Certain qualities may help students be well liked by their teachers.

Hershey High School teachers Elizabeth Blosky, Scott Dilger, and Erin Ives shared some tips and tricks for staying on your teacher’s good side.

1. Be Prepared

All three of the teachers mentioned this. Being prepared for your classes looks different depending on the teacher and the class. For Ives and Dilger, being prepared means having an open mind to learn new things. Blosky, however, said that being prepared is having the materials needed for class, like a pencil, some paper, and a binder.

Tip: Prepare both your backpack and mind for class. Have the materials needed for that class and be ready to learn something new.

2. Be Organized

Organization can come in many forms. Ives and Blosky said binders for notes and other papers is important for organization. Ives also said that organizing assignments on Google Docs is important in her class since a lot of her assignments are done on Google Docs.

Tip: Have a binder or notebook for every class you take. Keep your notes in order of the day(s) they were taken and put dates on everything. For online assignments, make a folder in Google Docs for each class and put folders inside folders for large assignments with multiple documents.

3. Be Ready

Classes get harder in high school. Ives said that being ready for the hard stuff is important. This can look different for every student and class, but she thinks that you can be ready for the harder stuff by knowing that it’s not all going to be easy. Blosky said that studying just fifteen minutes a night can help her students be ready for the harder stuff by already being prepared with the easier information.

Tip: For a class that builds off of itself, study the information given in class for a few minutes every night to make sure you understand what is happening. Come to terms with the fact that school is not always going to come easy and you may have to work at some things to get better, then work at them.

4. Know the Teacher

All teachers have their own preferences. Students with a sense of humor can stay on Ives good side. She also likes it when students know that learning is challenging and are willing to work to get better. Dilger said that students who are friendly and say hello stay on his good side. Being respectful is very important to Blosky. She also believes that treating both her and other students with kindness is one of the best things a student can do.

Tip: Get to know your teachers. They aren’t scary; they are just normal people who enjoy conversation and getting to know their students.

But more than all of this, teachers just want their students to want to learn. Ives wants her students to know that “learning is challenging and messy but ultimately putting forth great effort and having humility” will lead to the best learning environment for everyone.