what makes a teacher great?
Over the past few months I have been engaged in activities at our school that have made me ask the question, what makes a teacher great? If you have a moment, please think about the best teacher you ever had in school. (Your favorite teacher might not have been your best teacher. I am looking for the qualities of a great teacher, not a popular one.) In the comments, list the qualities that made that teacher great, the things you remember that helped you learn effectively or love a particular discipline. Thank you so much for your help.
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Great teachers are flexible and listen and they adapt on the fly to the needs of their students.
ReplyDeleteGreat teachers care about each individual student, doesn't let anyone fall through the cracks, and has great parent communication.
ReplyDeleteGreat teachers engage their students in hands-on projects that makes the content of their lessons come "alive" and enable students to better understand the content and make connections to the real world.
ReplyDeleteA great teacher listens to and really hears a student rather than listening to her/his own assumptions about that student.
ReplyDeleteA great teacher is fair, flexible, and constantly improving themselves and their craft.
ReplyDeleteA great teacher teaches the WHOLE child. They make children want to learn and want to excel. They put their assumptions aside and do not listen to the assumptions of other teachers. They find a way to make the lesson relevant and interesting...even if changes must be made on the fly.
ReplyDeleteHow is a teacher for high school students different in terms of parent communication? At what stage should students assume responsibility for themselves when it comes to their work in the classroom?
ReplyDeleteExcellent question!
DeleteThis is a good question, one that is not really addressed in this post but is worthy of comment. Let me think about it and address it in a post next week.
ReplyDeleteIn the meantime, thank you so much to all of you for answering my question about what makes a teacher great. You have listed many wonderful qualities that I think are valid answers. I actually wish I'd thought to answer this question sooner.
Thinking back to my own high school teachers -- the ones I learned the most from are the ones that had high expectations and would settle for nothing less than my best. Favorite teachers? Not necessarily, but 35 years later, they are the ones I remember, and I remember what I learned in their classes. Sadly, high expectations for most of my students means nothing.
ReplyDeleteHow did we get to the point where high expectations mean nothing? And how to get them back on the table?
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