Great Teachers

[garro]

I was just wondering what others might think about this. Do you remember any great teachers growing up? What made them great? Is it possible to copy the great ones or are they just made that way?

I remember in secondary school that we had an art teacher who was a punk. He introduced different types of music into our classroom, and my musical taste is still influenced by him twenty-years later. I think that the thing that made him so great was that he genuinely seemed to be interested in our lives and he felt like one of us - I don't think many teachers could pull this off. He brought every subject into the classroom and made learning seem worthwhile. He had the best classroom management skills I have ever seen - we would reluctantly leave his class at the end of the hour. I would love to be able to teach they way he did.

What about you guys.

[aussiestyle1983]

From the pot smoking hippie biology teacher I had in year 12 who was also shagging the chinese art teacher in the dark photo room, to the racist old aussie fart who eventually got sacked for coping a students desk to the head after calling the student a <deleted>, I have had many great, and not so great teachers. The greatness of all teachers comes down to their personality, because I feel its their personality that determines what type of teacher they will be. You might be able to copy the techniques of great teachers, but unless you have the personality to go with it, you will just be a fraud. My hats off to all teachers is westerns countries who are way underpaid, over worked, and overexposed to the law.

[DragonQuest]

I think just be yourself, some students will love you, some will hate you, some dont care, at t

[sbk]

Well personality certainly makes a difference, but I would have to say that the greatest teachers are also the ones who challenged me (academically) more than others.

I had a history teacher in high school (doctorate from Stanford teaching in a public high school!) who was the best teacher I have ever had. He was not our friend but he was still a good teacher. He presented his information in an interesting way, often going outside the "normal" history to teach us some of the more detailed background. And he challenged us academically. We had to write a paper a week for the entire school year. Whew! Tough but he did me the biggest favor of my academic career. He taught me how to write a coherent, cohesive paper under pressure.

[Briggsy]

Preparation and learning from experience.

[PeaceBlondie]

I am voting with sbk on this one. The most effective teachers taught for results, like our 11th grade English teacher. He flunked an entire essay if it used your you're its it's their there they're incorrectly. He was tough and no buddy of the students, but we knew he was preparing us for Ivy League schools. And my first male teacher, in grade 6, taught us very well without having to entertain us. Our uni president taught a class on introduction to sociology that inspired me to take 5 more soc classes. They loved to teach, and you could feel that passion.

[mopenyang]

They loved to teach, and you could feel that passion.

Absolutely, and you could feel almost instantly how different they were from the teachers who were there just doing their job and nothing more.

The great ones are never forgotten and the rest are lost in the fog of nameless teachers in generic classrooms studying forgotten subjects.

[wangsuda]

In my opinion, the truly great teachers have these qualities in common:

1. A love for a subject. A love so strong that they go out and get a degree (or to or three) in that subject

2. The desire to share. After learning, the truly great teachers are willing to endure low pay and tons of bureaucratic B.S. in order to share that knowledge. But before they do that . . .

3. They have to be great communicators. All the knowledge and desire in the world is useless if a teacher cannot communicate. Great teachers can communicate AND communicate well.

My Dad (who was a teacher for 45 years) told me that a good teacher needs to know more than his/her students, should always be ready to teach when the students walk in, and be able to communicate the lesson's ideas to every student in class.

Edited June 22, 2008 by wangsuda

[Ijustwannateach]

I agree with all of the above!

My best teachers were passionate about their students, their own studies, their subject, their hobbies, and about teaching. In fact, you could tell they cared deeply about what they were doing and the persons with whom they were speaking. They showed this by their knowledge of detail: detail about their students, their subjects, and their own interests within those subjects. Add to this their ability to communicate, elucidate, and evoke knowledge {education means "a drawing out," after all} with humour and personality in a limited time frame, bringing the best possible out of each student without resentment, and that's a formula for a great teacher.

I don't think it comes easily or quickly- discussed with an old high school mate one of our favourite teachers and how I doubted I'd ever be able to match him, and he speculated maybe we caught him at the best time, near the end of his career, when he already knew how to avoid all the mistakes.

"S"

[wangsuda]

when he already knew how to avoid all the mistakes.

"S"

And there's the true magic of teaching, right there!

[PeaceBlondie]

when he already knew how to avoid all the mistakes.

"S"

And there's the true magic of teaching, right there!

It is true as well in work that requires less formal training. That's why internships, apprenticeships, on-the-job training, etc. are required until the newbie can say, "I won't be fooled again" and "Been there, done that". Even rocket surgeons get better with practice.

[Jimmyd]

I think there is a danger of answering the question "Who was *your* greatest teacher?" rather than the original question of "What makes a great teacher?"

It's an important distinction to me, because the teachers who I learned the most from often didn't do as well with the rest of the class--they just happened to strike a chord in me.

To me a great teacher is able to discern what is being learned in the classroom (through various assessment techniques) and has a large toolset of techniques to adjust to what the students abilities and learning styles are.

[Ratsima]

A great teacher remembers what is was like before they learned what they are teaching now.

[LeungKen]

when he already knew how to avoid all the mistakes.

"S"

And there's the true magic of teaching, right there!

It is true as well in work that requires less formal training. That's why internships, apprenticeships, on-the-job training, etc. are required until the newbie can say, "I won't be fooled again" and "Been there, done that". Even rocket surgeons get better with practice.

It looks like you were away that week when your teacher explained about plagiarism.

Or did you think you could slip in "Rocket Surgeon" without comment ........

PS My Physics master (Old Bolshie that he was) always treated us as young adults - didn't suffer fools well, knew that he had to teach a syllabus and get results but was far more interested in getting you to think for youself. I can hear him now "You've got a brain lad, Exercise it" and "don't just follow the crowd, you're not a sheep are you ? "

Then he would probably tell a corny joke and retire to his "Office" (read store-room) for a quick ciggy whilst we got to think about bodies being immersed in liquids ...

"Eureka !' .."By Jove I think I've got it"

A great teacher - Cheers Norman & thanks for teaching us to think.

[quiksilva]

The teachers that influenced me the most were the ones that believed in me and were passionate and genuinely interested in the subjects that they taught.

They made it easy to see how the knowledge that they imparted in their lessons could by applied in the real world and used to our advantage.

[jbowman1993]

From a good article found here - http://www.greatschools.net/cgi-bin/showarticle/ca/259 (because great teacher's don't steal other people's ideas and pass them off as their own, lol)

1) Great teachers set high expectations for all students.

2) Great teachers have clear, written-out objectives.

3) Great teachers are prepared and organized.

4) Great teachers engage students and get them to look at issues in a variety of ways.

5) Great teachers form strong relationships with their students and show that they care about them as people.

6) Great teachers are masters of their subject matter.

7) Great teachers communicate frequently with parents.