273 Best Words to Describe a Teacher

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

Some of my favorite ways to describe a teacher are:

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

Some negative descriptions include:

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

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

Positive Adjectives to Describe a Teacher

1. Excellent Teacher

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Other words for excellent teachers:

Excellent!	Devoted	Effective	Delightful
Fantastic	Intuitive	Inventive	Wonderful
Hard-working	Inspiring	Skilful	Purpose-driven

2. Good Teacher

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Other words for good teachers:

Able	Alert	Capable	Keen
Modest	Neat	Optimistic	Organized
Pleasant	Proficient	Reliable	Respectful
Responsible	Self-assured	Underrated	Well-spoken
Willing	Satisfactory	Conscientious	Disciplined
Careful	Dutiful	Eager	Dedicated
Determined	Diligent	Humble

Read Also: 83 Best Words to Describe a Student

3. Kind Teacher

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

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

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

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

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

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

Other words for kind teachers:

Kind	Caring	Good-natured	Considerate
Convivial	Courteous	Friendly	Gentle
Giving	Loving	Nice	Patient
Polite	Reassuring	Selfless	Smiling
Sweet	Sympathetic	Tender-hearted	Understanding

4. Fun Teacher

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

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

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

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

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

Other words for fun teachers:

Charming	Humorous	Lively	Easy-going
Memorable	Playful	Popular	Sociable
Spirited	Winsome	Eccentric	Happy
Jocular	Jolly	Jovial	Hilarious
Exciting	Cheerful	Entertaining	Imaginative
Colorful	Flashy	Cool	Cordial

Read Also: Metaphors about Teachers

5. Intelligent Teacher

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Other words for intelligent teachers:

Intelligent	Wise	Brilliant	Sharp
Mature	Pensive	Provocative	Thought-provoking
Prudent	Scientific	Shrewd	Smart
Sophisticated	Studious	Talented	Thorough
Thoughtful	Thought-provoking	Knowledgeable	Logical
Masterly	Mathematical	Methodical	Meticulous
Genius	Instinctive	Interesting	Insightful
Clever	Discerning	Circumspect	Incisive

6. Fair Teacher

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

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

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

Other words for fair teachers:

Fair	Conciliatory	Just	Level-headed
Sensible	Serious	Stern	Unbiased
Scrupulous	Diligent	Honest

7. Calm Teacher

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

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

Other words for calm teachers:

Calm

Composed

Firm

Chill

Negative Adjectives to Describe a Teacher

1. Bad Teacher

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Other words for bad teachers:

Complacent	Conceited	Condescending	Confused
Contemptuous	Difficult	Disagreeable	Disorganized
Dogmatic	Fatigued	Fussy	Harsh
Hot under the collar	Hot-headed	Hysterical	Impatient
Inattentive	Inexperienced	Intolerant	Irresponsible
Irritating	Mean	Moody	Nervous
Obnoxious	Outrageous	Pedantic	Pompous
Pretentious	Rambling	Rash	Repulsive
Resentful	Sarcastic	Self-absorbed	Selfish
Self-possessed	Slow to Respond	Smug	Sneering
Snobbish	Spiteful	Uncooperative	Undependable
Unintelligent	Unpleasant	Unpopular	Unreliable

2. Boring Teacher

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

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

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

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

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

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

Other words for boring teachers:

Wordy	Tedious	Unimaginative	Uninteresting
Frustrating	Cheerless	Half-hearted	Dull
Indiscreet	Resigned	Sedate

3. Unfair Teacher

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

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

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

Other words for unfair teachers:

Hasty	Too Direct	Too Frank	Too Honest
Inconsiderate	Inconsistent	Prejudiced	Presumptuous

Adjectives to Describe a Teaching Style

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

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

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

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

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

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

Other words for teaching styles:

Flexible	Versatile	Cooperative	Crafty
Creative	Musical	Practical	Resourceful
Systematic	Naturalistic	Kinaesthetic	Behaviorist
Sociocultural	Progressive	Conservative	Student-Centered

Other ways to Describe a Teacher

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

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

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

Conclusion

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

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

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