I feel that all kids want to learn, especially at a young age, if they are motivated to learn. The key to being a good teacher is promoting or creating this motivation, not simply presenting "the facts". Any teacher can find information and present it to the students, but a good teacher will motivate students to want to understand the information. I believe this is done by first creating interest.
Interest is not created by standing in front of the classroom and lecturing, it is created by getting the students actively involved with the lesson. The students should have their hands on materials besides books and worksheets, exploring not only with their minds but also with their bodies, exploring with others and not only by themselves. This exploration should not be too structured by the teacher, nor should it be a free-for-all. The teacher should guide the students learning by getting the students interested in the activity and anxious to begin, and then guiding them through the activity by offering questions that promote a deeper understanding of the concepts while they explore. Furthermore, students should not be given the answers to questions outright; they should be given ample time to explore so that they have the opportunity to come to the proper conclusions on their own, which, in turn, will give them ownership to that new found knowledge.
The teacher must also bring variations in how the lessons are presented each time. In science doing lab work is often fun and has the children actively involved, but this cannot be done every day. By varying teaching methods children will be less likely to be "bored" or frustrated with school and the teacher will be more likely to understand which methods the students react positively to. Conversely, the teacher who is unyielding in strategies and teaches the same way through every lesson has no chance at fully understanding the strategies his/her students learn best with, which will ultimately lead to a negative learning experience for most of the students.
The environment in which the students are in also dictates the motivation of the child to learn. In this respect the teacher must refrain from creating a teacher-centered classroom and focus on creating a student centered classroom. A teacher-centered classroom is one in which students must adjust to the teachers behaviors and teaching style. The student-centered classroom forces the teacher to adjust and cater to the individual behaviors and learning styles of individual students, which requires the teacher to have a firm understanding each child's individual learning style. Also, in a student centered classroom there is more interaction between students. Students should be given the opportunity to not only learn from the teacher, but also from each other. The teacher should also be willing to admit the fact that they do not know everything and open up to also learning from and with the children. The environment of the classroom should be one that promotes taking risks and exploration.
Finally, I believe that school, for the most part, should be fun. The teacher should always be searching for ways in which to make lessons fun. Throughout my own schooling I felt as if teachers were trying to force me to learn and by the third or fourth grade I was tired of it and hated school. I do not believe this should be the case and the student should look forward to coming to school and having some fun, and this fun can only be created if the teacher is willing to find the time to make the material that has to be taught interesting.