In open-ended interviews, students characterized their teachers as: mean, hard, easy, good, strict, fun, or nice. Analyses of later student interviews suggested that, when these seventh-grade students conceptualize their teachers, they attend to four major foci: (1) academic work students are expected to complete; (2) teachers' instructional facility; (3) nature of students' daily classroom experiences; and (4) teachers' personal characteristics. These foci can be further subdivided into themes. When discussing their academic work, students mentioned: the quantity of the assigned work, the difficulty of this work, and the grading standards that the teacher used to evaluate the work. When students considered the instructional facility of their teachers, their comments centered around the quality of explanations provided by the teacher, and the individual assistance the teacher was willing to provide. In describing their classroom experiences, students mentioned: (1) disciplinary strategy employed; (2) tolerance for inappropriate behavior; (3) degree to which students were encouraged to manage their classroom activities; and (4) overall affective character of the class. Students also talked about teachers' personal characteristics, including temperament, displays of temper, and relationships established with students. (JM)