

But the harsh work environment, remote location of many prisons, and low pay have led to severe shortages of corrections staff and the unwillingness of doctors, nurses and counselors to work with the incarcerated mentally ill.

In the early 2000s, prisoners’ rights lawyers filed a class-action lawsuit against Illinois claiming “deliberate indifference” to the plight of about 5,000 mentally ill prisoners locked in segregated units and denied treatment and medication.

In 2014, the parties reached a settlement that included minimum staffing mandates, revamped screening protocols, restrictions on the use of solitary confinement and the allocation of about $100 million to double capacity in the system’s specialized mental health units.

Yet within six months of the deal, Pablo Stewart, an independent monitor chosen to oversee its enforcement, declared the system to be in a state of emergency.

Over the years, some significant improvements have been made. But Dr. Stewart’s final report , drafted in 2022, gave the system failing marks for its medication and staffing policies and reliance on solitary confinement “crisis watch” cells.

Ms. Grady, one of Mr. Johnson’s lawyers, cited an additional problem: a lack of coordination between corrections staff and Wexford’s professionals, beyond dutifully filling out dozens of mandated status reports.

“Markus Johnson was basically documented to death,” she said.

‘I’m just trying to keep my head up’

Mr. Johnson was not exactly looking forward to prison. But he saw it as an opportunity to learn a trade so he could start a family when he got out.

On Dec. 18, 2018, he arrived at a processing center in Joliet, where he sat for an intake interview. He was coherent and cooperative, well-groomed and maintained eye contact. He was taking his medication, not suicidal and had a hearty appetite. He was listed as 5 feet 6 inches tall and 256 pounds.

Mr. Johnson described his mood as “go with the flow.”

A few days later, after arriving in Danville, he offered a less settled assessment during a telehealth visit with a Wexford psychiatrist, Dr. Nitin Thapar. Mr. Johnson admitted to being plagued by feelings of worthlessness, hopelessness and “constant uncontrollable worrying” that affected his sleep.

He told Dr. Thapar he had heard voices in the past — but not now — telling him he was a failure, and warning that people were out to get him.

At the time he was incarcerated, the basic options for mentally ill people in Illinois prisons included placement in the general population or transfer to a special residential treatment program at the Dixon Correctional Center, west of Chicago. Mr. Johnson seemed out of immediate danger, so he was assigned to a standard two-man cell in the prison’s general population, with regular mental health counseling and medication.

Things started off well enough. “I’m just trying to keep my head up,” he wrote to his mother. “Every day I learn to be stronger & stronger.”

But his daily phone calls back home hinted at friction with other inmates. And there was not much for him to do after being turned down for a janitorial training program.

Then, in the spring of 2019, his grandmother died, sending him into a deep hole.

Dr. Thapar prescribed a new drug used to treat major depressive disorders. Its most common side effect is weight gain. Mr. Johnson stopped taking it.

On July 4, he told Dr. Thapar matter-of-factly during a telehealth check-in that he was no longer taking any of his medications. “I’ve been feeling normal, I guess,” he said. “I feel like I don’t need the medication anymore.”

Dr. Thapar said he thought that was a mistake, but accepted the decision and removed Mr. Johnson from his regular mental health caseload — instructing him to “reach out” if he needed help, records show.

The pace of calls back home slackened. Mr. Johnson spent more time in bed, and became more surly. At a group-therapy session, he sat stone silent, after showing up late.

By early August, he was telling guards he had stopped eating.

At some point, no one knows when, he had intermittently stopped drinking fluids.

‘I’m having a breakdown’

Then came the crash.

On Aug. 12, Mr. Johnson got into a fight with his older cellmate.

He was taken to a one-man disciplinary cell. A few hours later, Wexford’s on-site mental health counselor, Melanie Easton, was shocked by his disoriented condition. Mr. Johnson stared blankly, then burst into tears when asked if he had “suffered a loss in the previous six months.”

He was so unresponsive to her questions she could not finish the evaluation.

Ms. Easton ordered that he be moved to a 9-foot by 8-foot crisis cell — solitary confinement with enhanced monitoring. At this moment, a supervisor could have ticked the box for “residential treatment” on a form to transfer him to Dixon. That did not happen, according to records and depositions.

Around this time, he asked to be placed back on his medication but nothing seems to have come of it, records show.

By mid-August, he said he was visualizing “people that were not there,” according to case notes. At first, he was acting more aggressively, once flicking water at a guard through a hole in his cell door. But his energy ebbed, and he gradually migrated downward — from standing to bunk to floor.

“I’m having a breakdown,” he confided to a Wexford employee.

At the time, inmates in Illinois were required to declare an official hunger strike before prison officials would initiate protocols, including blood testing or forced feedings. But when a guard asked Mr. Johnson why he would not eat, he said he was “fasting,” as opposed to starving himself, and no action seems to have been taken.

‘Tell me this is OK!’

Lt. Matthew Morrison, one of the few people at Danville to take a personal interest in Mr. Johnson, reported seeing a white rind around his mouth in early September. He told other staff members the cell gave off “a death smell,” according to a deposition.

On Sept. 5, they moved Mr. Johnson to one of six cells adjacent to the prison’s small, bare-bones infirmary. Prison officials finally placed him on the official hunger strike protocol without his consent.

Mr. Morrison, in his deposition, said he was troubled by the inaction of the Wexford staff, and the lack of urgency exhibited by the medical director, Dr. Justin Young.

On Sept. 5, Mr. Morrison approached Dr. Young to express his concerns, and the doctor agreed to order blood and urine tests. But Dr. Young lived in Chicago, and was on site at the prison about four times a week, according to Mr. Kaplan. Friday, Sept. 6, 2019, was not one of those days.

Mr. Morrison arrived at work that morning, expecting to find Mr. Johnson’s testing underway. A Wexford nurse told him Dr. Young believed the tests could wait.

Mr. Morrison, stunned, asked her to call Dr. Young.

“He’s good till Monday,” Dr. Young responded, according to Mr. Morrison.

“Come on, come on, look at this guy! You tell me this is OK!” the officer responded.

Eventually, Justin Duprey, a licensed nurse practitioner and the most senior Wexford employee on duty that day, authorized the test himself.

Mr. Morrison, thinking he had averted a disaster, entered the cell and implored Mr. Johnson into taking the tests. He refused.

So prison officials obtained approval to remove him forcibly from his cell.

‘Oh, my God’

What happened next is documented in video taken from cameras held by officers on the extraction team and obtained by The Times through a court order.

Mr. Johnson is scarcely recognizable as the neatly groomed 21-year-old captured in a cellphone picture a few months earlier. His skin is ashen, eyes fixed on the middle distance. He might be 40. Or 60.

At first, he places his hands forward through the hole in his cell door to be cuffed. This is against procedure, the officers shout. His hands must be in back.

He will not, or cannot, comply. He wanders to the rear of his cell and falls hard. Two blasts of pepper spray barely elicit a reaction. The leader of the tactical team later said he found it unusual and unnerving.

The next video is in the medical unit. A shield is pressed to his chest. He is in agony, begging for them to stop, as two nurses attempt to insert a catheter.

Then they move him, half-conscious and limp, onto a wheelchair for the blood draw.

For the next 20 minutes, the Wexford nurse performing the procedure, Angelica Wachtor, jabs hands and arms to find a vessel that will hold shape. She winces with each puncture, tries to comfort him, and grows increasingly rattled.

“Oh, my God,” she mutters, and asks why help is not on the way.

She did not request assistance or discuss calling 911, records indicate.

“Can you please stop — it’s burning real bad,” Mr. Johnson said.

Soon after, a member of the tactical team reminds Ms. Wachtor to take Mr. Johnson’s vitals before taking him back to his cell. She would later tell Dr. Young she had been unable to able to obtain his blood pressure.

“You good?” one of the team members asks as they are preparing to leave.

“Yeah, I’ll have to be,” she replies in the recording.

Officers lifted him back onto his bunk, leaving him unconscious and naked except for a covering draped over his groin. His expressionless face is visible through the window on the cell door as it closes.

‘Cardiac arrest.’

Mr. Duprey, the nurse practitioner, had been sitting inside his office after corrections staff ordered him to shelter for his own protection, he said. When he emerged, he found Ms. Wachtor sobbing, and after a delay, he was let into the cell. Finding no pulse, Mr. Duprey asked a prison employee to call 911 so Mr. Johnson could be taken to a local emergency room.

The Wexford staff initiated CPR. It did not work.

At 3:38 p.m., the paramedics declared Markus Mison Johnson dead.

Afterward, a senior official at Danville called the Johnson family to say he had died of “cardiac arrest.”

Lisa Johnson pressed for more information, but none was initially forthcoming. She would soon receive a box hastily crammed with his possessions: uneaten snacks, notebooks, an inspirational memoir by a man who had served 20 years at Leavenworth.

Later, Shiping Bao, the coroner who examined his body, determined Mr. Johnson had died of severe dehydration. He told the state police it “was one of the driest bodies he had ever seen.”

For a long time, Ms. Johnson blamed herself. She says that her biggest mistake was assuming that the state, with all its resources, would provide a level of care comparable to what she had been able to provide her son.

She had stopped accepting foster care children while she was raising Markus and his siblings. But as the months dragged on, she decided her once-boisterous house had become oppressively still, and let local agencies know she was available again.

“It is good to have children around,” she said. “It was too quiet around here.”

Read by Glenn Thrush

Audio produced by Jack D’Isidoro .

Glenn Thrush covers the Department of Justice. He joined The Times in 2017 after working for Politico, Newsday, Bloomberg News, The New York Daily News, The Birmingham Post-Herald and City Limits. More about Glenn Thrush

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