Given the interactive nature of teaching, dispositional characteristics (i.e., traits that dispose a person towards certain behaviors, choices, and experiences) like assertiveness and openness or emotional states such as sadness, worry, and stress may play important roles in a teacher's ability to interact in meaningful, engaging, and effective ways with students. Preliminary work in the teaching field has found associations between teacher beliefs and attitudes and their effectiveness in their interactions with students. This study aims to better understand the dispositional traits and emotional states of pre-service teachers and the association between these attributes and the effectiveness of their interactions with students. The authors examine two dispositional traits that hold particular promise: (1) "personality"; and (2) "adult attachment style." They also examine three emotional states: (1) "depression"; (2) "anxiety"; and (3) "stress." Additionally, this study asks whether these qualities of pre-service teachers are similar to their same age peers, if they remain stable over time, and whether they predict preservice teachers' interactions with students in their student-teaching experience. The results of this study have important implications for teacher education and for understanding the characteristics of those individuals who are entering the teaching profession and who may show early promise as effective teachers. (Contains 6 tables.)