It's 7:35 a.m. The bell rings to signify the start of the oh-so-wonderful school day. A few minutes later, an adult speaks over the loud speaker to give all of us bleary-eyed students a little kick in the rear, reminding us that we only have one minute and 48 seconds to get to class. Uh oh, there is still 20 feet between my first-period class and me; I don't think I'll make it!

It's 7:40 a.m. The second bell rings, letting the security staff and administrative faculty know that they can now prowl the hallways for delinquents. The lunchroom could always use a good cleaning. I am slumped over my desk with all the sleep deprivation-induced grace of a sloth. A pencil and an eraser manage to crawl their way onto my desk and now lie lifeless just beyond my limp fingertips. As any attentive observer would be able to tell, I am perfectly aware and eagerly awaiting my teacher's latest round of instructions. My classmates, except for the creepily chipper morning people, are in similar states.

Faced with this crowd, what can a teacher do? I have a few ideas.

I have had 50 teachers in my lifetime and am destined to have many more as I continue my education.

Some of them I pity. They have neither the disposition nor the knowledge of how to cope with hundreds upon hundreds of students, almost all of who would rather be somewhere else than in the classroom.

Others don't even try or are so utterly inept as to have lost all hope of earning their students' respect by the first five minutes of the year's first class. Unfortunately, once that crucial first impression has been made it is difficult to change, but don't despair because students are forgiving if given sufficient cause to forgive.

Then there are the rare talented, personable, and admirable teachers who can alter a student's life and/or make the entire school day happier as much as one truly awful teacher can ruin it. What makes these people so wonderful and deserving of our respect? They can be witty, harsh without being unfair, entertaining, engaging, friendly, genuine, and so on.

But the most important qualities that a good teacher must have are a firm grasp on the subject they are teaching, a relaxed personality and a teaching style that is both organized and adaptable, confidence without arrogance, and a palpable sense of caring and investment in their students. This is a good teacher. A great teacher is even more than that.

My concept of a great teacher is a good teacher with quirkiness or eccentricity that engenders fondness from his or her students. He or she possesses the confidence to make the oddity come across as "cool."

Moreover, he/she is able to relate to his/her students on a beyond-the-classroom level. These kinds of teachers know who they are because their current and previous student bodies constantly surround them. (No student returns to visit a teacher they didn't like.) In fact, they can't rid themselves of their groupies no matter how hard they try. Within the turbulent educational world, a great teacher is a stable and pleasing person to be around - a sort of anchoring academic touchstone.

My friends range from the very average to the extremely above average. We don't need our teachers to be geniuses, jack-of-all-trades or pretenders. What we do need are people willing to steep themselves in their particular subjects so that they are capable of transferring this information into our heads in a manner more pleasant than slamming our foreheads into our textbooks. To be comfortably confident in oneself is to earn the respect and trust of others.

The point is that all teachers are in a position to greatly influence those who pass through their classrooms. The terrible ones are remembered for their absurdity, the mediocre ones are recalled only as having been, and the truly amazing ones have an impact that will never be forgotten.

I applaud all who enter the educational profession. It is a very difficult, underpaid, and often under- appreciated and thankless job. The day when the people in power finally realize that great teachers are worth the cost cannot come too soon.

Kyra-lin Hom is a West Seattle student attending Garfield High School and can be reached at kl_hom@yahoo.com