Throughout a K-12 education, students encounter all kinds of teachers.

The nice ones, the funny ones, the scary ones, and all the ones in between.

As much as students dislike the classwork, a good teacher makes a difference between an awful day and a great learning opportunity.

Many students have certain characteristics in mind when they think of  their favorite teachers.

Sophomore Claudia Moore’s favorite teacher is Mr. Rob Markwardt.

“I like someone who is very active and willing to explain things multiple times, even when only one person doesn’t understand,” Moore said.

Certain teaching techniques benefit each student individually.

Everyone has a different way of understanding, which means that everyone needs to be taught in a slightly different way, and most students don’t know what kind of learner they actually are.

There are visual learners, auditory learners, and tactile learners.

Visual learners, who are most common, tend to learn better by seeing things such as presentations or graphs.

Junior Anne Marland is a visual learner.

“PowerPoint helps a lot,” Marland said. “I need to write down the information and look over it, not just read from my book.”

Auditory learners do best when they hear things being read to them, or have the teacher explain the subject being taught.

Tactile learners, who are considered the minority of students, are the ones who need hands-on instruction to understand the lesson.

Teachers have different methods that they’ve worked on over the years to accommodate the mix of students.

Mrs. Amy Graham, health teacher, has tried to perfect her teaching over time.

“I try to make connections and form relationships with the students,” Graham said.

Graham said she was inspired by a former teacher to become one herself, and said she wanted to be as great a person as he was.

“He was a fantastic man, and you felt guilty when you failed him,” Graham said.