What is it that makes good teachers "good"?

[fifty5]

To me, it's the ability to make their subject seductively attractive - interesting.

It isn't about the exam results as such, though I suspect that tends to follow, but if a teacher can make their students think, "This is a subject worth study" then I think they are a good teacher.

What do you think?

 

[rgraham666]

I think it has to do with the teacher caring about their students. Enough to find out what makes them tick and then to match that to the subject.

 

[midwestyankee]

A good teacher inspires students to do whatever is necessary to learn his or her subject matter well. How they do this is immaterial.

A good teacher creates the right conditions for learning. Learning only happens when the student wants it to happen.

No one can force another to learn: learning is always a matter of choosing to apply one's mind to a new problem. We all know teenagers who on the same day flunked a test in school but then got excellent scores on the written and on-the-road portions of the test to earn their drivers license. It's not that they couldn't learn the history or algebra they were tested on that day: they just didn't care enough to learn it.

 

[starrkers]

A good teacher makes the subject interesting, so that students want to know more about it.

A good teacher has the ability to teach the same thing in different ways so that kids get several chances to "geddit".

A good teacher cares about their students but is able to not play favourites and is able to leave the classroom behind when they walk out in the afternoon.

A great teacher does all these things.

 

[tickledkitty]

My daughter had a really great teacher in nursery school. The first thing I noticed about her on the first day of school was that she stooped down to my daughter's level, looked her in the eye, and listened very intently to what she had to say. She always did that with everyone and wouldn't let anyone interrupt until the child was finished talking.

 

[jomar]

In my experience teaching is more of a 'calling' than a profession. And if they have that, teachers will bring students along with all sorts of excellent strategies.

I'll let others weigh in on the testing crap.

 

[fifty5]

I think it has to do with the teacher caring about their students. Enough to find out what makes them tick and then to match that to the subject.

That sounds good to me, but 'necessary, not sufficient'. To me, the teacher first has to care about the subject - think that is something really worth learning - then caring about the students turns a practitioner into a teacher.

Yes?

 

[cantdog]

TK has a really good point. A good teacher treats people with candor and respect. It works wonders to do that.

For many age groups, mine included, and I'm about 55, you do more for a teacher whom you think sound than for a hack or an asshole. It's not as key for my age group, maybe, because whenever I take a class now I am paying for it and I have a sound reason for signing on to learn it. But for prisoners of a compulsory education system, how you perceive the teacher is quite important.

Everyone says, they made it interesting. How is that done, exactly? I think some of it is done in just this way. If the teacher respects you and listens to you and won't bullshit you very often, you will be motivated to find a way to get interested in what that teacher has to tell you.

 

[fifty5]

A good teacher inspires students to do whatever is necessary to learn his or her subject matter well. How they do this is immaterial.

A good teacher creates the right conditions for learning. Learning only happens when the student wants it to happen.

No one can force another to learn: learning is always a matter of choosing to apply one's mind to a new problem. We all know teenagers who on the same day flunked a test in school but then got excellent scores on the written and on-the-road portions of the test to earn their drivers license. It's not that they couldn't learn the history or algebra they were tested on that day: they just didn't care enough to learn it.

I think that's another way to say what I did: good teachers make the subject seductively attractive...

So I agree with you.

 

[starrkers]

I forgot something very important:

A really good teacher doesn't pretend to know everything. And is willing to learn from a student.
"I don't know the answer, but I know where to find it" is a perfectly acceptable answer.

 

[voluptuary_manque]

Jomar is right.

 

[SexJunkie23]

If the teacher truly cares, I think the students will truly care. There are always exceptions though.

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

Jesus! People!

Teaching isnt entertainment.

Most students are oafs and dimbos who rightly belong on the farm picking cotton rather than picking their noses in a congested classroom.

You guys have it back-asswards. Real scholars will learn anywhere, and a teacher's job is to direct and augment the learning process. Teachers dont exist to amuse your spoiled idiot child.

 

[lesbiaphrodite]

A good teacher knows how to teach without being didactic.

 

[NoJo]

When I was 13 my maths teacher gave me a book: "How to Lie With Statistics" -- about how advertisers and goverments abuse statistics. That was a key for me. And after two years of having this teacher, I became best in the class at maths.

I don't know how good he was as a teacher. He used to letch after one of the girls in my class -- but come to think of it, so did everyone else -- Anyway he had faith in me and made me believe in myself, and provided (through that book), the initial kick-start to my enthusiasm for maths. So that was pretty amazing.

 

[Shwenn]

TK has a really good point. A good teacher treats people with candor and respect. It works wonders to do that.

I used to tutor Physics at University.

I picked up a trick from my Calculus professor that worked wonders.

I never asked a student of mine, "Do you understand?"

Instead, I asked, "Do you agree?"

Best trick ever. I brought my students from Ds and Fs to As and Bs. I think I owe it to that one trick.

When you ask a student if they understand, you are sort of saying, "I've given you information. Do you understand it or are you stupid?"

If they don't understand, they just tell you "No." You are no better off than where you were before but now the student feels stupid and cowed.

Change that one word to agree and they suddenly feel respected and allowed to argue with you. And they do argue, giving you a wealth of information about their frame of mind. You will then know how to frame that information in such a way that they are able to absorb it.

 

[Precious_Lady]

A good teacher....

1. Cares for all of his/her students equally; no matter their background
2. Creates a "safe" learning environment: you never know exactly what kind of home life a student has, so the goal is to make your classroom a safe haven for any and everyone
3. Love teaching...love kids period...if you don't like kids...don't teach
4. Love teaching what you teach...if you love science, try to teach science...if, God forbid, you love Kindergartners...teach Kindergarten

For me, teaching is NOT a job, it is a calling. I love middle school, I love their crazy little personalities, and I think that that shines through...

I think one of the best things that I learned in University was to care about the individual student, and not the class as a whole.

OH YEAH: tomorrow is a whole new day....if one of your students was being a little shit today, let it go. It isn't worth the stress on you to keep a grudge against the student.

 

[R. Richard]

I think that each and every one who has responded to this thread has overlooked what is the key to a good teacher. That key is the ability to answer relevant questions. If a 'teacher' is prepared to answer relevant questions about the material he/she/it is teaching, then the 'teacher' is a fraud.

I struggled through the schooling I was forced to take. I learned math, chemistry and physics without the need for a teacher and mainly through books I stole/returned to the public library. I memorized enough lies to get me through history and foreign language. I could never pass English. The fat, stupid, ugly, closet-lesbian, cows who 'taught' English would never answer my questions in class. They wanted me to work out the answers on my own. I learned nothing in English class, or during my frequent trips to the Vice-Principal's office. I did teach several important lessons to the other boys in the English classes, "Try to fuck with Whi' Boy and you die."

Answer me this, how can a fat, stupid, ugly, closet-lesbian, cow who isn't even honest enough with herself to admit her sexual orientation and total lack of concern about her appearance supposed to teach me how to 'think' about what a student is forced to read, when said fat, stupid, ugly, closet-lesbian, cow won't even answer relevant questions for a student? TIA.

 

[Safe_Bet]

... I struggled through the schooling I was forced to take. I learned math, chemistry and physics without the need for a teacher and mainly through books I stole/returned to the public library. I memorized enough lies to get me through history and foreign language. I could never pass English. The fat, stupid, ugly, closet-lesbian, cows who 'taught' English would never answer my questions in class. They wanted me to work out the answers on my own. I learned nothing in English class, or during my frequent trips to the Vice-Principal's office. I did teach several important lessons to the other boys in the English classes, "Try to fuck with Whi' Boy and you die."

Answer me this, how can a fat, stupid, ugly, closet-lesbian, cow who isn't even honest enough with herself to admit her sexual orientation and total lack of concern about her appearance supposed to teach me how to 'think' about what a student is forced to read, when said fat, stupid, ugly, closet-lesbian, cow won't even answer relevant questions for a student? TIA.

Maybe if you wouldn't have been so involved with your Navy Seal / Cowboy / Ninja / Spy / Astronaut / Hit Man / Vigilante / Fucking Know It All fantasies, you MIGHT have learned something from those "closet Lesbians!"


P.S. I'm sure all those lies you memorized to get through History and Foreign Languages served you well! (Spanish - RR Version: Hey-o, Senor Richard-o, stop-o being-o such-o an-o asshat-o. Grassy-ass. )

 

[Shwenn]

R. Richard's post actually reminded me of 11th grade English when the teacher kicked me out of class one day because I asked if Walt Whitman was gay.

To this day I think she must have been a closet lesbian if she read I Sing The Body Electric and didn't completely identify with the author as a person who thinks men are terribly hot and fuckable.

 

[R. Richard]

Maybe if you wouldn't have been so involved with your Navy Seal / Cowboy / Ninja / Spy / Astronaut / Hit Man / Vigilante / Fucking Know It All fantasies, you MIGHT have learned something from those "closet Lesbians!"

How could I learn from anyone who wouldn't answer my questions?

[P.S. I'm sure all those lies you memorized to get through History and Foreign Languages served you well! (Spanish - RR Version: Hey-o, Senor Richard-o, stop-o being-o such-o an-o asshat-o. Grassy-ass. )

The Spanish teacher in the high school from which I finally graduated couldn't talk to the 'Mexican kids' in the school. The stated reason was that he only spoke Castillian Spanish. The real reason was that he only spoke high school Spanish. High school Spanish is not spoken anywhere but in US high schools.

¡Calla la pinche boca, Safe Bet! Pendejas do pendejadas.

 

[Safe_Bet]

R. Richard's post actually reminded me of 11th grade English when the teacher kicked me out of class one day because I asked if Walt Whitman was gay.

To this day I think she must have been a closet lesbian if she read I Sing The Body Electric and didn't completely identify with the author as a person who thinks men are terribly hot and fuckable.

I find it very telling that BOTH of you mental giants feel the need to justify your positions by bring the teachers sexual orientation into play in a derogitory manner. VERY telling.

 

[Safe_Bet]

How could I learn from anyone who wouldn't answer my questions?


The Spanish teacher in the high school from which I finally graduated couldn't talk to the 'Mexican kids' in the school. The stated reason was that he only spoke Castillian Spanish. The real reason was that he only spoke high school Spanish. High school Spanish is not spoken anywhere but in US high schools.

¡Calla la pinche boca, Safe Bet! Pendejas do pendejadas.

Ummm, maybe in Spain? (Where last I checked the didn't speak "Mexican," you fucking asshat!)

 

[Shwenn]

I find it very telling that BOTH of you mental giants feel the need to justify your positions by bring the teachers sexual orientation into play in a derogitory manner. VERY telling.

People regularly bring the sexual orientation of homophobes into play.

There is nothing new or interesting about that. It isn't even an assumption I have found to be particularly heterosexual.

There's even science to back it up.

 

[R. Richard]

I find it very telling that BOTH of you mental giants feel the need to justify your positions by bring the teachers sexual orientation into play in a derogitory manner. VERY telling.

If you would read what I wrote, you would discover that I didn't citicize the fat, stupid, ugly, closet-lesbian cow for being a lesbian, but for failing to recognize that she was a lesbian. The reason that I made such a statement is that I'm not a lesbian and can't be expected to see things in a lesbian frame of reference. Apparently, my inability to see things in her lesbian frame of reference caused me to receive flunk grades.

The sexual orientation of others is not really a concern to me, unless they try to force said sexual orientation on me or on minor children. If they try to force said sexual orientation on me or on minor children, violence often results.