What makes a great teacher?

What makes a teacher great is finding a route (for all students) to present difficult content, ideas, debates, issues in a lucid, compelling way, time after time. A great teacher works hard to prepare, to think freshly about the material he / she is teaching, and to find current examples that will engage student interest. A great teacher makes the classroom magic happen, regularly. She or he elicits her / his students' best efforts and captivates their minds, so that they leave class still alive with ideas and comments which continue to ripple into the playground and home.