What makes a good teacher?

[Imnotdutcheither]

Remember those teachers that stand out from the masses? The ones that got the job done.........got you to learn when you thought you had other things to worry about..........what was it about them that made them good?

Feel free to step outside of the boundaries of what they did to make you learn.

 

[Fragadelic]

Best teachers I've ever had possessed (1) a sense of humor (2) the patience of a saint (3) the ability to not pre-judge me by my appearance/attitude/behavior outside of class and (4) a command of their subject so complete that you couldn't help but be interested.

 

[BO-DEN]

id say taking time with students..... problem is the time they usaully sacrifced was there own personal time.

teachers are very underpaid


BO-DEN

 

[big4life]

The best teachers I had wanted to be there. They were not there just for the pay, or job security, they were there because they had a passion. They really cared for the students. It seems that some of the older teachers were there just to collect a pension at the end of the road. Maybe they had that fire, burned out along the way, I don't know. If you stand up in front of a class and go through the motions your students will know, and they will do the same.

 

[danielson]

some did it through charisma, soe through a genuine passion for their work and some through the abilty to interact well with their students

unfortunately nowadays i susect schools dont segregate upils on achademic ability like they used to so the rotten apples will end u soiling the bunch. i think the best thing a teacher can do nowadays is just streamline his class so the people in it can at least get a decent education

 

[Imnotdutcheither]

some did it through charisma, soe through a genuine passion for their work and some through the abilty to interact well with their students

unfortunately nowadays i susect schools dont segregate upils on achademic ability like they used to so the rotten apples will end u soiling the bunch. i think the best thing a teacher can do nowadays is just streamline his class so the people in it can at least get a decent education

Interesting responses so far.

The problem in my school is that a lot of the kids are very disillusioned and simply do not want to learn. This is mainly because they have been to hell and back over the last couple of years thanks to the school. Every class, except the very top sets, is made up of a majority of these kids. Many just cause trouble because they dont see the point of being in school........sad really.

 

[gonelifting]

I had an English teacher in High School that taught us about life as well as English. He would set aside a time during the class to ask him ANY QUESTION we needed an answer to. ANYTHING. He would answer it to the best of his abilities. He earned ALOT of respect as a teacher and a man.

 

[danielson]

if you're teaching science you have the ability to bring practical stuff into the classroom (experiments etc) but guess it all deends on your budget

my best science teachers were the ones who did the practical work, then moved to the theory and rather than just spoon feed it, made the class figure out every step themselves...

problem is you get that attitude with upper sets....when i started my school i was in lower sets for everything and the teachers had a very hard time...

 

[Imnotdutcheither]

Our budget is kinda limited!!

But anyway, I always try to get the kids to figure things out for themselves........if you can persuade them that they are capable of thinking it works well. The hard bit is getting em to think.

Gonelifting........I gotta try that any question thing hehehe.

if you're teaching science you have the ability to bring practical stuff into the classroom (experiments etc) but guess it all deends on your budget

my best science teachers were the ones who did the practical work, then moved to the theory and rather than just spoon feed it, made the class figure out every step themselves...

problem is you get that attitude with upper sets....when i started my school i was in lower sets for everything and the teachers had a very hard time...

 

[gonelifting]

I would use examples of different people to show them what they can have and what they WILL have depending on the choices they make. Ask them individually "What do you want in life?" Then say In order to get that, You need to do this...

I know it`s a lot easier said than done, but that`s what you`re there for. lol.

 

[Imnotdutcheither]

I would use examples of different people to show them what they can have and what they WILL have depending on the choices they make. Ask them individually "What do you want in life?" Then say In order to get that, You need to do this...

I know it`s a lot easier said than done, but that`s what you`re there for. lol.

I try to do that.........but in this area the kids know that drug dealing is quick money and of course they will never get caught

 

[big_bad_buff]

What are you teaching? What age group

 

[I'll Never Leave You]

a nice set of jugs and a few buttons undone on the blouse.

 

[I'll Never Leave You]

I have just applied to be a teacher.. ha ha

 

[Imnotdutcheither]

What are you teaching? What age group

11-18 year olds. I teach science.........

 

[big_bad_buff]

Tell them they evolved from a rock, kids seem to like that

Seriously though, I don’t know your teaching style, but from my experience (my mother being a teacher, her mother and all her sisters, and from going to school) if you say anything about evolution at least 40% of the kids will think you’re a fool, and they wont give a shit what you say after that, the other 60% will either not care, or they’ll believe in it themselves. Same goes with creation. Stick with what you know and can explain, which is science. if you do teach it, and kids disagree with you, what are you going to do? Tell them they’re wrong?

11-18 year olds? I hope that is spread out in different classes, if not that is pretty rough lol.
The concept of Andragogy is very true, and can be applied to a younger age group as well. Being a teacher is one of the hardest jobs there are, in which you deserve some recognition. The fact is most kids that age don’t care about learning, very few actually do, so it makes your job even harder. But that is your job, to make sure they know why learning is important at that age. Take them on a field trip to McDonalds the first day of class, and tell them that’s their future without an education lol….serious, my grandmother did that one time

My advice would be to give as much visuals and hands on as possible, Give them a weekly review test on Fridays, if they get a good grade on the test, they get to go hangout outside for the rest of the class that day etc. you want them to look at you as mentor, not as a teacher

 

[Imnotdutcheither]

Some sound advice in there. I ended up teaching Evolution this year because we have a muslim teacher who doesnt believe in it........basically did everything she could to avoid teaching it (never mind the fact that it is her job!).

Anyway I got the evolution teaching down.........

The 11-18 yo's arent all in one class! lol.

I like my visuals too. Time consuming sorting em out but it works well. I need more tests as you say.

I gotta try that McDonalds trip. I could see that working.

Tell them they evolved from a rock, kids seem to like that

Seriously though, I don’t know your teaching style, but from my experience (my mother being a teacher, her mother and all her sisters, and from going to school) if you say anything about evolution at least 40% of the kids will think you’re a fool, and they wont give a shit what you say after that, the other 60% will either not care, or they’ll believe in it themselves. Same goes with creation. Stick with what you know and can explain, which is science. if you do teach it, and kids disagree with you, what are you going to do? Tell them they’re wrong?

11-18 year olds? I hope that is spread out in different classes, if not that is pretty rough lol.
The concept of Andragogy is very true, and can be applied to a younger age group as well. Being a teacher is one of the hardest jobs there are, in which you deserve some recognition. The fact is most kids that age don’t care about learning, very few actually do, so it makes your job even harder. But that is your job, to make sure they know why learning is important at that age. Take them on a field trip to McDonalds the first day of class, and tell them that’s their future without an education lol….serious, my grandmother did that one time

My advice would be to give as much visuals and hands on as possible, Give them a weekly review test on Fridays, if they get a good grade on the test, they get to go hangout outside for the rest of the class that day etc. you want them to look at you as mentor, not as a teacher

 

[Raina]

The best teachers I've ever had were passionate about what they taught and their enthusiasm made even more "blah" topics exciting.

 

[tiger88]

LOL @ this post


me bein a TA needs to take some notes

 

[plornive]

(1) be thorough in explaining, interacting, and assigning,
(2) challenge the students completely while not threatening them with the possibility of a truly bad mark AND
(3) make the class interesting with charisma and presentation, etc.

For highschool/2ndary school vs. university or graduate school, I think it is more about multi-tasking while playing a psychological game to keep everyone together as a group. I think keeping all levels in the same classroom makes this much more difficult, because the students have less in common and you can't present a single persona to keep everyone in check.

 

[atlantabiolab]

Personality is a key, but I do not favor the "teacher = pal" B.S. Kids are manipulative little shits, who tend to place more emphasis on getting out of work than doing work, so discipline is a necessity. They MUST know that they cannot get away with shit, there must be rules. But this can be done all while being likeable.

After the psychological aspect, the most important point of teaching is the ability to translate a complex into a tangible simple concept, somthing which the student can understand.

My microbial physiology and molecular biology professor had both traits and was a blessing to the teaching profession.

For those who feel that teachers are underpaid, tell us why will current teachers suddenly become excellent professionals when their pay increases? Why are private schools producing higher overall scores, yet their pay is much lower than public schools? Public school teachers make decent wages for what little they are providing to the world, i.e. educated students.

 

[theoak01]

for me the teacher has to have a great grasp on the topic and give lots of examples or I wont follow, plus patience and good personality.

 

[Rex]

I had a teacher in 7th grade, and one of the final projects was where we got to decide how much work we wanted to do on it, and get the corresponding grade. The grades went 80, 90, and 100 with the amount of work posted next to it.

I told him that I wanted to do the 90 when I turned in the paper saying what grade I planned on working for. He took me a side and told me I have the potential and the brains to get a 100 and never settle for anything less than that. Extremely influential on me.

I thought about doing the troops to teachers program when I get out of the military.

 

[WODIN]

The best teachers I had wanted to be there. They were not there just for the pay, or job security, they were there because they had a passion. They really cared for the students. It seems that some of the older teachers were there just to collect a pension at the end of the road. Maybe they had that fire, burned out along the way, I don't know. If you stand up in front of a class and go through the motions your students will know, and they will do the same.

BINGO!

 

[I'll Never Leave You]

I liked Ms Little.. she wore her blouses unbuttoned.. her breasts bra-less and exposed.. oh those silky perfumey flimsy blouses..

How I used to wank under the table. How I dreamt you would spank me. Slut. I can't remember what she taught.