Hi everyone. I hope this is the right board for this question. It might be hopelessly off-topic. I searched on it and didn’t see it asked anywhere.
I’m currently finishing up my Master’s in elementary education. I’m changing to a teaching career because I enjoy working with kids, I want more time with my own kids, and silly as it might sound, I think I might be able to help a few kids have a better life.
ANYWAY…I’ve read all the books, attended the lectures, done field work, and so on. What I really want to know is, when you look back at your favorite or best teacher(s), what is it that made them so good in your opinion?
In my own experience, it was the teachers who took time to listen to what was going on in the students’ lives that made a difference. I also remember just about any class where I got to do something other than sit and take notes. As a teacher, I intend to have as much hands on learning as possible, but I’d really like to hear about specific things you enjoyed as a student.
The best teachers for me were those who encouraged questions, and didn’t mind either differences in opinion or interpretation. As with life, education should not be viewed in a strictly “black or white” perspective of right or wrong, since you have all those lovely shades of grey in between. Meaning: too many times I felt cheated by teachers who spent their time focusing on only what the teacher’s edition of the textbook said, versus actually thinking about the topic they were lecturing upon, and considering all the possibilities for it. One of my favorite teachers was very open, and made class a true joy to attend. My favorite memory of him was when we were interpreting the meaning of a poem, and my interpretation of its conclusion was dramatically different than a majority of the class’. However, he let me argue my view, and in the process, even incorporated aspects of my argument into its interpretation. It was great in that he wasn’t bound to an “absolute answer” and was willing to work with different ideologies.
My best teacher was my mommy…she taught me French in grade 2…
I like teachers who will always give you a chance. The ones that understand that sometimes, you just don’t GET it the first time around. And they’ll try to present it another way so make sure everyone understands. I like the teachers whose goal is not to present the material, but to teach the students, and try to have everyone succeed.
I’ve always been kinda brighter than my peers, that’s genetics, I guess. But Mr. Feiken, my high school geometry teacher–how me how to behave responsibly with it. Good study habits–working independently -and- with groups, and so forth.
A man supreme among math teachers. I’ll always remember him fondly for the skills he taught me, and in the trust he showed in me. (He let me be substitute teacher for his class once…letting me come in on my own time to learn what materials to present.)
Very easy. 4th grade. Mrs. Creed. She didn’t turn her back on the class and didn’t let shit go on when she knew it shouldn’t. She didn’t let the fact that I was in a private school and not paying (on scholarship) preclude her from teaching me.
And she didn’t let me do the minimum amount of work.
There have been quite a few great teachers over the years… Not all of them my favorites by any stretch, but all of them ones I remember, admire, and learned from. I’m trying to come up with a common thread that connects them.
I guess the closest is they each expected a lot from me, and from themselves. I found it very easy to live up to high expectations as long as I knew I wouldn’t be publicly humiliated if I screwed up.
In addition: None of them was afraid to appear disappointed (one-on-one!!!) when someone slipped up (okay, at least when I did…). All of them were compassionate and helpful and creative when someone didn’t get it, and really thrilled and enthusiastic when someone DID get it (including with the other kids). All of them were willing to show they were proud of our real accomplishments, even if we didn’t get a spectacular grade. All of them had senses of humor, and some of them told jokes in class or acted incredibly silly at times - even the most serious had dry senses of humor that showed. All of them were willing to step outside their own assumptions, their own lesson plans, and would listen with open minds to ideas and thoughts proposed in class. All of them in some way encouraged a positive attitude about ourselves, without bullshitting and giving false praise. All were capable of being brutally honest, including with positive stuff. All of them seemed fascinated by the topics they taught, and weren’t embarrassed to show it - and even if we didn’t seem as thrilled at times (high school economics, whee) we were a lot more thrilled than if they had been BORED by the topic!
The worst teachers I had 1) wouldn’t listen to facts/ideas gathered outside the textbook, 2) didn’t want to learn anything more themselves (considered themselves the experts bar none), 3) didn’t care if you each individually learned or not, as long as SOMEONE in the class learned, 4) were willing to humiliate students for not understanding (and for not doing the required work) rather than trying to figure out what was REALLY going on, and/or 5) didn’t respect the students - didn’t think we were smart, capable, creative, up to the usual par, or whatever else they loudly ‘wished’ we were.
Marilyn Lange. High school. She fought to get a class on the schedule which taught classical music (we went on regular trips to hear the Philadelphia Orchestra), architecture (we took walking tours around the city) and art (went to several museums).
I learned more from that class—and more that has made my life enjoyable—than from any other class I ever took. Years later, I did track her down and send her a thank-you note.
In elementary school, my best teacher was the most challenging teacher. Some kids didn’t like her because she had a reputation of being strict (I wonder what they think now, looking back on it). She had very interesting, and often difficult, lesson plans that did not parrot what was in the text books. She was also very creative and incorporated artistic, musical, or dramatic elements into the assignments.
The worst teacher was actually a very nice guy, but a poor teacher, I think. When students didn’t understand the work (he was a math teacher) he would repeat himself instead of trying to find a different way to express the concepts. You could tell he was getting more and more frustrated as this went on. It got to the point where it was easier to not ask a question. This set me up for years of suffering through math classes I didn’t understand.
There have been a lot of teachers that I have loved and have loved me and lots of teachers that I’ve hated and have hated me. I take it all as a learning experience. Although my friends laugh because they’re all much smarter than I am and thinking about going into nice complicated science/computer fields I’m seriously considering becoming a teacher just because it sounds like something I would enjoy. So I take notes, just mental notes, about everything I hated about my teachers and all the stuff that I loved. Just so I have an idea what to do when I’m in front of the class.
Encourage discussion. Maybe not during class lecture time, it’s wonderful if you can include it but if not just talk to the kids who are really interested in the topic during “down time.”
Teach the class to teach the class, not to get through the curriculum. I understand that you do have things you have to teach but figure it out so that the whole class understands and will remember this years from now. I still know most of the bill of rights and parts of the constitution because my 8th grade humanities teacher cared about us enough to teach us RIGHT.
Do not have students do things for you that you could do yourself unless they really want to. Example: my 5th grade teacher had students go get coffee for her, that was just wrong.
Do not flirt on class time. No one wants to think about their teacher actually having a sex life, it’s not right.
Have a sense of humor, it helps… a lot.
Give your students something to remember, something nice or funny. My 8th grade humanities teacher would have us copy notes from the board in Cornell notes style and her drawings were hilarious, you see, she couldn’t draw. But she made light of it and we loved her for it. I will never forget her jack-in-the-box conquistador.
That’s all for now, see ya all later.
Worst teacher incorporated his personal life into class - we were supposed to be studying World History - not his personal philosophies of child-rearing…
Best teachers guided and helped us discover things ourselves. They used lesson plans as guides, not as absolutes, and the willingness to take an occasional tangent was seen as a learning opportunity. Humor helped, as did discipline and the expectation that we would do well.
Meaning: too many times I felt cheated by teachers who spent their time focusing on only what the teacher’s edition of the textbook said, versus actually thinking about the topic they were lecturing upon, and considering all the possibilities for it. One of my favorite teachers was very open, and made class a true joy to attend. My favorite memory of him was when we were interpreting the meaning of a poem, and my interpretation of its conclusion was dramatically different than a majority of the class’. However, he let me argue my view, and in the process, even incorporated aspects of my argument into its interpretation. It was great in that he wasn’t bound to an “absolute answer” and was willing to work with different ideologies.