What makes a good teacher?

I'm finally back!  I planned to re-start a blog last year, but then never got around to it.  So, here we go again, hopefully with more success this time... :)

A significant component of my role as Director of Education at Temple Isaiah is to spend time thinking about what makes a good teacher.  How can we find, train, and keep outstanding teachers in our program?  I like to say that there are three key things I look for when I'm hiring someone to teach in our community:

• Jewish background & commitment - Does this person have a strong Jewish / Jewish educational background?  Does this person have a strong Jewish knowledge base?  Does this person live a committed Jewish life?  How does this person express his/her Jewish identity? 
• Pedagogical skills - How will this person deal with classroom management?  How does this person plan lessons and implement them?  How might this person create differentiated instruction so that it meets the needs of all our children?
• Personality - Is this person a mentsch?  Is s/he loving, kind, fun, energetic, engaging, and warm-hearted?  Will our parents and kids love this person?

Of course, there are all kinds of other things I look for, but these are the basics, and I have to say that it's incredibly challenging to find Religious School teachers who are strong in all three categories.  It's more common to find people who are strong in two of these three areas and significantly weaker in one of them (the area of weakness varies from person to person).  So then the question for me is... can I help this person improve in the areas where s/he may be weak?  Or connect the teacher to resources or mentors who will help him or her grow?  Sometimes the answer is 'yes' and sometimes the answer is 'no.'

The question of what makes a good teacher is a hot topic in the world of (secular) education right now.  What kinds of programs train people to be the best teachers they can be?  What skills do people need to learn / develop to be outstanding teachers?  Can educational schools really provide those skills, or are the ed schools themselves falling short?  There's a movement underfoot to make significant changes in the way that teachers are trained, and an interesting article in the NY Times this week examined some of the new teacher training programs.  I'm always curious to find out what's happening in the broader world of education so that we can adapt from best practices to make our teaching staff as strong as it can be. I wonder how professional development at Temple Isaiah can give our teachers the skills they need to do their best in our setting, which is admittedly different (and with different goals) than a public school setting...

Do any of you have thoughts on what makes a good teacher for your children?  What kind of Religious School teacher do you want for your children?