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What Makes a Good Teacher - annotated

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12 views

What Makes a Good Teacher - annotated

Uploaded by

Thedy Pacheco
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Excerpt from “What Makes a Good Teacher?

”*

When we finish high school, we finish as graduates of a few dozen teachers. If we go on to college or technical
school afterward, we become pupils of dozens more. In all those years as a student, what makes good teachers
noteworthy? What makes us remember them years and decades after they taught us? Outstanding teachers have
several common characteristics. They:
• Love children
• Are prepared
• Know their subject matter
• Engage students
• Challenge their students
• Teach lifelong lessons
• Have excellent communication skills

Love and value students


It should go without saying, but if you don’t enjoy the company of young people, elementary education is probably
not the field for you. Good teachers love their students and demonstrate their resolve to better the lives of future
generations in their daily work. They respect1 their students, regardless of their age and skill, and make them feel
special, important, and unique.
By creating a welcoming environment, they invite children to be themselves in a setting where they feel safe to
express their full range of feelings. With warmth and compassion, they listen to concerns voiced by students and
parents and build nurturing classrooms where students can feel a sense of belonging.2

Be prepared3
The most effective teachers don’t just assign homework, they also complete their own. Much like a professional
basketball coach makes game plans for the team, an effective teacher strategically plans for class with lesson plans.

1
Students, no matter how young they are, deserve to be treated with respect because they are human beings. Even in our
modes of discipline, we must remember our students’ humanity: discipline must be constructive, not humiliating and not
damaging to mind, body, or spirit.

2
Two tips to nurture students:
• BEGIN WHERE THE STUDENTS ARE. Know your students’ level of knowledge and skills. Begin at that level and build new
knowledge from there.
• SMILE. A teacher who looks friendly and welcoming makes a student feel safe. Feelings of safety and belonging aid in
learning. Feelings of fear and threat hamper learning.
When we feel afraid or threatened, the cortisol levels in our brain increase. Cortisol is a hormone that helps us respond to
threat. It shuts down all mental and physical functions that are not relevant to survival so that our body and brain can
concentrate on surviving the threat. The brain pathways involved in learning are among the functions that are shut down by
elevated cortisol levels, resulting in only short-term learning (the knowledge is not retained), or loss of learning.

3
Don’t just read about your subject, read around it. Try to learn more than you need to know for a lesson. The extra knowledge
in your brain can be very useful when students ask questions beyond the lesson topic. You can also inject the extra information
casually as you teach, to make the lesson more interesting.
In the lesson plans, the teacher devises learning goals for the day and the requisite assignments to reinforce their
teaching. The assignments allow students to practice and strengthen new skill areas.
Teachers also spend significant time outside instruction periods planning for future lessons and grading papers,
allowing students to receive quick feedback. Great teachers use this feedback to determine when additional time
should be spent on a tough skill, if specific children need more individualized attention, and when it’s best to take a
new approach to better reach the students.4

Know your subject matter


If you want to become a teacher, you need a deep understanding of your subject matter. School districts often require
teachers to complete prerequisites or majors in the subject they’ll teach—comprehensive knowledge of a subject
area is essential in effectively teaching the next generation.
And the best teachers never stop learning. When they’re most successful, they transfer their love of learning to their
students. These instructors keep abreast of new knowledge in their fields as well as emerging teaching strategies,
always trying to build their knowledge base for better student education. When students see teachers that love
learning, it becomes infectious.

Engage students
When you ask people about a favorite teacher, chances are they have an anecdote about a unique or creative tactic
the teacher used. Whether it’s sharing a special book, song, or movie; using technology; or taking another
imaginative approach, children appreciate the extra effort. A teacher dressed in period costume can make history
more interesting. Likewise, a nature hike can make learning about deciduous trees more remarkable.
When teachers make lessons interesting and memorable, children become more engaged and eager to learn.
Resourceful and inventive teachers are unforgettable—and, often, so are their lessons.
The most engaging teachers also understand the disparate learning styles of their students and strive to reach each
one. Great teachers are attentive and aware of the unique needs and abilities of the children in their class, and they
work to meet those needs in an inspiring way.

Challenge students
In the short term, students often enjoy easy teachers with low expectations. But over time, many recall and reminisce
about tougher teachers that held high expectations and pushed them to be better students. Great teachers don’t give
up on students with low grades or short attention spans. They also don’t ignore or bore high achievers. They have
high expectations, are highly motivating, and believe in all of their students.
Beyond high expectations, good teachers challenge their students. Students tend to enjoy challenges, as long as
they’re presented in a kind spirit.5 One method of motivation is asking thoughtful questions. Instead of focusing solely
on facts, teachers can ask “why” questions to get students thinking about sequencing and making predictions about
the world. When teachers challenge their students, they push them to work harder, become better, and achieve more
than they could imagine.

4
Sometimes, it’s not possible to finish checking papers fast enough to provide “quick feedback.” One way to manage is to read
most (if possible all) of the submitted papers without stopping to grade each of them yet. Read the students’ papers only to get
a sense of what parts of an assignment or test were difficult or confusing for them so you can give general feedback on these
points and/or explain them further as soon after submission as possible. You can go back to the papers later to grade them.

5
Challenge provides a kind of stress that is positive and stimulating, and therefore leads to learning. What makes the stress of a
challenge ‘positive’ for a student is the spirit in which the teacher presents it: with kindness, empathy, and encouragement.
Teach lifelong lessons6
One of the biggest privileges of being a teacher is helping students to not only learn academic subjects, but to
become better people. This character education is a responsibility that teachers share with parents, caregivers,
families, schools, and community organizations. By listening to students, letting them know they’re valuable, and
giving them a supportive and nurturing classroom environment, teachers go a long way in imparting important
lessons about teamwork, open-mindedness, and working through feelings and emotions to future generations.

Communicate well, and with varied audiences


Great teachers are also excellent communicators.7 They communicate effectively with all sorts of audiences: students,
parents, school administrators, and co-workers. Good teachers have strong relationships with their students by being
warm, available, and kind. They reach out to parents often, with both updates and concerns. They also work with
administrators and other teachers to improve their own teaching as well as the schools at which they teach. They’re
active participants with all stakeholders, and work earnestly with all groups.

*****
* Source: www.waldenu.edu/online-bachelors-programs/bs-in-elementary-education/resource/what-makes-a-good-
teacher

VOCABULARY BUILDING

Words and idioms (expressions) used in this article:


• go without saying / goes without saying - obvious, undeniable
• devises - creates, develops, comes up with (different from device [spelled with a ‘c’] which refers to a
tool or gadget)
• requisite - necessary, essential
• keep abreast of - stay updated (about something)
• engage - attract or involve someone’s attention (in Tagalog: engganyuhin)
• chances are - very likely, possibly (in Tagalog: ‘malamang’)
• period costume - clothes that were worn at a particular time (period) in history
• deciduous trees - trees that shed their leaves every year
• disparate - diverse, varied
• reminisce - recall and talk about past experiences
• stakeholders - people and groups that are affected or influenced by the decisions of the institution (for
example, a school) with which they are connected

6
Lifelong lessons are taught by example, not by words, with the teacher serving as role model. Your actions and behavior as a
teacher must be consistent with the values and principles that you teach.

7
Good teachers know how to adjust their communication style to suit their audience, whether these are students, parents,
administrators, or colleagues.

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